Continent of Misbelief

David Kordansky Gallery is pleased to present Continent of Misbelief, its second solo exhibition of sculptures, paintings, and works on paper by Jared Buckhiester. In an introduction to the exhibition, Buckhiester writes: “I found a precedent for my aspirations in the poems of Marianne Moore. You might say that Moore is the patron saint of this exhibition. I did not discover this until most of the work was already made, but that order falls in line with a belief of mine that time is not linear, but cyclical. Her poems have clarity and precision within a structure and cadence that can masquerade as opacity. When reading Moore’s poems, comprehension arises through avenues indirect, but once illuminated, understanding is unshakably clear. This is my hope for material (clay, paint, charcoal, wood) and image. I always wanted to be a filmmaker. Instead, I took photographs, then I made drawings and ceramics, all before becoming an analysand. It was there on the couch where I learned that the origin of an image is of little signif- icance compared to the emotion or action it stirs. In the practice of building up a ceramic or drawing and then showing it to others, a viewer’s knowledge of the origin of any singular image is of no importance at all. ‘A viewer’ includes me. The exhibition title is my own interpretation of a phrase from one of Moore’s poems. If this were a film, the title might also be the origin story. The paintings are a reference for the time of day and location. The drawings are the director’s notation for action and dialogue. The ceramics are a monument, or memory. The central wall’s interior is an inaccessible void, and the screens are just that, partitions preventing an objective view of both sides. And because images tend to repeat themselves, the story’s arc is indeed cyclical.” In Continent of Misbelief, Buckhiester returns to the well of subjects and scenes, characters and dramas central to his oeuvre. Just as memories shift each time they’re retrieved, these source images are redeployed and reimagined in ever-changing variations. The intuitive process by which Buckhiester draws, paints, and sculpts extends to the arrangement and instal- lation of artworks across the exhibition. Experienced both discretely and in concert, a painting might recover the narrative thread dropped by a drawing, while a figurative sculpture, simultaneously animate and object-like, reinforces the feeling of a painted, late afternoon shadow. Freestanding screens serve to divide and disrupt the gallery, acting as backdrops behind sculptures while gaps created by the screens’ oak feet reveal partial glimpses of what’s behind and beneath. Buckhiester’s signature, pulpit-like pedestals, open at front and back, similarly balance negative space with the complexity of the often precariously stacked ceramics.

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520 W 20th St

Chelsea, NY