Shay Kun

These works are an infusion, a hybrid of absurdities. Drawing on the style and subject matter of the Hudson River School, particularly Thomas Cole's reverent paeans to nature and Albert Bierstadt's awestruck visions of the sublime in the American West, these works capture the grandeur of nature. Despite acquiring a newly cultured look, these landscapes, made with sincerity and attention, are transformed into a juxtaposition of nature and its human invaders, who appear in the guise of tourists or adventure seekers. The contrast between these contemporary characters and their stylized environment is abrupt and, despite their small scale, they are an almost offensively inadequate substitute for the deities or characters of noble bearing that filled their place in the painting of the past centuries.

The elements populating these series of paintings of the American West are small but obnoxious, infesting nature more so than enjoying its restorative powers. While Cole and his colleagues ascribed spiritual qualities to the environment, and warned of the destruction being caused by expansion, here the damage has been done. Lakes are littered with junked cars and pristine vistas blighted by tightropes, rickety bridges and other evidence ...

Shay Kun
Born in Israel in 1974
Lives and works in New York

Education
2000 MA in Fine Art, Goldsmiths College, London, England
1998 BA in Fine Art, Bezalel Academy of Art and Design, Jerusalem, Israel

Selected Solo Exhibitions
2013 Feast and Famine, Linda Warren Gallery, Chicago, IL
Untitled, Hezi Cohen Gallery, Tel-Aviv, Israel
2012 Domestic Sticky Wildlife, Martine Chaisson Gallery, New Orleans, LA
Be First, Be Smarter or Cheat, Benrimon Contemporary, New York, NY
2011 Rebreather, Lamotagne Gallery, Boston, MA
VOLTA NY, “Take Off,” New York, NY
2010 Exfoliations, Benrimon Contemporary, New York, NY
Overcast, Hezi Cohen Gallery, Tel-Aviv, Israel
Slack Tide, Lamontagne Gallery, Boston, MA
2009 Opportunities multiply as they are seized, David Castillo Gallery, Miami, FL
2008 Nails & Feathers, BUIA Gallery, New York, NY
2007 Old Flames Don't Die Out They Build New Fires, Tavi Dresdner Gallery, Tel-Aviv, Israel
Perversion Is The Love We Feel When Others Feel Love, SEVENTEEN Gallery, London, UK
2006 Melting Midlands, BUIA Gallery, New York, NY
2005 I Care Because You do Too, BUIA Gallery, New York, NY
1999 Desktop-The Reunion, Efrat Gallery, Tel-Aviv, Israel
1992 Gesher Gallery, Tel-Aviv, Israel

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