Andrew Kuo, Scott Reeder

It Gets Beta

Feb 21 — Mar 28, 2015
New York, Chelsea

Marlborough is pleased to present It Gets Beta, a two-person exhibition by Andrew Kuo and Scott Reeder that will simultaneously occupy the 25th Street and Broome Street galleries. In Chelsea, the show includes new paintings by Kuo and new paintings and neon works by Reeder. On the Lower East side, the artists have created collaborative mini nightclub called Thinkers, which is entered through a tiny door at the back of the gallery, and will feature weekly music and performance programming.

The pairing of these two artists acknowledges that, while the artists have, on the surface, a divergent aesthetic they share a deeper kinship in their use of language, humor, color and a shared attraction to (and ironic suspicion of) abstraction. While Kuo’s brightly patterned chart paintings evoke the pleasures of geometric abstraction, they negate the purity of hard-edge painting by acting as functioning metrics of his tragicomic mental states. Similarly (though inversely) Reeder’s pasta and roller paintings elevate the flatfooted “art” idea to a level of uncomfortable, humorous grandeur—at once reductive and overblown.

The use of text by both artists also runs parallel. The involved prose of Kuo’s charts is painstakingly composed and edited before being systemetized into an optical infographic. The degree of personal disclosure can be unnervingly specific or more relatably generalized as with a song’s lyrics. In these paintings, the text effectively writes the code that constructs the complex architecture of the painting. Reeder wields language more bluntly in the form of lists or short, poetic pairings of words. The letters themselves, their sound and their shape, are the subject of the painting and telegraph Reeder’s potent deadpan humor. In the case of both artists, however, the form and meaning of language are inextricable.

As artists with active public presences online, in video, and music performance, Reeder and Kuo are two artists who understand very well the mechanics and message of each medium and seek to streamline our experience within them while complicating our assumptions. With this crucial and shared skill, the artists are able to remind us of what is sad about funny, what is transcendent about the humdrum, and what is smart about dumb.

Works

Kuo reederinstallationview14itgetsbeta2015photocreditbillorcutt
Installation View. Photo: Bill Orcutt.
Reeder, untitled, 2015, wax pastel and acrylic on canvas, 96 x 64 in. 243.84 x 162.56 cm cnon 56.294 photo credit bill orcutt
Scott Reeder, Untitled, 2015, wax pastel and acrylic on canvas, 64 × 96 in., 162.6 × 243.8 cm
Reeder, unfair, 2015
Scott Reeder, Unfair, 2015, white neon, wiring, mounting hardware, edition of 3 +2AP, 6 × 29 in., 15.2 × 73.7 cm
Kuo, so sorry (1 29 15), 2015, acrylic and carbon transfer on linen, 67 x 95 in. 170.18 x 241.3 cm cnon 56.340 photo credit bill orcutt
Andrew Kuo, So Sorry (1-29-15), 2015, acrylic and carbon transfer on linen, 67 × 95 in., 170.2 × 241.3 cm
Kuo reeder, installation view 7, it gets beta, 2015 photo credit bill orcutt
Installation View.
Reeder, untitled, 2015, epson ultrachrome inkjet on canvas 60 x 48 in. 152.4 x 121.92 cm cnon 56.297 photo credit bill orcutt
Scott Reeder, Untitled, 2015, epson ultrachrome inkjet on canvas, 60 × 48 in., 152.4 × 121.9 cm
Reeder, artists to watch, 2015, wax pastel and acrylic on canvas, 64 x 48 in. 162.56 x 121.92 cm cnon 56.298 photo credit bill orcutt
Scott Reeder, Artists to Watch, 2015, wax pastel and acrylic on canvas, 64 × 48 in., 162.6 × 121.9 cm
Reeder, more ideas for a tv show episode, 2015, wax pastel and acrylic on canvas, 64 x 48 in. 162.56 x 121.92 cm cnon 56.286 photo credit bill orcutt
Scott Reeder, More Ideas for a TV Show Episode, 2015, wax pastel and acrylic on canvas, 64 × 48 in., 162.6 × 121.9 cm
Kuo reederinstallationview12itgetsbeta2015photocreditbillorcutt
Installation View. Photo: Bill Orcutt.
Kuo, odds two faces (1 20 15), 2015, acrylic and carbon transfer on linen, 68 x 95 in. 172.72 x 241.3 cm cnon 56.283 photo credit bill orcutt
Andrew Kuo, Odds-Two Faces (1-20-15), 2015, acrylic and carbon transfer on linen, 68 × 95 in., 172.7 × 241.3 cm
Kuo reederinstallationview10itgetsbeta2015photocreditbillorcutt
Installation View. Photo: Bill Orcutt.
Reeder, book titles (fiction and non fiction), 2015, wax pastel and acrylic on canvas, 64 x 48 in. 162.56 x 121.92 cm cnon 56.285 photo credit bill orcutt
Scott Reeder, Book Titles (Fiction and Non-Fiction), 2015, wax pastel and acrylic on canvas, 64 × 48 in., 162.6 × 121.9 cm
Reeder, new kinds of music, 2015, wax pastel and acrylic on canvas, 64 x 48 in. 162.56 x 121.92 cm cnon 56.289 photo credit bill orcutt
Scott Reeder, New Kinds of Music, 2015, wax pastel and acrylic on canvas, 64 × 48 in., 162.6 × 121.9 cm
Reeder, untitled, 2015, epson ultrachrome inkjet on canvas 60 x 48 in. 152.4 x 121.92 cm cnon 56.341 photo credit bill orcutt
Scott Reeder, Untitled, 2015, epson ultrachrome inkjet on canvas, 64 × 48 in., 162.6 × 121.9 cm
Reeder, more alternate title for recent exhibitions, 2015, wax pastel and acrylic on canvas, 64 x 48 in. 162.56 x 121.92 cm cnon 56.287 photo credit bill orcutt
Scott Reeder, More Alternate Titles for Recent Exhibitions, 2015, wax pastel and acrylic on canvas, 64 × 48 in., 162.6 × 121.9 cm
Kuo, the plan (1 29 15), 2015, acrylic and carbon transfer on linen, 75 x 48 in. cnon 56.339 photo credit bill orcutt
Andrew Kuo, The Plan (1-29-15), 2015, acrylic and carbon transfer on linen, 75 × 48 in., 190.5 × 121.9 cm
Reeder, top 50 baby names, 2015, wax pastel and acrylic on canvas, 64 x 48 in. 162.56 x 121.92 cm cnon 56.289 photo credit bill orcutt
Scott Reeder, Top 50 Baby Names, 2015, wax pastel and acrylic on canvas, 48 × 64 in., 121.9 × 162.6 cm
Kuo reederinstallationview15itgetsbeta2015photocreditbillorcutt
Installation View. Photo: Bill Orcutt.
Kuo reederinstallationview8itgetsbeta2015photocreditbillorcutt
Installation View. Photo: Bill Orcutt.
Reeder, untitled, 2015, acrylic on canvas, 86 x 60 in. 218.44 x 152.4 cm cnon 56.295 photo credit bill orcutt
Scott Reeder, Untitled, 2015, acrylic on canvas, 86 × 60 in., 218.4 × 152.4 cm
Reeder, untitled, 2015, acrylic on canvas, 86 x 60 in. 218.44 x 152.4 cm cnon 56.347 photo credit bill orcutt
Scott Reeder, Untitled, 2015, acrylic on canvas, 86 × 60 in., 218.4 × 152.4 cm
Reeder, untitled, 2015, acrylic on canvas, 86 x 60 in. 218.44 x 152.4 cm cnon 56.348 photo credit bill orcutt
Scott Reeder, Untitled, 2015, acrylic on canvas, 86 × 60 in., 218.4 × 152.4 cm

Press

Andrew kuo and scott reeder bring a nightclub to marlborough by christie chu artnet marlborough
Andrew kuo and scott reeder open a nightclub in a gallery by emerson rosenthal vice marlborough