Opening Reception: Saturday September 8th from 6:00 - 8:00pm.
Marc Selwyn Fine Art is pleased to present Scott Treleaven’s second solo exhibition with the gallery. The multidisciplinary show takes its title from a 1922 film which demonstrated rational explanations for the cultural hysteria surrounding occult phenomenon, while curiously taking great pains to present the imagined world as something vital and fascinating.
With a vernacular stemming from folklore, mythology, classicism, contemporary art and horror cinema, Treleaven also draws heavily on his affinity with gothic and punk culture. In the wake of the more tangible and terrifying realities of the 21st century, these subcultures are now in danger of becoming quaintly folkloric themselves. Many of the new works consider, perhaps even mourn, the passing relevance of these former “threats” and rebellious identities. Playing on cinematic tropes, and pushing the idea of narrative and framing into new contexts, a series of dense collages and watercolors are connected through recurring characters/actors. The action unfolds between the frames, creating an unseen point of interchange that suggests unknown, transformative elements.
Yet the work the work doesn’t venture into irony or false mysticism. Treleaven observes that “occult language and symbology often remains the most accurate way of describing and dignifying the human condition.” As if to acknowledge the ghosts he invokes in his work, the artist has created a small sculptural temple, or perhaps a movie theatre, to contain them. A silent, lid-less black box filled with flickering images from super8 home movies and videos, the cube can be approached from a variety angles. The four divergent films forge connections between themselves, always revealing something new -- a house for wayward spirits.
In another series of watercolors and collages, Treleaven explores his personal connection to the subject matter by revisiting and re-imagining images from occult texts he read as a child. These texts triggered his first awareness of psychology, ethnography, and sexuality. This is further demonstrated in ‘The Life to Come’ which contains the silhouetted image of a young man amidst a swarm of birds. The work is split into frames, with birds swirling around the main figure whose arms are extended as if taking flight. Tinged with sadness, this gesture at first seems futile or doomed. But flight might actually be possible. It is, after all, within the bounds dictated by the exhibition’s title.
Scott Treleaven was born in Toronto, Canada. He has recently had solo shows at John Connelly Presents, New York, and Kavi Gupta Gallery, Chicago, as well as group exhibitions at the Biennale de Montreal, Artists Space, NY, and a screening at MOMA. He lives and works in Paris. Concurrent with this exhibition, ‘Some Boys Wander By Mistake’, a new 100+ page catalog of the artist’s work will be available, featuring a conversation with Jack Pierson, essay by Terence Hannum, and five new poems by Dennis Cooper based on the work. Co-published by Kavi Gupta Gallery, John Connelly Presents & Marc Selwyn Fine Art.
Marc Selwyn Fine Art is open Tuesday through Saturday, 11:00am to 6:00pm. For additional information please contact the gallery at (323) 933-9911.
