June 30 – July 31, 2018
Halsey McKay is thrilled to present Cynthia Talmadge’s first solo exhibition with the gallery. As the World Turns is comprised of six paintings, delicately crafted with sand, that depict the opening credits of soap operas. At times directly rendering the show logos, at others, Talmadge takes pictorial license and overlays images of a hospital bed or wedding chapel.
The timeless themes of poetic titles like One Life to Live, A Brighter Day, The Guiding Light, grant space for something ethereal or romantic to emerge in between commercials for pet products and adult diapers. Simultaneously a more cryptic interpretation allows for apocalyptic readings of the same phrases. The contrast of life insurance and wildly sublime sunsets rings closer to the emotional reality of daily existence than the melodrama played out in torrid affairs and coma awakenings. Playing with the visual shorthand and cinematic conventions used to depict Heaven, eternity, and that which is not of this world, Talmadge blends humor, nostalgia and hyperbolic tension into her shimmering surfaces.
Cynthia Talmadge (b. 1989) lives and works in New York City. She received her BFA from the Rhode Island School of Design. Her work has been featured in solo exhibitions at 56 HENRY, NY and in group presentations at Almine Rech, NY, Aperture Foundation, NY, and JOAN, LA. She has been featured and reviewed by Artforum, Cultured, and New York Magazine among others. Talmadge is represented by 56 HENRY.