Painter's Refuge: A Way of Life - A Solo Exhibition of Recent Work by Reginald Sylvester II

Reginald Sylvester II's paintings are manifestations of grace. The emergent young artist's influences range from the Bible, Abstract Expressionism, contemporary design, and the readymade. For his first American solo museum exhibition, Sylvester reflects on the charged history of the materials he uses in the creation of his work. Military tent shells – functional, utilitarian objects – serve as the substrate for a transcendent new body of abstract paintings that allude to shelter, protection, and refuge. The son of a U.S. veteran, Sylvester's use of military tents also connects with the familial.

To expand upon the already deep visual language of his oeuvre, Sylvester also introduces a magnificent new series of ceremonious, Offering paintings. Sumptuously red, with exposed stretcher bars, these large-scale works are made with rubber, a ubiquitous industrial material whose fraught history inspired Sylvester's introduction of the substance into his art. In the 19th Century, rubber was forcibly harvested in the Congo under great human suffering and atrocities. In Sylvester's hands, rubber becomes a medium for deeply contemplative, nearly monochromatic paintings that vibrate with spiritual intensity.

Gallery Guide

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Reginald Sylvester II (b. 1987, North Carolina, USA) is an American artist working predominantly in abstraction. Questioning his position as an artist in a time of moral crises, Sylvester seeks to integrate his personal politics within his art practice to create work which is rooted in social realities and guided by his spirituality. Many of his paintings are large-scale, featuring gestural mark making with layers of paint applied in a physically demanding process. Recently, Sylvester has begun experimenting with new materials, including rope, ex-military material, and rubber. Like assemblage artists before him, Sylvester is interested in the tactility of these materials and the histories they signify, in this way he moves beyond painting into the realm of object making.

Sylvester's work is held in public collections including the ICA Miami, Florida; Wolverhampton Art Gallery, Wolverhampton, UK; Spazio 1, Lugano, Switzerland; and Fondazione Stelline, Milan, Italy. His work is featured in the forthcoming publication Prime: Art's Next Generation, London: Phaidon. Recent solo exhibitions include With the End in Mind, Maximillian William, London (2021), NEMESIS, Maximillian William, London (2019); and The Rise and Fall of a People, Fondazione Stelline, Milan (2017).

More About Reginald Sylvester II

• In the Studio with Reginald Sylvester II
• Rising Painter Reginald Sylvester II Finds Refuge in Abstraction

Dexter Wimberly is an American curator, based in Japan, who has organized exhibitions in galleries and institutions around the world. Wimberly's exhibitions have been featured in leading publications including The New York Times and Artforum, and have received support from The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts. Wimberly is the co-founder and CEO of Art World Learning, and a Senior Critic at New York Academy of Art.

A Way of Life

Open Air: Artist Talk with Reginald Sylvester II

Originally aired June 14, 2022.