Openings: Ryan McGinness – “Geometric Primatives” @ Pace Primative

On Friday night, AM attended the opening for Ryan McGinness’ new show at New York’s Pace Primative. As the title Geometric Primitives indicates, Ryan utilizes his signature vocabulary of graphics and applies them to the African works that are at the core of the this specific gallery. Sounds simple right? Well this knock out exhibition is definitely more than meets the eye as Mr. McGinness raided the vast archives of African tribal art at gallery for reference, then proceeded to use repeated drawings to break down each authentic work into a simple 2-D form. Kinda like how an Iron Chef sometimes deconstructs a classic dish into its simplest elements.

We particularly enjoyed the setup where some of the actual African artwork & artifacts were displayed alongside the featured pieces. A selection of ink sketches were also on display to illustrate Ryan’s meticulous process. For this new series, there looked to be a move towards implementing a background patterning to add an extra dimension to his alluring compositions. This show runs until May 5th so if you’re in town, make plans to stop by.

Check out all the action after the jump.