ROB WYNNE: SPEECHLESS
Locks Gallery is pleased to present an exhibition of new work by New York-based artist Rob Wynne. For his fifth solo show at the gallery, Wynne exhibits recent works that explore the elusive nature of language through his use of eccentric materials. As a conceptual artist with interests in literature, painting, sculpture, drawing, embroidery, and glass making, Wynne works in a range of media with a particular interest in a material’s ability to transform.
His signature wall reliefs are comprised of an abstract cluster of individual hand poured mirrored glass elements, achieved by uniquely pouring each letter or element, followed by a process of cooling and silvering.
Where
Elope
Smoke on vellum, 2018
21 x 27 inches
In order to transport the letters into the cooling oven from the table that they’re poured on, they have to be slid onto a piece of wood. And when they’re slid onto the wood, the wood catches fire and produces an enormous amount of smoke, which chars the surface of the wood. So it both imprints the letter—“brands it”—into the wood, and it also creates smoke, which is charcoal...I lit a candle and put paper on a piece of Plexiglas, so that I could look through the paper and trap the smoke onto it. So it really is a charcoal drawing.
Beyond an unusual and glittering quality, the work takes on a poetic subtext. Phrases and words are drawn from diary entries, snippets from poems, and conversations. The themes of Invisibility / transformation are directly referenced in the morphing of the materials - glass when clear, the white text prints, the translucency of the vellum that permits the ability to read the sewn text while looking through to see the threads unravelling.
Video courtesy of The Brooklyn Museum, January 2019.
Biography
Rob Wynne (b.1950) lives and works in New York City and has had an extensive history of solo exhibitions in the United States and in France dating back to 1981, including at the Brooklyn Museum (2018-19) and Norton Museum of Art, West Palm Beach, FL (2012). His work has been featured in recent group exhibitions at the Flag Art Foundation, New York, NY (2013); Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY (2010), and the McNay Art Museum, San Antonio, TX (2005). Wynne’s work is in the collections of the Whitney Museum of Art, New York; The Museum of Modern Art, New York; Philadelphia Museum of Art, Pennsylvania; Centre Pompidou, France; The Norton Museum of Art, Florida; the Columbus Museum of Art, Ohio; and the Bibliotheque Nationale de France, Paris.
Price List
Silver Rush
Poured & mirrored glass, 2019
77 x 92 inches
$55,000
Bronze Mirror
Polished bronze with glass mirror, 2018
54 x 35 inches
$41,000
Blue Nile
Poured and mirrored glass, 2017
73 x 74 inches
$55,000
Where
Elope
Smoke on vellum, 2018
21 x 27 inches
$4,500 each
Celestial
Glass beads and thread on vellum, 2017
21 x 27 inches
$7,500
Night Visit
Poured and mirrored glass, 2019
38 x 33 inches
$20,000
Think Peace
Obstacle Illusion
Probably Definitely
Always Sometimes
Pigment on Paper, 2019
23 x 27 inches
Editions of 8
$3,700 each
See the Flowers of this Painted World
Poured and mirrored glass, 2018
72 x 84 inches
$50,000
Phantom
Poured and mirrored glass, 2017
93 x 75 inches
$45,000
Bronze Exclamation
Poured & mirrored glass, 2018
18 x 4 inches
Edition of 25
$9,000
The Moon Viewers
Poured and mirrored glass, 2018
117 x 80 inches
$65,000
Speechless
Poured & mirrored glass, 2019
24 x 50 inches
$18,000
Blue Green Splash
Poured and mirrored glass, 2017
32 x 24 inches
$12,000
Unicorn Horn
Mirror polished bronze, 2020
29 x 5 inches
Edition of 8
$25,000
