Press Release

THE DEAD DON’T DIE 

Friday May 14th, 6-8pm

Abattoir Gallery is pleased to present a group exhibition curated by Shawn Powell that includes work by Alvaro Barrington, Theresa Daddezio, Vaughn Davis jr., Olivia Drusin, Alteronce Gumby, Ravi Jackson, Lumin Wakoa, and Willa Wasserman. Taking its name from the Ohio-born filmmaker Jim Jarmusch’s recent zombie movie The Dead Don’t Die, this exhibition brings together the works of eight artists investigating abstract painting through a variety of approaches. Their paintings breathe new life into the genre of abstract painting in the wake of Zombie Formalism and amidst the popularization of figurative painting in recent years.  

This contingent of young artists are reanimating abstraction yet again through refreshing and innovative methods. Abstract painting just won’t die. The artists included in this exhibition utilize shape, line, mark, process, color, and materials et. al. to express the personal, something that contemporary abstraction has sought to dispel as too sentimental, too romantic, or too uncool. The artists are similar in their interest in materials, a sense of touch, intuition, the meandering mark, novel approaches, and personal interpretations of the function and history of abstract painting.
So, why won’t the dead just die? It is, perhaps, because painting itself has less to say about the world around it than the individuals who continue to make them. One thing is for sure, these eight artists are not sleepwalkers.

Featured image:  Theresa Daddezio, 2019, Sunburn Squeeze, oil on canvas, 48 x 30 inches. 

Image courtesy:  Theresa Daddezio, DC Moore.