Under Machine Thing
April 6th - May 7th, 2023
Georgia Gardner Gray, Matthias Groebel, Danny McDonald
Under Machine Thing probes an anxiety toward prevailing capital and cultural machines through the atmospheres of the artists’ respective practices. A hazy boardroom scene functions like a diverse maquette for geopolitics. Uncle Sam rears his ugly head atop a building-cum-pedestal. A dispatch beams to satellite TV reading, “Don’t Lie to Me”. Scenes and symbols unfold like a dystopian graphic novel. This western sense of freedom and acceptance is rendered dysfunctional and riddled with static. Underlined here is the disjunction between progress and emancipation, and the responsibility to produce a culture amidst an unprecedented level of diverging equities.
Georgia Gardner Gray (b. 1988, New York, NY) selected solo exhibitions include Travellers, Gaylord Apartments, Los Angeles (2023); NDE, Sadie Coles HQ, London (2022); Georgia Gardner Gray: New Work, Adler Beatty, New York (2019); Georgia Gardner Gray, The Downer, Berlin (2019); Buddha Bless This Show, Croy Nielsen, Vienna (2019); Works 2015 - 2018, Kunsthalle Lingen, Lingen (2018); Concorde, The Play, Grüner Salon, Volksbühne, Berlin (2018); Concorde, UKS/Kunstnernes Hus, Oslo (2017); Precious Provincials, Kunstverein Hamburg, Hamburg (2017); Georgia Gardner Gray, Acud macht Neu, Berlin (2016). Selected group exhibitions include Omelette Papier, Capitan Petzel, Berlin (2022); WHAT DO YOU SEE, YOU PEOPLE, GAZING AT ME, Sadie Coles HQ, London (2021), Grand Ménage, C L E A R I N G, Paris (2021); Lose Enden, Kunsthalle Bern, Bern (2021); World Gallery World presents World Bacteria World by Horacio Alcolea Crespo and Georgia Gardner Gray, Croy Nielsen, Vienna (2020); Dicke Luft, Galerie Bernhard, Zürich (2019); Pigeon Feather Stick, a play by Georgia Gardner Gray, Ludlow 38, New York (2019); Disappearing Berlin, Schinkel Pavillon, Berlin (2019); All’estero & Dr. K.’s Badereise nach Riva: Version B, Croy Nielsen, Vienna (2018); HERE HERE - DAS ICH UND ALLES ANDERE, Braunsfelder Family Collection, Cologne (2018); The Hard Facts of Tragedy in April, Lomex, New York (2018); Monday is a day between Tuesday and Sunday, Tanya Leighton, Berlin (2017); New Theater: Selected Plays, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York (2015); The Pipe at the Gates of Dawn, curated by Grayson Revoir, Jan Kaps, Cologne (2015).
Matthias Groebel (b. 1958, Aachen, DE) selected solo exhibitions include A Change in Weather (Broadcast Material 1989-2001), Kunstverein für die Rheinlande und Westfalen, Düsseldorf (2022); The Rhythms of Reception, Schiefe Zähne, Berlin (2022); Satellites Cast No Shadow, curated by Andreas Selg, Drei, Cologne (2022); Avid Signals (Broadcast Material 1989 - 2001), curated by Andreas Selg, Galerie Bernhard, Zurich (2021); Embedded Painting, Praxis Staat, Cologne (2009); Save from Demons, Livingroom, Cologne (2007); Collective Memories, Universal Concepts Unlimited, New York (2003); Vanishing Points, Universal Concepts Unlimited, New York (2002); Fishing For Compliments, Galerie Berndt, Cologne (2000); Das neutrale Netz, with Joseph Nechvatal, Galerie Karin Sachs, Munich (1997); new.clear_wave, Galerie Berndt, Cologne (1997); alt.sex, with Joseph Nechvatal, In Situ, Aalst (1996); Matthais Groebel, Galerie Berdnt, Cologne (1995); 18+(5)+13, Neuer Aachener Kunstverein (Kabinett), Aachen. Selected group exhibitions include Unto Dust, Fitzpatrick Gallery, Paris (2023); Only One Step From Heaven, curated by Reine Aliénor, La SIRA, Asnière-sur-Seine (2022); The Wig, Bonner Kunstverein, Bonn (2022); Mit Parallelität von Widersprüchen wird Komplexes missverständlicher, Schiefe Zähne, Berlin (2022); Tele-Gen, Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein, Vaduz (2016); Human Frames, Werkstatt der Kulturen, Berlin (2012); Keine Clowns, nur harte Typen, The Forgotten Bar Berlin (2010); Soul Stripper, Project Midi, Brussels (2008); Vital Signs, Maya Stendhal Gallery, New York (2005); self-ish, scicult, London (2004); Reality Revisited, conceived by Matthias Groebel, In Situ, Aalst (2002); R.E.D. (Remote Experience Dependency), Universal Concepts Unlimited, New York (2000); Galerie Berndt, Cologne (1999); Robot Paintings & Sound Installations, In Situ, Aalst (1997); …wie gemalt, Neuer Aachener Kunstverein, Aachen (1995).
This is Matthias Groebel’s first exhibition in New York in 18 years.
Danny McDonald (b. 1971, Los Angeles, CA) selected solo exhibitions include Danny McDonald, curated by Rhea Anastas and Robert Snowden, 80WSE, New York (2022); Thirteen Uneasy Pieces, House of Gaga, Mexico City (2022); Fire Sale on Earth, Ordet, Milan (2019); Search Parameters, Galerie Isabella Bortolozzi, Berlin (2018); Nightmare Scenarios, House of Gaga, Los Angeles (2017); The Beads & Other Objects, Kölnischer Kunstverein, Cologne (2017); The Beads (That Bought Manhattan), Galerie Isabella Bortolozzi, Berlin (2015); Male Moments, House Of Gaga, Mexico City (2014); DANNY McDONALD as MINDY VALE in MINDY VALE GOES TO ENGLAND to uncover the meaning of LYKE-WAKE DIRGE as illustrated by TRENTON DUERKSEN, Cabinet, London (2013); Questionable Beliefs: Part 3, Magic Fingers, New York (2012); Questionable Beliefs: Part 2, House of Gaga, Mexico City (2010); Icons of The Invert’s Universe, Galerie Isabella Bortolozzi, Berlin (2010); Questionable Beliefs, Broadway 1602, New York (2010); Bohemian Monsters, Broadway 1602, New York (2008). Selected group exhibitions include Looking Back / The 13th White Columns Annual, curated by Olivia Shao, White Columns, New York (2023); Beings, dépendance, Brussels (2020); New York by Night, curated by Spencer Sweeney, Hdm Gallery, Beijing (2018); Toys Redux – On Play and Critique, Migros Museum für Gegenwartskunst, Zurich (2015); Puddle, Pothole, Portal, SculptureCentre, New York (2014); Empire State. New York Art Now, Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac, Paris (2013); The Big Inexplicable Paravent Illusion, Galerie Isabella Bortolozzi, Berlin (2012); White Oxford Cotton, Cabinet, London
Matthias Groebel
American Beauty #2
2001
39¾ x 39¾ in.
100.97 x 100.97 cm.
American Beauty #2
2001
39¾ x 39¾ in.
100.97 x 100.97 cm.
Georgia Gardner Gray
Learn English
2023
Oil on canvas
64 x 64 in.
Learn English
2023
Oil on canvas
64 x 64 in.
Danny McDonald
An Inauspicious Speculation
2022
Bronze, glass, vinyl action figure, fabric, artificial hair, wooden pedestal
44 x 12 x 12 in.
111.76 x 30.48 x 30.48 cm.
Documentation by Iain Emaline