James Fuentes Gallery

Two prisoners whose cells adjoin communicate with each other by knocking on the wall. The wall is the thing which separates them but it is also their means of communication. It is the same with us and God. Every separation is a link.—Simone Weil

The exhibition encompasses a grouping of paintings and drawings. Centering on an interest in healing frequencies, these works take as a root element the particular properties and therapeutic effects of a cat’s purr and presence, and more generally the physiological effects of drone. The title GAMMA refers to the frequency range that this purr tends to fall between (40Hz-100Hz). While much of DeGraw’s past work has had a direct relationship to music, he has spent that past three years becoming more familiar with the properties of painting and drawing, easing deeper into using color and working at a larger scale. Having taken some time away from the immersion of touring, performing, and recording live music, a pull in attention toward frequency, repetition, space, and silence can be located within DeGraw’s recent artworks. Translated visually, his previously more straightforward portraiture moves closer to abstraction, finding beauty in shapes, forms, and colors that are nevertheless bodily. GAMMA marks DeGraw’s fourth solo exhibition with the gallery.

Further insight on the work can be found in a recent exchange with fellow artist, Rita Ackermann: LINK.

Brian DeGraw is an artist and musician working across painting, drawing, installation, video, sculpture, as a DJ, and as a member of the band Gang Gang Dance. He has presented solo exhibitions at James Fuentes, Allen & Eldridge, and Real Estate Fine Art in New York; Le Confort Moderne in Poiters, France; Wish-Less in Tokyo, Japan; and has been included in group exhibitions at the Museum of Modern Art, Jewish Museum, White Columns, Swiss Institute, Pace, Tramps, The Hole, ATM Gallery, American Fine Arts Co., and in the 2008 Whitney Biennial in New York; Kunsthalle Wien in Vienna, Austria; Deste Foundation in Athens, Greece; and Wish-Less, Hysteric Glamour, and Gallery Claska in Tokyo. His work is represented in the public collections of the Museum of Modern Art, Zabludowicz Collection, Dakis Joannou Collection, Ragnarock Museum, and Agnes B Collection. DeGraw lives and works in New York City.