“I think about Pollock as I crouch over yards of fabric, and instead of dripping paint with a brush, I let my hands guide the mark making as I fold the paint into the crushed-up satin, organza, and chiffon - and let all of my anxiety out without having to channel through another mark-making tool.” – Preston Douglas
LAUNCH F18 is delighted to present TENSION // HANGING ON, a new online viewing room by Brooklyn based artist, Preston Douglas. This presentation marks the first collaboration with the gallery and features a selection of recent mixed media paintings focusing on the artist’s large abstract monochromatic works. TENSION // HANGING ON opens on November 18, 2021, and remains on view until January 27, 2022.
The exhibition’s title, TENSION // HANGING ON, references the artist’s expressive infusion of material, pigments and physical touch captured within the three works presented in this online viewing room. Building upon a multitude of internal themes and emotional experiences, Preston uses these materials and informal processes, to capture a balance between creation and destruction. Featuring folded materials, the tension of them being stretched, and then breaking through the two-dimensional plane by showing the viewer the stretcher bars, the artist bridges a reference directly to painting, and places the work amongst the long lineage of exploration within the material itself.
Entrenched within these works are echoes of history, and the marking of a sense of time. Capturing struggle, movement, delicacy, and the grip of only just holding on, the three works featured in TENSION // HANGING ON, encapsulate the beauty of holding on. Through Preston’s journey of complete immersion into his work, what we see in the end are the parts that remain. Though they are exposed, they are the truest aspects of his rigorous process, and the most significant aspects that remain visible through the successes and failures of his stylistic approach.
Within this state of emotion and chaos lies an arena that stands between unity and destruction. Observed throughout these works are the ultimate test of Preston’s process, and in his own way provide some of the greatest visual metaphors for the experiences and trials of life.
For more information and a preview of this viewing room please email us at: info@launchf18.com.