Mother
2023
Huxley-Parlour gallery is delighted to announce the first UK exhibition by American artist, David Benjamin Sherry. Sherry’s practice examines the mythologies and iconography of the American Midwest, while opening them up as sites for queer potential.
Sherry’s photographic practice bears witness to the changing landscapes of the Western United States. Reinventing the well-trodden views of the country’s national parks, Sherry’s landscapes are each rendered in a single, vivid colour. In doing so, Sherry seeks to challenge the West’s colonialist trope of the individualist, with all its corollary connotations of straightness, whiteness and maleness, to present a more inclusive discourse around the region and its preservation.
Sherry’s photographic practice bears witness to the changing landscapes of the Western United States. Reinventing the well-trodden views of the country’s national parks, Sherry’s landscapes are each rendered in a single, vivid colour. In doing so, Sherry seeks to challenge the West’s colonialist trope of the individualist, with all its corollary connotations of straightness, whiteness and maleness, to present a more inclusive discourse around the region and its preservation.
The landscapes included in Mother are made where the artist resides, in the American West - specifically, California, Utah, and New Mexico. Sites include Yosemite Valley and Joshua Tree and range from the highest mountains of California to the lowest desert on Earth. Sherry’s work traces its roots to his own personal climate grief, as he experiences the loss of entire ecosystems firsthand. He states that he uses photography ‘as a means to see, understand and commune with our sacred landscape in new, provocative ways.’
This exhibition reveals how, through a nuanced interplay of colour, form and scale, Sherry’s work promotes an urgent liberation of ecological and queer potentialities. At a time when reconnection with landscapes and ecosystems may be essential for our continued existence, this exhibition displays how Sherry offers new, empathetic and sublime ways of viewing the natural world.
This exhibition reveals how, through a nuanced interplay of colour, form and scale, Sherry’s work promotes an urgent liberation of ecological and queer potentialities. At a time when reconnection with landscapes and ecosystems may be essential for our continued existence, this exhibition displays how Sherry offers new, empathetic and sublime ways of viewing the natural world.
PHOTOGRAPHS
INSTALLATION
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Blue Monsson
2023
Smoke The Moon is pleased to present Blue Monsoon, a solo presentation of paintings and photography by David Benjamin Sherry. The exhibition is the artist's first solo show in Santa Fe, where he works and lives. On view from July 14th to August 20th, the show will debut twelve paintings and six contact prints that define the acclaimed artist’s evolving reverence of landscape, light and spirit.
As Sherry dives deeper into his subject matter, his resulting work has trended toward the manual. Pink Genesis (2017) presented a collection of photograms in characteristic monochrome. The suite consists of vibrant color field compositions created through a C-Print stencil and overlay method done in the darkroom. His technique is analog photography in its most alchemical sense, and the subsequent images are radiant and emotive. This is perhaps the most direct precursor to his current iteration of image-making: painting.
As Sherry dives deeper into his subject matter, his resulting work has trended toward the manual. Pink Genesis (2017) presented a collection of photograms in characteristic monochrome. The suite consists of vibrant color field compositions created through a C-Print stencil and overlay method done in the darkroom. His technique is analog photography in its most alchemical sense, and the subsequent images are radiant and emotive. This is perhaps the most direct precursor to his current iteration of image-making: painting.
Sherry’s painting process is a ritual. He spends several days mixing pigments to find the perfect hue; builds color layer by layer, softening gradients and creating a completely smooth, rich surface. The process is tactile, performative and also meditative. Drawing inspiration from Transcendental Painting Group artists like Agnes Pelton, Florence Miller Pierce and Raymond Jonson, as well as New Mexico icon Georgia O’Keeffe, Sherry distills the desert landscape into shape and color, transcending the bounds of realism. Sherry looks to painting as a holistic means of capturing, even embodying, the most sublime aspects of existence.
Fusing op-art with landscape, the innate sensuality that has always underlied Sherry's photography merges with its surface in his paintings. Organic forms blissfully reverberate along a spectrum of a singular pigment: Orange, Pink, Yellow, Blue play out respectively like the crisp notes of a chromatic piano. There is a wondrous clarity and ease to Sherry's interpretations that will feel familiar to those who have gazed into the desert and felt at home.
Fusing op-art with landscape, the innate sensuality that has always underlied Sherry's photography merges with its surface in his paintings. Organic forms blissfully reverberate along a spectrum of a singular pigment: Orange, Pink, Yellow, Blue play out respectively like the crisp notes of a chromatic piano. There is a wondrous clarity and ease to Sherry's interpretations that will feel familiar to those who have gazed into the desert and felt at home.
PAINTINGS
INSTALLATION
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Gloria
2022
Morán Morán is pleased to announce David Benjamin Sherry’s fifth solo exhibition with the gallery, titled Gloria, which features a new series of large-scale works on canvas. Although a departure, Sherry continues to be motivated by environmental concerns, queer identity, magic, and the landscape. His travels throughout the American West and the monochrome photographs and photograms he produced over the last fifteen years now provide an active archive of ocular and experiential memories, a trove that he mined to make these paintings. In addition to the title’s spiritual overtones, the show is an homage to his late mother, Gloria, whose artwork Sherry credits with inspiring aspects of this work.
Over the past two years, Sherry has found a different view of the natural world and of his practice. A move to New Mexico, with its high elevations and seemingly endless amount of open space, is known to be an energetically charged environment. Working from memory and intuition, now under the clarifying glare of the high desert light, Sherry translates his environment and experience into spirited paintings. The twelve minimal abstractions presented in this exhibition involve form, color, and some degree of mysticism to reveal an earthly and human interconnection.
Using a limited palette and organic shapes, he created a serial prism of monochromatically vibrant images. The color of each work represents one hue or wavelength of the spectrum, including black and white, and the subject matter of forms and patterns reverberate simplifications of mesas, plateaus, mountains, rock, plantlife, and even magnetic fields, dust motes, and phosphenes. In addition to considering the effect of subject matter and compositions,
Over the past two years, Sherry has found a different view of the natural world and of his practice. A move to New Mexico, with its high elevations and seemingly endless amount of open space, is known to be an energetically charged environment. Working from memory and intuition, now under the clarifying glare of the high desert light, Sherry translates his environment and experience into spirited paintings. The twelve minimal abstractions presented in this exhibition involve form, color, and some degree of mysticism to reveal an earthly and human interconnection.
Using a limited palette and organic shapes, he created a serial prism of monochromatically vibrant images. The color of each work represents one hue or wavelength of the spectrum, including black and white, and the subject matter of forms and patterns reverberate simplifications of mesas, plateaus, mountains, rock, plantlife, and even magnetic fields, dust motes, and phosphenes. In addition to considering the effect of subject matter and compositions,
the materiality and process behind the work is also significant. Each canvas is executed in a high pigment matte paint that results in a stone or sand-like surface, which texturally references the desert. The meticulous hand-work in applying the many coats of paint that are necessary to build the surface became its own form of meditation for Sherry. Perhaps the symbolism and expression of gravitational or electromagnetic waves comes out of Sherry acting as a conduit – speaking on behalf of the landscape and natural world. And in that sense, he paints as if possessed, receiving a glorious, divine dictation. Consequently, his new works are performative echoes of sacred places and relationships, relaying the magic and energy inherent to our planet and to the lived experience. Optimistic in tone and emotionally bright, the paintings take aesthetic inspiration from the Transcendental Painting Group, Color Field painters, and Op Art, while also channeling the spirit of the artists from these movements; and as reverence, he uses his own existence and energy to reveal what is beyond the visible.
“I drew from my experience of 15 years making landscape photography, as well as a strong desire to move past the photograph and its limitations. I wanted to simplify my practice and be in complete manual control of my medium and my work, without relying on anything other than my body and mind, and to lean more on intuition and the natural inclinations of the materials. With painting, I believe I can create a spiritual connection through repetition and ritual. Often I feel I am connecting, conjuring, and communicating with earthly spirits and people I have known. Maybe Gloria is communicating with me through these paintings.” David Benjamin Sherry
“I drew from my experience of 15 years making landscape photography, as well as a strong desire to move past the photograph and its limitations. I wanted to simplify my practice and be in complete manual control of my medium and my work, without relying on anything other than my body and mind, and to lean more on intuition and the natural inclinations of the materials. With painting, I believe I can create a spiritual connection through repetition and ritual. Often I feel I am connecting, conjuring, and communicating with earthly spirits and people I have known. Maybe Gloria is communicating with me through these paintings.” David Benjamin Sherry
PAINTINGS
INSTALLATION
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American
Monuments
2019
American Monuments is a photographic series examining our relationship to landscape, climate change, color, queer identity, and historical photography, using monochrome depictions of the American national monuments being targeted by the Trump administration for immediate development in the interest of oil, coal and uranium exploration.
I watched in horror as the Trump Administration lifted the protected status of designated national monuments in order to lease the land for coal and uranium mining and oil drilling. Starting in the spring of 2017, I set out to explore, commune with, and photograph these lesser-known, wild, and hard-to-reach places. Spending months alone in these threatened sanctuaries, I became increasingly motivated to protect them, in part by engaging the tradition of photographic preservation. Photographers’ efforts to use their images to advocate for the protection of lands began in the 19th century with the U.S. Geological Survey, and are inextricably bound up with the United States’ complicated mission of simultaneously wresting lands from Indigenous peoples and preserving that land for future generations of Americans.
Like many of my forebears, I use an 8x10 large-format film camera, which allows for an unrivaled level of detail. However, when printing, I’m not interested in depicting the way the subject appears in reality, but rather its potential for emotional resonance between viewer and subject. Color is a conduit for me to make those feelings visible.
Aside from referencing the monuments themselves, the title also refers to the many bodies of historical photographic work that proudly documented the “free and open” American West at a time before human-induced climate change was recognized as an existential threat to our species and all life on Earth. The project consists of large scale (70x90inch) c-prints made in the analog color darkroom that are projections of large format (8x10) color negatives and printed in monochromatic hues.
I watched in horror as the Trump Administration lifted the protected status of designated national monuments in order to lease the land for coal and uranium mining and oil drilling. Starting in the spring of 2017, I set out to explore, commune with, and photograph these lesser-known, wild, and hard-to-reach places. Spending months alone in these threatened sanctuaries, I became increasingly motivated to protect them, in part by engaging the tradition of photographic preservation. Photographers’ efforts to use their images to advocate for the protection of lands began in the 19th century with the U.S. Geological Survey, and are inextricably bound up with the United States’ complicated mission of simultaneously wresting lands from Indigenous peoples and preserving that land for future generations of Americans.
Like many of my forebears, I use an 8x10 large-format film camera, which allows for an unrivaled level of detail. However, when printing, I’m not interested in depicting the way the subject appears in reality, but rather its potential for emotional resonance between viewer and subject. Color is a conduit for me to make those feelings visible.
Aside from referencing the monuments themselves, the title also refers to the many bodies of historical photographic work that proudly documented the “free and open” American West at a time before human-induced climate change was recognized as an existential threat to our species and all life on Earth. The project consists of large scale (70x90inch) c-prints made in the analog color darkroom that are projections of large format (8x10) color negatives and printed in monochromatic hues.
As a queer person, I continually ask myself what it means to venture into the wilderness, doing a job that has traditionally had a macho, heterosexual identity attached to it. I am constantly made aware of my outsider perspective in the largely heteronormative spaces of rural America. Historically, going out into the wilderness has been a means of shedding of social constraints, but that freedom has been reserved for straight white men who wish to strengthen and solidify their credentials as “rugged individualists.” My presence in the wilderness is, in a sense, a performance of “queering” these places, which I’ve found liberating and empowering, and I seek to convey this spirit in my photographs.
Interconnectedness between queer identity and the Earth has infused this series, which I consider a call for liberation from the patriarchal power structure that has controlled and abused our public lands, as well as our queer bodies, for generations. I rely on my art practice to help me better understand our physical and spiritual connection with our planet. The saturated image demands a second look, which may in turn help the viewer to re-visualize these familiar, even iconic terrains, and make more apparent our natural and sacred connections to them. Color can also indicate the presence of something unsettling below the surface. The pictures themselves become records of places that may soon be destroyed, as well as a means of grappling with the loss of the last remaining wilderness in our country.
I believe my pictures may help others navigate this age of climate crisis by providing an empathetic and sublime view of the natural world, and reminding us that these wild places are essential to human existence. And while these photographs may grapple with grim political circumstances, they can paradoxically exude optimism, through a bold use of color, form, and scale to ultimately represent independence, resistance, and self-determination— American qualities that we supposedly hold dear, but which are currently as imperiled as the land itself.
Interconnectedness between queer identity and the Earth has infused this series, which I consider a call for liberation from the patriarchal power structure that has controlled and abused our public lands, as well as our queer bodies, for generations. I rely on my art practice to help me better understand our physical and spiritual connection with our planet. The saturated image demands a second look, which may in turn help the viewer to re-visualize these familiar, even iconic terrains, and make more apparent our natural and sacred connections to them. Color can also indicate the presence of something unsettling below the surface. The pictures themselves become records of places that may soon be destroyed, as well as a means of grappling with the loss of the last remaining wilderness in our country.
I believe my pictures may help others navigate this age of climate crisis by providing an empathetic and sublime view of the natural world, and reminding us that these wild places are essential to human existence. And while these photographs may grapple with grim political circumstances, they can paradoxically exude optimism, through a bold use of color, form, and scale to ultimately represent independence, resistance, and self-determination— American qualities that we supposedly hold dear, but which are currently as imperiled as the land itself.
PHOTOGRAPHS
INSTALLATION
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Pink Genesis
2017
Pink Genesis is a suite of photograms that celebrate the transformative potential of the darkroom as an activated, ecstatic space. Enacting a series of performative movements in the darkness, with a virtuoso command of photographic techniques, I created a group of unique photograms full of saturated color and cosmic depth.
Since photograms do not require the use of a camera, these newest works are advancing even further into the alchemical heart of photography. Unlike black-and-white photograms, which allow for the use of a minimal amount of light in the darkroom, these color versions require complete darkness. While working blindly, the years of printing my own work have give me the familiarity and the ability to move through a pitch black room as I adjusts my props––cardboard stencils, my body, sheets of printed acetate, my dog Wizard––before exposing the paper to the light of the enlarger.
My photograms can be divided into two basic types: precise geometric abstractions and freer, improvisational compositions in which my body appears as subject.
To create the geometric works, I make hand-cut cardboard templates that I expose on the paper to light, in highly controlled intervals. I use the enlarger in an unconventional fashion, intentionally misadjusting ratios of cyan, magenta, and yellow to produce extremely vivid colors. The photograms are printed on paper with a deep matte finish, allowing for levels of saturation that often make the surfaces feel more like paintings.
Since photograms do not require the use of a camera, these newest works are advancing even further into the alchemical heart of photography. Unlike black-and-white photograms, which allow for the use of a minimal amount of light in the darkroom, these color versions require complete darkness. While working blindly, the years of printing my own work have give me the familiarity and the ability to move through a pitch black room as I adjusts my props––cardboard stencils, my body, sheets of printed acetate, my dog Wizard––before exposing the paper to the light of the enlarger.
My photograms can be divided into two basic types: precise geometric abstractions and freer, improvisational compositions in which my body appears as subject.
To create the geometric works, I make hand-cut cardboard templates that I expose on the paper to light, in highly controlled intervals. I use the enlarger in an unconventional fashion, intentionally misadjusting ratios of cyan, magenta, and yellow to produce extremely vivid colors. The photograms are printed on paper with a deep matte finish, allowing for levels of saturation that often make the surfaces feel more like paintings.
The darkroom performance lends the work an erotic charge. The results are sensuous, luminous forms that evoke otherworldly landscapes and mandala-like visions. While their symmetry speaks to a mathematical rigor, their handmade origins are evident. Imperfections in my cardboard templates leave behind subtly frayed (and thus optically vibrating) transitions between tones. As light passes through a blank negative on its way to the paper below, the edges of that negative are visible in the finished work, thus leaving the word 'Kodak' and strings of numbers identifying the type of film stock used.
Photography is a tool for connecting the entire body to its surroundings. In the new photograms in which my body appears, this intimacy is given literal expression as I put myself in direct contact with the paper, posing on the enlarger table itself. Each of my movements require both planning and a willingness to surrender to the unpredictable choreography of the moment. I make use of specially prepared sheets of acetate that incorporate visual patterning drawn from an array of digital sources. Their presence reaffirms the links between technological image production and human physicality.
Most of the figurative photograms are dense, multi-layered compositions, but Pink Genesis (Self portrait with Mars), 140C0M25Y, 2017 depicts the entire uninterrupted length of my body in stark silhouette. The background surrounds me in a deep shade of pink; on a radiant white rectangle, which appears to be held between my hands, are graffiti-like textures sourced from images taken during a NASA satellite expedition to Mars. Though photography allows us to see things far beyond the reach of our own eyes, I have made a group of works that celebrate––and are dependent upon––the limitless expanses of touch.
Photography is a tool for connecting the entire body to its surroundings. In the new photograms in which my body appears, this intimacy is given literal expression as I put myself in direct contact with the paper, posing on the enlarger table itself. Each of my movements require both planning and a willingness to surrender to the unpredictable choreography of the moment. I make use of specially prepared sheets of acetate that incorporate visual patterning drawn from an array of digital sources. Their presence reaffirms the links between technological image production and human physicality.
Most of the figurative photograms are dense, multi-layered compositions, but Pink Genesis (Self portrait with Mars), 140C0M25Y, 2017 depicts the entire uninterrupted length of my body in stark silhouette. The background surrounds me in a deep shade of pink; on a radiant white rectangle, which appears to be held between my hands, are graffiti-like textures sourced from images taken during a NASA satellite expedition to Mars. Though photography allows us to see things far beyond the reach of our own eyes, I have made a group of works that celebrate––and are dependent upon––the limitless expanses of touch.
PHOTOGRAMS
INSTALLATION
