Gregory Lind Gallery is pleased to present an exhibition of recent sculptures by Seth Koen. This marks the artist’s sixth show with the gallery. The works include both wall and standing pieces that range from natural wood to graphite- and color-stained wood with accents of thread.

The sculptures, which are minimal lines carved of wood, hang like gestures in space. They are attenuated physical forms that hint at the equations and foundations of an idealized, mathematically precise realm of ideas. Despite their apparent simplicity, each piece—which floats out from the wall or floor, announcing itself in almost playful ways—encompasses the precarious nature of a thought achieving form via the interplay between matter and motion.

The Humors II is a wooden line with the slightest kink in the middle. From a distance it is a simple line, but upon approaching it, the viewer perceives a disturbance in the field, which is augmented by the shadows cast on the wall. Whipsmart is a monumental piece that is imposing in its larger-than-life height, and at the same time, vulnerable and tenuous, as it arcs up and falls back to the floor in a thin point—perched on the edge of collapse and flight.

First Things First exemplifies the conversational nature of Koen’s work and the show’s persistent wavering between dimensional realities. This piece stands out among the relative quiet of Koen’s singular and delicate natural wood forms as an arresting trio of color and repetition that tricks the eye, seeming to morph between solid, tangible objects and what, in the next moment, appear to be line drawings on the wall.

All of the assembled works are almost anthropomorphic, animated as they are with the suggestion of continuous movement and evolution, as well as their preoccupation with balance, connection, and the inhabiting of space itself. These works are a continued exploration of Koen’s interest in the balance between mass and line, as well as the creation of quirky, iconic images that spur imaginative associations.

Seth Koen is originally from Maine. He received his BA from Hampshire College in Amherst, MA and an MFA from Mills College in Oakland, CA. He has shown widely in the U.S., including a recent solo show with Jeff Bailey Gallery in Hudson, New York and shows in the San Francisco Bay Area at The Lab, Thomas Welton Stanford Art Gallery, Richmond Art Center, Rena Bransten Gallery, Headlands Center for the Arts, and San Francisco Arts Commission Gallery; as well as B. Sakata Garo, Sacramento; Western Colorado Center for the Arts, Grand Junction; Chela, Baltimore; and Hafemann Gallery, Wiesbaden, Germany. Koen has been featured in Art in America, Sculpture Magazine, The New York Times, Artweek, and American Craft. He has been the recipient of the Kala Art Institute Fellowship, Cadogan and Trefethen Fellowships, and the Jay Defeo Prize. He currently lives and works in Easthampton, Massachusetts.

• Press release (PDF) | Artist bio (PDF)
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