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Samuel Levi Jones: Conscious Intuition
Galerie Lelong Exhibitions, 11 May - 17 June 2023

Samuel Levi Jones: Conscious Intuition

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  • "A desire to create a space where information, that encompasses all, coexists, without fear, so that the pendulum stops its violent swing from one extreme perspective and back again.” - Samuel Levi Jones
  • Opening Thursday, May 11, 2023, 6:00pm – 8:00pm Artist in conversation with Danny Dunson: Saturday, May 20, 12:00pm Galerie Lelong...

    Opening Thursday, May 11, 2023, 6:00pm – 8:00pm

    Artist in conversation with Danny Dunson: Saturday, May 20, 12:00pm

    Galerie Lelong & Co., New York is pleased to announce Conscious Intuition, a solo exhibition by Samuel Levi Jones that highlights the artist’s practice of abstraction as a means of transformation. Featuring works composed of pulped encyclopedias, law and medical textbooks, and US flags, the exhibition critiques authoritative systems. As the artist explains, this deconstruction and reinterpretation is driven by “a desire to create a space where information, that encompasses all, coexists, without fear, so that the pendulum stops its violent swing from one extreme perspective and back again.”

    48 Portraits (Underexposed) (2012), an important early work and Jones’s first foray into the use of pulp, will be on view, marking the first time the work will be shown in its entirety on the East Coast. Inspired by Gerhard Richter’s 1972 work by the same name, and its notable exclusion of women and people of color, Jones printed on pulped encyclopedia paper portraits of prominent African American figures across disciplines—24 women and 24 men—who, despite their achievements, were not included in the 1972 Encyclopedia Britannica. The images are underexposed, inviting viewers to look more closely at these individuals, their accomplishments, and the authoritative volumes that ignored them.

  • This foundational work will be complemented by a selection of new works that see Jones developing his practice of transformation through abstraction across forms and mediums. Trojan Horse (2023), a sculpture composed of pulped encyclopedia pages and coated in pulped law book covers, is displayed resting atop its shipping crate. The sculpture appears ready to be returned to sender and prompts an inquiry into how ideas and information are circulated. Named for the famed symbol of false victory, the stone-like form on its imposing plinth recalls the equestrian statue genre, creating a parallel to the dialogue surrounding public monuments. New paintings made from pulped book covers are obscured to varying degrees, while stars and stripes peek through in Conscious Intuition (2022-23), a triptych made of pulped US flags. The inclusion of these recognizable elements serves as a reminder that society cannot move forward equitably without acknowledging its flaws.

    Jones’s continued innovation in the use of pulped materials is exemplified by his first major sculptural installation, The Library of Alexandria (2023), which was conceived during a recent residency at Dieu Donné and will be presented for the first time. The work is composed of vintage bookshelves in-situ sparsely populated by sculptures cast in the shape of encyclopedias. These volumes are rendered illegible, a reminder of the histories excluded from the educational canon.

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  • Artist
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    • Galerie Lelong: Dialogues | Samuel Levi Jones with Danny Dunson

      Galerie Lelong: Dialogues | Samuel Levi Jones with Danny Dunson

      Saturday, May 20, 12pm ET in the gallery View More
    • Samuel Levi Jones

      Samuel Levi Jones

      48 Portraits (Underexposed) installed at Edison School for the Arts, IPS 47, Indianapolis May 26, 2020

      Organized by Arts for Learning, Indiana as part of their third space project. 

      View More
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Galerie Lelong, New York

528 West 26th Street

New York, NY 10001

T +1 212 315 0470

F +1 212 262 0624

art@galerielelong.com

Galerie Lelong, Paris

13, rue de Téhéran

75008 Paris France

T +33 1 45 63 13 19

F +33 1 42 89 34 33

info@galerie-lelong.com

Galerie Lelong, Paris

38, avenue Matignon

75008 Paris France

T +33 1 45 63 13 19

F +33 1 42 89 34 33
info@galerie-lelong.com

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