Panos Tsagaris, Untitled, 2015, leaf, acrylic and silkscreen on canvas , 32.5"x21" (82x53cm)
Language
of the Birds: Occult and Art considers over 60 modern and
contemporary artists who have each expressed their own engagement
with magical practice. Beginning with Aleister Crowley's tarot
paintings and Austin Osman Spare's automatic drawings of the 1920s,
the exhibition traces nearly a century of occult art, including
Leonora Carrington and Kurt Seligmann's surrealist explorations,
Kenneth Anger and Ira Cohen's ritualistic experiments in film and
photography, and the mystical probings of contemporary visionaries
such as Francesco Clemente, Kiki Smith, Paul Laffoley, BREYER
P-ORRIDGE, and Carol Bove.
The
concerns and influences of each of these artists are as eclectic as
the styles in which they work. While several of the pieces deal with
"high" or ceremonial magic, others draw from so-called "low
magic" practices and have deeply chthonic roots. The approaches
in technique are varying as well, with some doing years of research
and preparation for the act of creation, and others working entirely
intuitively. Regardless of method, Language of the Birds suggests
that all are part of the same lineage: one that pulls on threads from
the esoteric web of alchemy, Hermeticism, Spiritualism, Theosophy,
divination and witchcraft. The exhibition takes its name from the
historical and cross-cultural notion that there is a magic language
via which only the initiated can communicate. Often referred to as
the "language of the birds," it is a system rumored to
operate in symbols, and to be a vehicle for revealing hidden truths
and igniting metamorphic sparks.
The
artists in Language of the Birds can be considered magicians, then,
when seen through this mythopoeic lens. A visual vocabulary is
offered up by them, so that we all might be initiated into their
imaginal mystery cults and dialog with the ineffable. They speak to
us in secret tongues, cast spells, and employ pictures for the
purpose of activating profound change in both themselves and in us.
By going within, then drawing streams of imagery forth through their
creations, each of these artists seeks to render the invisible
visible, to materialize the immaterial, and to tell us that we, too,
can enter numinous realms.
Curated
by Pam Grossman
Artists:Kenneth
Anger * Anohni (FKA Antony Hegarty) * Laura Battle * Jordan Belson *
Alison Blickle * Carol Bove * Jesse Bransford * BREYER P-ORRIDGE *
John Brill * Robert Buratti * Elijah Burgher * Cameron * Leonora
Carrington * Francesco Clemente * Ira Cohen * Brian Cotnoir *
Aleister Crowley * Enrico Donati * El Gato Chimney * Leonor Fini *
JFC Fuller * Helen Rebekah Garber * Rik Garrett * Delia Gonzalez *
Jonah Groeneboer * Juanita Guccione * Brion Gysin * Frank Haines *
Barry William Hale * Valerie Hammond * Ken Henson * Bernard Hoffman *
Nino Japaridze * Gerome Kamrowski * Leo Kenney * Paul Laffoley *
Adela Leibowitz * Darcilio Lima * Angus MacLise * Ann McCoy * Rithika
Merchant * William Mortensen * Rosaleen Norton * Micki Pellerano *
Ryan M Pfeiffer & Rebecca Walz * Max Razdow * Ron Regé, Jr. *
Kurt Seligmann * Harry Smith * Kiki Smith * Xul Solar * Austin Osman
Spare * Charles Stein * Shannon Taggart * Gordon Terry * Scott
Treleaven * Panos Tsagaris * Charmion von Wiegand * Robert Wang *
Peter Lamborn Wilson
January
12 - February 13
80WSE
Gallery, NY
New
York University
