DENZIL HURLEY AND REGINALD SYLVESTER II: BEYOND THE FRAME: ABSTRACTION RECONSTRUCTED

CANADA, NY is pleased to announce a two-person exhibition organized by partner Christiana Ine-Kimba Boyle, showcasing the work of Denzil Hurley (1949-2021) and Reginald Sylvester II (b.1987).

January 16 - February 22, 2025

Hurley and Sylvester share an investigative approach to painting, pushing the boundaries of material, structure, and spatial perception while crafting layered reflections on presence, identity, and memory. Despite their generational differences, Hurley and Sylvester both approach abstraction as a dynamic and evolving language—a framework for exploring materiality and meaning. For Hurley, abstraction is treated as a form of meditative rigor, where the act of painting is inseparable from fundamental physical choices and the histories they evoke. His inclusion of wooden sticks in his multi-panel constructions draws attention to the intersections of painting, architecture, and the provisional forms of everyday life. These elements imbue his works with a sense of rootedness, linking the modernist ethos of reduction with the tactile, lived experience of space and place.

Sylvester’s work stands out for its fusion of abstraction and the raw energy of the industrial environment. Working from his studio in Ridgewood, NY, he transforms everyday materials—studio debris and industrial remnants—into striking visual language. His "semi-paintings," inspired by the grid-like patterns on the backs of worn, oxidized semi-trucks, elevate mundane surfaces into rich explorations of texture, spatial rhythm, and density.

Through his process, Sylvester engages with the concept of assemblage, creating works that embody both formal and material tension. His paintings merge the austerity of 1960s and 70s analytical abstraction with the immediacy and grit of contemporary aesthetics. This synthesis results in a unique quality, bridging personal histories with broader cultural narratives. Like Hurley, Sylvester expands the lexicon of abstraction, revealing its potential to connect the personal with the industrial and the material.

Together, their practices invite viewers to consider abstraction as a language capable of expressing both personal introspection and shared cultural realities. Hurley and Sylvester demonstrate that abstraction, far from being fixed or reductive, remains a vital and generative space for exploring materiality, identity, and the ever-shifting relationships between form and meaning.