HALSEY MCKAY GALLERY

Using a large format camera, a layered multiple exposure process, hand-cut stencils and Polaroid film, the artist constructs images within photography’s flattened surface plane. His Polaroids are compilations of texture, light and surface, hand-manipulated into enigmatic landscapes, geometric forms and other worldly spaces. These pictures hold just enough truth to trigger the plausible conclusion that his engineered worlds are reality. Also included in the exhibition are a related group of sculptures that reverse-engineer the Polaroids. Exploring the notion of making a photograph in reverse, Escoto’s sculptures decompress time and space, expanding how contemporary photography is being digested and explored as its technology becomes more and more accessible. As a magician fools a willing audience, Escoto’s work hovers in the illusionistic space between the probable and improbable.

Corey Escoto received a BFA from Texas Tech University in 2004 and an MFA from Washington University in St. Louis in 2007. Escoto has shown nationally and internationally, with select solo exhibitions at the Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis; Regina Rex, Queens NY; and at the Carnegie Museum of Art in Pittsburgh, PA. His work has been included in exhibitions at Smack Mellon, Brooklyn; The ArtHouse at Jones Center, Austin; and international venues including ACC Galerie, Weimar, Germany; Seven Days Brunch, Basel; FRAC Nord-Pas De Calais, Dunkerque, France. He is a recipient of the Gateway Foundation Grant, the Kala Art Institute Residency Program and Fellowship Award, and an Aperture Portfolio Prize finalist.  Corey was born in Amarillo, Texas and currently splits his time between Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and New York. Escoto is represented by Regina Rex, New York, NY.