For the 2020 edition of the Armory Show, albertz benda is proud to present an installation by Timothy Curtis, centered around visual concepts that the artist has been developing over the past ten years: an ongoing series of inkblot paintings and a new multipaneled painting created as homage to his late brother and his community in Philadelphia.
Emulating the scale of a highly visible wall that marks the entry point to Curtis’s neighborhood in Philadelphia, Alive-n-Well addresses themes of loss and addiction without succumbing to tragedy – the painting is also a celebration of life, and Curtis’s process involved working in the company of friends, family, and other artists.
Curtis introduces to his palette institutional soft pinks, blues, and greens, depicting pills and bottles entwined among his recurring motifs of bikes, bars, and stylized, emotive faces. Throughout, the composition is unified by the artist’s signature calligraphic line.
Published in conjunction with the Armory presentation, albertz benda and Timothy Curtis will release the artist’s first monograph, with text by Claire Gilman, Chief Curator of the Drawing Center, New York, NY.
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Timothy Curtis [b. 1982] is a self-taught artist from Philadelphia, who lives and works in New York City. Since establishing a focused studio practice in 2015, Curtis realized his first solo exhibition in November 2017 at Kaikai Kiki’s Hidari Zingaro gallery in Tokyo, Japan, curated by Takashi Murakami. His work was debuted publicly in the U.S. at the Brooklyn Museum as part of the group exhibition Coney Island Is Still Dreamland (To a Seagull) by the artist Stephen Powers (2015-1016). Recent exhibitions include the solo show Things to Remember at albertz benda, NY (2019), and The Pencil is a Key, curated by Claire Gilman at the Drawing Center, New York, NY(2019).
