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Beneath the Underdog

Including: Mafia (Or One Unopened Packet of Cigarettes)

April 27–June 16, 2007
980 Madison Avenue, New York

BENEATH THE UNDERDOG Installation view

BENEATH THE UNDERDOG

Installation view

BENEATH THE UNDERDOG Installation view

BENEATH THE UNDERDOG

Installation view

BENEATH THE UNDERDOG Installation view

BENEATH THE UNDERDOG

Installation view

BENEATH THE UNDERDOG Installation view

BENEATH THE UNDERDOG

Installation view

BENEATH THE UNDERDOG Installation view

BENEATH THE UNDERDOG

Installation view

BENEATH THE UNDERDOG Installation view

BENEATH THE UNDERDOG

Installation view

BENEATH THE UNDERDOG Installation view

BENEATH THE UNDERDOG

Installation view

BENEATH THE UNDERDOG Installation view

BENEATH THE UNDERDOG

Installation view

BENEATH THE UNDERDOG Installation view

BENEATH THE UNDERDOG

Installation view

BENEATH THE UNDERDOG Installation view

BENEATH THE UNDERDOG

Installation view

BENEATH THE UNDERDOG Installation view

BENEATH THE UNDERDOG

Installation view

BENEATH THE UNDERDOG Installation view

BENEATH THE UNDERDOG

Installation view

BENEATH THE UNDERDOG Installation view

BENEATH THE UNDERDOG

Installation view

BENEATH THE UNDERDOG Installation view

BENEATH THE UNDERDOG

Installation view

BENEATH THE UNDERDOG Installation view

BENEATH THE UNDERDOG

Installation view

BENEATH THE UNDERDOG Installation view

BENEATH THE UNDERDOG

Installation view

BENEATH THE UNDERDOG Installation view

BENEATH THE UNDERDOG

Installation view

BENEATH THE UNDERDOG Installation view

BENEATH THE UNDERDOG

Installation view

BENEATH THE UNDERDOG Installation view

BENEATH THE UNDERDOG

Installation view

BENEATH THE UNDERDOG Installation view

BENEATH THE UNDERDOG

Installation view

BENEATH THE UNDERDOG Installation view

BENEATH THE UNDERDOG

Installation view

BENEATH THE UNDERDOG Installation view

BENEATH THE UNDERDOG

Installation view

BENEATH THE UNDERDOG Installation view

BENEATH THE UNDERDOG

Installation view

BENEATH THE UNDERDOG Installation view

BENEATH THE UNDERDOG

Installation view

BENEATH THE UNDERDOG Installation view

BENEATH THE UNDERDOG

Installation view

Works Exhibited

Cecily Brown, Duplicate Blunder, 2006 Oil on linen, 31 × 43 inches (78.7 × 109.2 cm)

Cecily Brown, Duplicate Blunder, 2006

Oil on linen, 31 × 43 inches (78.7 × 109.2 cm)

Michael Joaquin Grey, Orange Gravity (California), 1992 Urethene, self sinking foam, fiberglass and aluminum, 92 × 42 × 60 inches (233.7 × 106.7 × 152.4 cm)

Michael Joaquin Grey, Orange Gravity (California), 1992

Urethene, self sinking foam, fiberglass and aluminum, 92 × 42 × 60 inches (233.7 × 106.7 × 152.4 cm)

Raymond Hains, Untitled, 1964 Torn poster on canvas, 53 ½ × 44 ⅛ inches (135.9 × 112.1 cm)

Raymond Hains, Untitled, 1964

Torn poster on canvas, 53 ½ × 44 ⅛ inches (135.9 × 112.1 cm)

Barry Le Va, One Edge, Two Corners; On Center Shattered (Variation 13, Within the Series of Layered Pattern Acts), 1968–2007 28 sheets of glass, in 7 layers, 10 × 84 × 96 inches (25.4 × 213.4 × 243.8 cm)

Barry Le Va, One Edge, Two Corners; On Center Shattered (Variation 13, Within the Series of Layered Pattern Acts), 1968–2007

28 sheets of glass, in 7 layers, 10 × 84 × 96 inches (25.4 × 213.4 × 243.8 cm)

Franz West, Sitting Sculpture (lilac), 2004 Lacquered aluminum, 35 × 92 ½ × 45 ⅜ inches (88.9 × 82.6 × 115.3 cm)

Franz West, Sitting Sculpture (lilac), 2004

Lacquered aluminum, 35 × 92 ½ × 45 ⅜ inches (88.9 × 82.6 × 115.3 cm)

About

Gagosian Gallery is pleased to announce Beneath the Underdog*, a group exhibition curated by New York- based artists Nate Lowman and Adam McEwen.

Beneath the Underdog addresses the individual's relationship to the towering vertical landscape of late capitalism, particularly within urban environments where the exaggerated scale of skyscrapers, luxury apartments and housing projects signify economic realities. Many of the works exhibited were made in the wake of Robert Moses, master builder of New York's highways, bridges and tunnels, who presided over and politically navigated a period that would forever come to symbolize the struggle between urban expansion and the increasingly uncertain place of the individual.

The introduction of more "horizontal" approaches to art making within the past 60 years may in fact be viewed as a response to a growing sense of alienation and marginalization, marked by a renewed interest in the body. The shift to the horizontal initiated by Jackson Pollock's move from the easel to the floor was literalized in Andy Warhol's Oxidation (piss) paintings, whose abject surfaces reflect the growing importance of bodily impulses. Expanding on this theme to include more recent approaches, Lowman and McEwen have selected the work of nearly 50 international artists engaged in questioning the traditional values implied by the "upright", often by investigating the physical space of the horizontal. Dysfunction and dislocation govern the uncanny groupings throughout the space, including Michael Joaquin Grey's Rodin-inspired sculpture of Balzac, overlooking Barry Le Va's entropic landscape of shattered glass, which in turn is gazed upon by a young girl painted by Gwen John (herself a student and lover of Rodin). Throughout the exhibition, the installation sequences emphasize the tension between these two orientations within the space of the gallery using painting, sculpture, and photography.

Expanding on the roles of power and tradition, Mafia (Or One Unopened Packet of Cigarettes), curated by Eivind Furnesvik, will be presented within Beneath the Underdog. This exhibition first opened at the STANDARD (OSLO) in 2006. The artists, many being shown for the first time in New York, explore the psychological space defined by an organization inseparable from violence both explicit and implied – yet which also promises protection.

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Oscar Murillo and Ben Luke on Franz West

In Conversation
Oscar Murillo and Ben Luke on Franz West

In conjunction with Franz West: Papier, the gallery’s presentation of paper-based works by Franz West at Frieze Masters 2023, artist Oscar Murillo and arts writer, critic, and broadcaster Ben Luke sit down to discuss Murillo’s collaboration in selecting the works on view, as well as his personal experiences meeting the late artist in London.

Roe Ethridge's Two Kittens with Yarn Ball (2017–22) on the cover of Gagosian Quarterly, Spring 2023

Now available
Gagosian Quarterly Spring 2023

The Spring 2023 issue of Gagosian Quarterly is now available, featuring Roe Ethridge’s Two Kittens with Yarn Ball (2017–22) on its cover.

Dan Colen, Mother (Intersection), 2021–22, oil on canvas, 59 × 151 inches (149.9 × 383.5 cm)

Dan Colen: Other Worlds Are Possible

In this interview, curator and artist K.O. Nnamdie speaks with artist Dan Colen about his recent show in New York: Lover, Lover, Lover. Colen delves into the concept of “home” as it relates to his work, specifically the Mother and Woodworker series. Thinking through the political and historical implications of “homeland” in the context of the artist’s relationship with Israel and America, the two consider the intersections between these paintings—the final group of his Disney-inspired canvases—and Colen’s work with Sky High Farm, New York.

Sky High Farm Symposium at Judd Foundation: The Art Panel

Sky High Farm Symposium at Judd Foundation: The Art Panel

In this video, Deana Haggag, program officer, Arts and Culture at Mellon Foundation; Dan Colen, artist and founder of Sky High Farm; Linda Goode Bryant, artist and founder of Project EATS; and Diya Vij, curator at Creative Time sit down together to explore the roles of artist and audience, place and accessibility, legacy, capital influence, and individual vs. collective agency as they relate to artmaking today.

Sky High Farm Symposium at Judd Foundation: The Community Panel

Sky High Farm Symposium at Judd Foundation: The Community Panel

In this video, Thelma Golden, chief curator and director of the Studio Museum in Harlem; Tremaine Emory, founder of Denim Tears and creative director of Supreme; Father Mike Lopez, founder of the Hungry Monk Rescue Truck; and artist Anicka Yi sit down to explore how the concept of community has shaped their work, and the power in seeing the places we live, our histories, and even our bodies as porous, interdependent, and alive.

Sky High Farm Symposium at Judd Foundation: The Land Panel

Sky High Farm Symposium at Judd Foundation: The Land Panel

In this video, Veronica Davidov, visual and environmental anthropologist; Karen Washington, activist, farmer and co-founder of Black Urban Growers (BUGS) and co-owner of Rise & Root Farm; Candice Hopkins, curator, writer and executive director of Forge Project; and Haley Mellin, artist, conservationist and founder of Art to Acres sit down to explore the tensions and overlaps between different efforts to define, use, and protect land.