Alex Lukas: The Eventuality of Daybreak November 12 - December 06, 2009
Alex Lukas: The Eventuality of Daybreak November 12 - December 06, 2009 Opening Reception: Thursday November 12, 7-9 pm
Glowlab is pleased to present The Eventuality of Daybreak, a solo exhibition of works by Alex Lukas featuring a new series of post-apocalyptic urban landscapes that explore the existence of disaster, be it realized or fictitious, in contemporary society. Hyper-realistic motion pictures and unforgiving news footage depict seemingly identical – and equally riveting – facades of tragedy. The artist recognizes that this relentless visual bombardment has resulted in society’s desensitization to the aesthetics of destruction.
GLOWLAB is an innovative art gallery and creative catalyst located in New York. We collaborate with and present the work of artists exploring the convergence of art, technology and the urban environment.
For The Eventuality of Daybreak, Lukas has selected photographic spreads of well-known metropolises from vintage publications and uses them dually as canvas and unlikely subject. Through a deft handling of paint and carefully placed screenprinted passages, the artist pushes these aging illustrations in futuristic contexts. Submerging these cities conceptually and physically, Lukas inundates images of American cities with layers of media representing cataclysmic floods and crippling overgrowth. Also included in the exhibition are works on paper depicting near-future scenes of devastated landscapes - crumbling infrastructure, overturned trucks and telling signs of human despair. As a counterpoint to the underwater cities, these darkly atmospheric and barren landscapes signal devastation through an unsettling sense of absence. Lukas’ intentional use of dated imagery presented in tandem with contemporary situations forces the viewer to reconcile two differing ideologies of urban space. The artist’s work calls into question society’s collective acceptance of the urban environment as an arena of destruction, once thought unthinkable and now seemingly inevitable.
30 Grand Street . New York, NY 10013 Hours: Tuesday - Sunday, 12-6pm Phone: 212.334.0204 Web: glowlab.com
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Untitled acrylic and silkscreen on book page 9.5 x 13.75 inches 2009
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Untitled acrylic and silkscreen on two book pages 10.75 x 24.25 inches 2009
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Untitled acrylic and silkscreen on two book pages 14 x 19.5 inches 2009
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Untitled acrylic and silkscreen on book page 8.25 x 8 inches 2009
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Untitled acrylic and silkscreen on two book pages 14 x 19.5 inches 2009
Untitled acrylic and silkscreen on book page 10 x 11.25 inches 2009
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Untitled acrylic and silkscreen on book page 12.5 x 17.5 inches 2009
Untitled acrylic and silkscreen on book page 8.75 x 12.5 inches 2009
Untitled acrylic and silkscreen on book page 14.5 x 21 inches 2009
Untitled acrylic and silkscreen on two book pages 14 x 19.5 inches 2009
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Untitled acrylic and silkscreen on book page 10.5 x 11.75 inches 2009
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Alex Lukas The Eventuality of Daybreak is Alex Lukas’ first solo exhibition with Glowlab. His work has also been exhibited in New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, San Francisco, London, Stockholm and Copenhagen as well as in the pages of Swindle Quarterly, Proximity Magazine, The San Francisco Chronicle, The Village Voice, The Drama and The New York Times Book Review. Lukas is a graduate of the Rhode Island School of Design and currently lives and works in Philadelphia, where he is a member of the artist collective Space 1026.
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30 Grand Street . New York, NY 10013 between Thompson St. / 6th Avenue . subway A/C/E to Canal St. hours: Tuesday - Sunday, 12-6pm . phone: 212.334.0204 web: glowlab.com
on the cover
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acrylic and silkscreen on two book pages 12.5 x 18.25 inches 2009
30 Grand Street . New York NY 10013 . between Thompson St. / 6th Ave. . subway: A/C/E to Ca Hours: Tuesday–Sunday, 12–6pm . phone: 212.334.0204 . email: info@glowlab.com . web: glowl
Design: Emilie Keldie