MARTY SCHNAPF: THRESHOLDS
Perrotin announces Thresholds, the first solo exhibition by the artist Marty Schnapf in Asia. Schnapf’s work engages with concepts such as parallax, encounter, and the sublime, along with themes of journey and passage.
May 31 - July 6, 2024
He began painting Forest Chimes, a pivotal piece that sets the tone for the exhibition. In this uncanny work, figuration and abstraction converge in undulating forms that evoke catharsis and wonder. We seem to have encountered a gatekeeper, the opening chorus to an exhibition that moves through wide-ranging vistas in a sweeping exploration of human perception and expression.
If Forest Chimes is the entrance point, The First Moment of Sleep is quite literally the plunge. The threshold is crossed as a figure dives into water sending fish scattering in all directions. Water, a recurring motif in Schnapf’s oeuvre, is depicted as reflective, versatile in form, and metaphorical of the subconscious mind. The title of the piece also implies a certain freedom or release.
The Thresholds are not merely illustrated ideas. They are experienced passages discovered and crossed in the process of each work’s creation. Herein lies one of the secrets to the exhibition’s distinctly mercurial quality.
Schnapf’s ongoing interest in the psychological resonance of abstract space is evident in his attention to compositional weight. In Sauna, for example, he harnesses the triangular arrangement of subjects to impart a sense of stability, while the downward motion of the embracing figures evokes feelings of vulnerability, protection, and warmth.
In Traveler, a figure traverses several settings, seasons, and temporal planes. She strides, resolutely present but surrounded by a constellation of living memories and imagined futures. Half Remembered Dream portrays a woman at once sleeping, sitting, rising, and floating against a surreal backdrop. We are privy to both her dream and its imperfect recollection.
Collectively, the works in Thresholds depict intense energetic gateways that must be surpassed in order for desired reactions, phenomena, or conditions to manifest. Whether it be between different places, periods, or emotional states, the paintings signify this turning point.