Spencer Sweeney

Poetry is the only 
answer to the solution.
—Taylor Mead

Gagosian is pleased to present Self-Portraits, an exhibition of new paintings by Spencer Sweeney, his first with the gallery.

Self-portraiture, which Sweeney has equated to “working as your own analyst,” has been a persistent genre within his work. In both abstract and figurative modes, he weaves between recognizable human consciousness and expression. While Sweeney paints himself from photographs and mirrors, other personalities and influences of indeterminate gender and style begin to pervade his self-depictions. The artist appears as a social creature, subject to the influence of others, as well as to the forces of environment and lifestyle. The imagery of these new works jumps between different styles with an irreverent resistance to strict categorization.

For twenty years, Sweeney has been a vital presence in the art, nightlife, and music of New York City. As musician and performance artist, he was a member of the seminal noise-art group Actress. As a painter and visual artist, he makes collages, paintings, self-portraits, and drawings, as well as environments and immersive experiences, such as the 2010 show in which he moved his living quarters into a gallery space and installed himself alongside the art objects on view. With Self-Portraits, he brings a humorous pathos to the act of introspection.

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