I first met the multitalented Danny Moynihan within the early Eighties, however I didn’t see him once more till lately. Throughout that point, he’s labored as a gallerist and an impartial curator, printed a satirical novel in regards to the artwork world (Boogie-Woogie, 2014) and a choice of his assortment of erotic images (Personal Assortment: A Historical past of Erotic Pictures, 1850–1940, 2014), written An Set up for Agongo, an opera, and exhibited his work in England and Los Angeles (which I used to be solely in a position to see in replica). As a result of I felt strongly about his work after I noticed them within the Eighties, early in his profession, I used to be significantly curious to see In Reward of Limestone at Nathalie Karg Gallery, his first solo exhibition in New York. I knew his work had modified, however I wasn’t positive how.
The exhibition’s title comes from one among W. H. Auden’s best poems. In a letter to his biographer, Edward Mendelson, Auden wrote of limestone “that rock creates the only human landscape.” I point out this as a result of Moynihan’s work, which start with direct commentary of various landscapes visited by Paul Cézanne, invite allegorical readings, however with a twist. The hidden that means of his photos, which meld human and nonhuman types with rocky landscapes, stays opaque. They’re invitingly impenetrable, at the same time as they fire up all types of associations, from mythological beginnings to rampant lust and greed.
Danny Moynihan, “Quarry” (2021–22), oil on canvas, 40 x 60 inches (101.6 x 152.4 cm)
Whereas the exhibition’s 10 work primarily depict rocky landscapes, every one has its personal character. Since one of many present’s underlying themes is the connection between a human physique and an detached panorama, discovering alternative ways to convey that trade was one among Moynihan’s challenges, together with making every panorama particular and distinct from the others.
In “Quarry” (2021–22), which takes Cézanne’s depictions of Bibémus Quarry as a place to begin, dinosaur bones merge with giant tough stones, and collectively evoke the physique and flesh. It’s this ambiguity that held my consideration. Are we stones or buttocks? The tough areas can recommend scar tissue or wounds, including one other layer of that means to the work.
By reminding us that we dwell on a planet that has been dwelling to innumerable different animals, a lot of that are lengthy extinct, Moynihan frames the current inside an expansive stretch of time. By imbuing among the stones with a fleshy presence that ranges from youthful to decaying, he provides one other a measure of time. The sky above the land that speaks to those two measures of time provides one more sense of time, underscoring our insignificant existence in an detached universe. I believe this understanding of time’s disdain for humankind and the myths we derive from the rocks and soil of the earth — whether or not they are often up to date and reworked with out shedding their primal energy — are on the artist’s thoughts.
Danny Moynihan, “Gaia” (2021–22), oil on canvas, 40 x 60 inches (101.6 x 152.4 cm)
The contour of the mountain in “Gaia” (2021–22) resembles Paul Cézanne’s Mont Saint-Victoire, however Moynihan has reworked it right into a volcano. An irregular row of enormous, different-sized, orb-like shapes protruding from the foot of the mountain is animated by the Cyclopean eyes that appear to stare again at us. They belong to creatures we can not see. What are we to make of them? And, equally necessary, what do they make of us? The work attracts out a sense of mutual estrangement because of our lack of ability to see all the creature.
“Charge” (2021–24) is the one portray populated by energetic creatures, which resemble pigs. The 2 on the left aspect of the work are licking and nuzzling what appears to be an unidentifiable milky white creature, just like the one one on the appropriate. Behind them is a formation of porous limestone from which staring eyes may be seen. The juxtaposition of eyeless porcine figures and bodiless eyes, gentle flesh and porous rocks, suggests the alienation of thoughts and physique, rational pondering and animal greed. Is lust an impulse that we are able to management? What can we do in regards to the greed of the tremendous wealthy? How does their greed have an effect on us and the earth we share?
By starting with motifs impressed by Cézanne, is Moynihan charting how far we’ve devolved for the reason that single-minded French painter who walked for miles in pursuit of the proper view of diffident nature? What does it imply to animate the stones with flesh and eyes? There aren’t any simple solutions to the questions that come up in these work.
Danny Moynihan, “Charge” (2021–24), oil and sand on canvas 65 x 90 inches (165.1 x 228.6 cm)
Danny Moynihan: In Reward of Limestone continues at Nathalie Karg Gallery (127 Elizabeth Avenue, Decrease East Aspect, Manhattan) via December 20. The exhibition was organized by the gallery.