Jacob Dyrenforth
Monument to the New Cult of Sex and Anarchy
January 31 – March 7, 2009
Opening reception: Saturday, January 31, 2009, 6 – 8 p.m.
Renwick Gallery is pleased to announce Monument to the New Cult of Sex and Anarchy, Jacob Dyrenforth's first exhibition at the gallery. The show features drawings and sculptures.
Monument to the New Cult of Sex and Anarchy centers on the tension between the ascending and descending energies of utopian beliefs - the ambition to change the world, and the downward pull of failed aspiration. Dyrenforth explores the meeting point of potential and collapse through drawings of people operating on the fringe. These drawings feature people from various marginal communities of the late twentieth century, including new age gurus, cult members, burnouts, dancers, musicians, and hedonists. The portraits explore the psychological impact of ambition and failure on these types. He evokes the language of new age aesthetics and mid-century modernism through geometric abstraction, representational sculpture, and esoteric and occult symbols. With his drawings and sculptures, Dyrenforth offers a lens through which to examine the legacy of twentieth century ideologies from the dawn of the twenty-first century.
Jacob Dyrenforth was born in 1975 and currently lives and works in New York City. He received his MFA from Columbia School of the Arts. His work has been exhibited at The Reina Sofia, Madrid; The Contemporary Art Center, Cincinnati; Socrates Sculpture Park, Long Island City; and High Desert Test Site 3, Joshua Tree, California; and galleries such as Zwirner & Wirth, New York; Museum 52, New York; and Harris Lieberman, New York.
For more information, please contact Christine Messineo at 212.609.3535 or christine@renwickgallery.com