For his first European solo exhibition, Kevin Beasley presented a constellation of objects, instruments and locally sourced artifacts embedded with microphones. Collecting the sounds of the space as visitors navigate the installation, the objects disperse atmospheric reverberations through speakers located in various rooms within the institution. Distinguishing between and amplifying aural and visual experiences, the artist establishes a sensory space for communal reflection.

The exhibition’s title, Rubbings, draws from the term used for a reproduction, or impression, of an image or texture created from overlain material such as paper rubbed with pencil or wax to transmit and relocate the underlying design. This transference of information is not unlike Beasley’s exploration of a locale’s cultural residue – the resounding effects of a site’s social, economic and geographic history on the temperament of the present. Incorporating nationalistic patterns and textures found at a local flea market into his ongoing series of resin sculptures, Beasley merges, layers, and extracts new meaning through material and bodily encounters.

 

Kevin Beasley (b. 1985, Lynchburg, VA) lives and works in New York. Beasley’s practice traverses sculpture, photography, sound and performance. The artist has been the subject of and participated in exhibitions internationally. In 2018, Beasley is slated to present solo exhibitions at the Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, MA and the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York. He is represented by Casey Kaplan in New York.