HALSEY MCKAY GALLERY

For his first solo show at Halsey Mckay Gallery, Ethan Greenbaum will be installing two interconnected bodies of work: an ongoing series of vacuum formed photographs and a new series of 3D powder prints. In his practice, Greenbaum uses a range of digital and sculptural tools as filters for reimagining the built environment. His multimedia works explore the materials and symbols that trace our world and mask its operations.Taken together, these two bodies of work form an expanded vocabulary of excavation. In his fascination with the relationships between construction and representation, Greenbaum’s work encourages viewers to have a deeper experience of their own surroundings.

In these most recent vacuum formed works, the artist is increasingly drawn to the abstract mark making and directional graphics that define the ground plane in urban environments. In large scale work like Peak (2015), the photographic imagery includes road striping meant to direct the movement of vehicles and bodies alongside infrastructural graffiti delineating a network of pipes and wires beneath the paved surface. These spray-painted hieroglyphics are a secret language pointing to concealed systems below our feet. The photographs are printed onto transparent plastic that alludes to both the space of the digital screen and the building window. The final work is embossed with a low relief impression of ceiling tiles—another topographical surface used to mask the internal wiring and pipe work in many buildings.

He will also be debuting a new series of low relief 3D powder prints. These works are made from dimensional scans of construction supplies like insulating foam, wood and ceiling tiles—many of the same building components submerged as molds in his vacuum forms. These digital scans are overlaid with photographs of architectural surfaces and the logos from building supply brands like Tyvek and Corning Owens. In the final print, the scanned object becomes both support and bounding edge for the imagery. Many of the prints also include inoperable internet and electrical outlets. These ports serve as functional hanging hardware as well as abstract signifiers for unseen power systems. Greenbaum’s use of corporate logos similarly connects to his interest in an order of marks that signify veiled forces.

Ethan Greenbaum is a New York based artist. Selected exhibition venues include Hauser and Wirth, New York; Marianne Boesky, New York; Marlborough Chelsea, New York; KANSAS, New York; Derek Eller Gallery, New York; Circus Gallery, Los Angeles; Steven Turner, Los Angeles; The Suburban, Chicago; Michael Jon, Miami, The Aldrich Museum, Connecticut; and Socrates Sculpture Park in Long Island City. He is represented by KANSAS gallery in New York City.