HALSEY MCKAY GALLERY

Halsey McKay Gallery is pleased to present, Early Words, the first installation comprised entirely of Graham Collins’ shaped paintings. Striking a balance between hands-on, intuitive gesture, and hyper-conceptualized methods of production, cast aside canvases painted by a multitude of unknown collaborators are reworked and reimagined into a lexicon of contemporary art. Obsessively focusing on the peripheral and often unseen aspects of paintings and sculpture, these works take a holistic approach towards facture–often, every physical component of a work is articulated in a kind of visual single-effect theory.  Equal weight is given to the pictures and the bespoke support structures, framing devices and installational components which contextualize them. Individually, the works are culled from the artist’s idiosyncratic network of found materials, craft traditions and historical references.  As a whole, the placement of each piece engages and activates the unique architechture of the gallery.

Graham Collins was born in Washington, D.C. in 1980. He currently lives and works in Brooklyn, New York. He received his BFA 2003 from Corcoran College of Art in Washington and his MFA 2010 from Bard College in Annandale-on-Hudson, NY. Recent solo exhibitions include “Clean Room” at Luce Gallery in Torino, Italy (2014), “Graham Collins: Concert in the Park” at Jonathan Viner Gallery, London, UK (2014), “Civic” at The Journal Gallery, Brooklyn, New York (2013) and “V8,” Halsey McKay Gallery, East Hampton, New York (2013). His work has been included in numerous group exhibitions, including “Altered States” at Jérôme Pauchant in Paris, France (2015), “Ghost Current” at V1 Gallery in Copenhagen, Denmark (2014), “Difference and Repetition” at Luce Gallery in Torino, Italy (2014)  among others. He is represented by The Journal Gallery in Brooklyn.Early Words is Graham Collins’ second solo exhibiton with Halsey McKay Gallery.