Pace Gallery – serie

In intense monochromatic hues of black and gray, Quin’s paintings examine the mutability of language and symbolLos Angeles–based artist Lauren Quin (born 1992) approaches the act of painting as a process of ongoing inquiry. Composed from dynamic, intensely chromatic forms, her paintings challenge our understanding of abstraction. Eyelets of Alkaline focuses on Quin’s latest body of work, which represents a turn from an “overdose” of chromatic intensity toward what she describes as a “detox of color” in a palette of tonal blacks and grays. Alongside vivid illustrations and foldout pages, the publication also includes a new text by the poet, playwright and essayist Ariana Reines, described as “one of the crucial voices of her generation” by Michael Silverblatt on NPR’s Bookworm.

A surreal investigation of domestic neuroses by the installation virtuosos Elmgreen & DragsetPublished alongside the artists’ first major solo exhibition with Pace, this catalog highlights new and recent work by Elmgreen & Dragset (born 1961 and 1969, respectively). World renowned for their installation Prada Marfa (2005), the Berlin-based duo have been working at the crossroads of art and architecture, performance and installation since 1995. The book also includes an essay by the writer Martin Herbert, an interview with the duo by the art historian Richard Shiff and images of the immersive presentation The Nervous System, a surreal depiction of a dysfunctional home constructed within the Pace’s walls. The domestic scene on display consists of 12 pieces, 10 of which are new. Featuring various sculptural elements that congeal into a complex set of associations, the exhibition encourages viewers to form their own interpretations. In this presentation, Elmgreen & Dragset have inverted the experience of reading a novel, providing images but requiring viewers to construct the story.

Nava’s playful update of history painting forges “new myths” for our timesThis is the first monograph on New York–based artist Robert Nava (born 1985), who paints using a raw, energetic mixing of spray paint, acrylics and grease pencil. Nava’s paintings of fantastical, hybrid beasts, angels and monsters exude a playful candidness that invites viewers to reconnect with the unbridled imagination of their childhoods. Nava’s strongly contemporary aesthetic is deeply rooted in art history and the tradition of monumental history painting.Focusing on Nava's first exhibition in London, this fully illustrated book includes his new series of large-scale battle scene paintings featuring a chimerical world of metamorphic creatures, drawing inspiration from sources as disparate as prehistoric cave paintings, Egyptian art and cartoons. A text by art historian Jason Rosenfeld and an interview with renowned sculptor Huma Bhabha also feature. With photographs of Nava's sketchbooks and the artist working in his studio, this book is a personal and comprehensive view of his work and process.

Lush and psychedelic digital depictions of flowersSince the early 1960s, multimedia artist Lucas Samaras (born 1936) has worked across mediums to advance a Surrealist idiom that departs from the trappings of Abstract Expressionism and Pop art. Over the decades, his interest in self-representation and object transformation has expanded to include experimentations in photography and—beginning in 1996, when he obtained his first computer—digital art. This volume, conceived and published by Pace Gallery, narrows the scope of Samaras’ oeuvre to focus on his psychedelic digital distortions of flowers. It comprises 110 color images featuring flora of all kinds: in gardens, along sidewalks, in landfills or superimposed onto kaleidoscopic abstract backgrounds. Taken together, these augmented images form an intriguing part of Samaras’ recent work.

A facsimile edition of one of Thek’s composition notebooks from 1977, replete with vivid watercolors, sketches and notesAmerican artist Paul Thek, an influential figure in the post-1960s generation, left behind more than 100 notebooks containing drawings and watercolors, diary entries, poetry, correspondences, ideas for artworks and elaborate transcriptions of texts by philosophers or theologians. Considered by Thek to be artworks unto themselves, his notebooks provide unparalleled insight into his imagination, which he translated into sculpture, painting and installation. This facsimile edition of one of Thek’s composition notebooks from 1977 provides an up-close experience of this intimate facet of his practice, with vivid watercolors, lists, scribbles, notes and sketches revealing glimmers of the inner life of a legendary artist. Within the notebook, Thek endeavors, continuously, to work out his mind, dispelling humorous and resonant self-directives, such as “Avoid anyone who seeks to be a MASTER.” A few pages later, in reference to another declarative, he cautions, “This is not necessarily true; avoid definitions.”Creating eclectic paintings, sculptures, video and performance works, Paul Thek (1933–88) defied neat categorization or a signature style. He is best known for his 1960s “meat pieces,” later referred to as his Technological Reliquaries series, consisting of hyperrealistic wax sculptures depicting hunks of flesh—both human and otherwise. Thek is also credited as one of the first artists to create elaborate, ephemeral environments or installations composed of perishable materials such as sand, candles and newspaper. He died in New York from AIDS-related complications.