Exhibitions
JONATHAN EDELHUBER: SKULLS
ZIEHERSMITH March 1, 2021 - April 3, 2021
Jonathan Edelhuber
Jonathan Edelhuber’s contemporary update of the classical memento mori flips the script completely. Surrounded by morbid statistics, social upheaval and doom scrolling, the artist’s iterations of a single, laughing skull approbate and celebrate “what it is to be human. To be alive.” The physical nature of the work itself (acrylic paintings and double-sided cut wood silhouettes on a simple base the artist calls “skullpture”) betrays this optimism— yawping faces splashed and layered, scraped, and gouged, not with violence, however, but with the exuberance of discovery in a less than gentle approach to life, fully embraced. The traditional symbolisms are here processed by way of technical reckoning, contemporary gestures mix with heroic mid-century maneuvers, making use of the canon— Horace Pippin, Cy Twombly and Alice Neal vie for space with Tal R, Katherine Bernhardt and Bendix Harms. Surprising color combinations, enlivened by surfaces from glossy sheen to distressed furrows, the well-worn, rough-hewn template animates itself, urging the viewer that with death this close, we best get busy being born.
Arkansas native Jonathan Edelhuber earned a B.F.A. with an emphasis on Graphic Design from Harding University and currently lives in Nashville. His work was included in our group presentation with the Virgin Hotel, Nashville in 2020, and he has recently had solo exhibitions in Geneva, Los Angeles and London. This is his first solo presentation with ZieherSmith.
ZieherSmith was founded in New York City in 2003 and programmed gallery spaces in Chelsea through 2019. The gallery relocated to downtown Nashville, Tennessee where it is presenting Jonathan Edelhuber's exhibition. Appointments for viewing can be made by emailing scott@ziehersmith.com or texting 917-837-7201. Masks, social distancing, and standard COVID precautions required for all visitors.
