Pelavin Gallery is proud to announce an exhibition of recent paintings, sculptures and works on vellum by Christopher Blyth. The title of the exhibition, The Build Up, makes reference to the multi-layered mixed media works by Blyth.

Christopher Blyth was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1970 and received his BFA from The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art. He has lived and worked in New York since 1993, maintaining a studio in Harlem. Blyth is respected for his unconventional abstractions, their compositions evocative of landscapes in which spatial definition is informed by structural logic. Texture, line, and a palette of rustic color follow unpredictable paths, but coexist in harmonious compositions. This will be Blyth’s first solo show in New York City.

With this exhibition Blyth continues to showcase a subtle play of materials, using a refined method of accretion that he is known for. This enables the artist to further explore the composition and texture of each piece. Most of the works include an accumulation of re-purposed paintings, drawings, splattered canvas drop cloths, shipping crates and other discarded objects found in or around his studio. Free of any subject, gathered materials are bound together and later covered with encaustic paint that Blyth creates by mixing powdered pigments into pure beeswax. The molten paint effectively contrasts with, and most often encapsulates, the other media —creating a ritualistic, sculptural feeling.

Alongside the paintings will be earlier framed works in ink and mixed media on vellum that display the artist’s mode of thinking and his process of drawing and working in transparent layers. Sculptures assembled from found materials are also on view to expand on Blyth’s sense of whimsy, texture, color and form.