Denny Gallery is pleased to announce Metamodern, a group exhibition with artists Rachel Beach, James O. Clark, Austin Eddy, Justine Hill, Christopher Martino, Marcelyn McNeil, Brendan Smith, Russell Tyler, and Amanda Valdez. The exhibition will run from July 16 to August 29, 2015.

The exhibition will explore the idea of a contemporary cultural movement in painting and sculpture that has developed in dialogue with and in response to modernism and postmodernism of the 20th century. The title, “metamodernism,” is a term proposed by Dutch scholars Timotheus Vermeulen and Robin van den Akker to describe how contemporary artists oscillate in attitude and approach between enthusiastic modernism and ironic postmodernism, while addressing contemporary concerns with financial instability, ecological destruction, and post-digital existence. The prefix “meta” is used to mean “between,” as in oscillating between the polar ideas of selfhood and authority manifested in modernism and postmodernism. The artists in the exhibition are fluent in the language and forms of abstract expressionism, minimalism, and primitivism, and they incorporate sincerity, irony, focus, humor, skepticism, diligence and detachment into their work without considering those elements to be contradictory. The idea has been explored in exhibitions at the Museum of Art and Design, New York (No More Modern: Notes on Metamodernism, 2011) and Galerie Tanja Wagner, Berlin (Discussing Metamodernism, 2012). The exhibition at Denny Gallery will include a different group of artists with more practice-based concerns about historicity and innovation.

The exhibition includes two artists who are represented by Denny Gallery, Russell Tyler (b. 1981, lives in Brooklyn) and Amanda Valdez (b. 1982, lives in New York). Rachel Beach (b. 1975, lives in Brooklyn) is represented by Blackston Gallery in New York. James O. Clark (b. 1948, lives in Brooklyn) has been exhibiting in New York since the 1980s and recently had a solo exhibition at ltd los angeles. Austin Eddy (b. 1986, lives in Brooklyn) has had solo shows in Puerto Rico, Atlanta and Chicago. Justine Hill (b. 1985, lives in Brooklyn) received her MFA from U. Penn and has had solos in Miami and New York. Christopher Martino (b. 1979, lives in Brooklyn) recently graduated from the School of Visual Arts in New York. Marcelyn McNeil (b. 1965, lives in Houston) has a forthcoming solo with Kathryn Markel in New York. Brendan Smith (b. 1983, lives in New York) received his MFA from Yale and has exhibited with Louis B. James in New York.

Please join us for an opening reception for the artists on Thursday, July 16, from 6 to 8 p.m. Denny Gallery is located at 261 Broome Street in New York City. SUMMER HOURS are Wednesday to Friday, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., Saturday 12 to 6 p.m., and Sunday to Tuesday by appointment. For further information, contact Elizabeth Denny at 212-226-6537 or by email at [email protected].