Christopher Henry Gallery presents THE END, Curated by Jason LeBlond. THE END is an end-of-summer group show of painting and sculpture. Four dynamic artists are linked thematically by concepts addressing an “end” of some kind, contemplating weighted elements of the human condition which include: grieving the death of a loved one, or the heartbreak of a relationship ending. The theme also alludes to the zeitgeist of our time, marked with apocalyptic angst. Finally, it is an exploration of many dichotomies because it is also about new beginnings.

Kevin Baker creates sensual, richly layered, Rorschach-like works painted upon kitschy, garish oilcloths (tablecloths which the artist saw everywhere growing up in Kentucky.) He begins with something low-brow and common but his end result is intricate, subtle, and exquisitely beautiful. Baker’s epic “Tippy’s Trippy” immerses the viewer in a lush field of melancholy as the artist pays tribute to a departed loved one. “Earth Father” presents a rapturous rendering of a view from the atmosphere as the continents crumble apart to unleash the eternal spirit of the Earth. Baker has exhibited in several New York galleries, as well as Philadelphia, Las Vegas, Aspen and Vienna. Special projects and commissions include Kid Robot and Tiffany and Co. for locations in New York, Dallas, and Shanghai. He’s been profiled by major publications such as Interview magazine and L’Uomo Vogue (Artist Issue, May/June 2011.)

Jordan Eagles has mastered a unique, unorthodox process which preserves real blood (salvaged from slaughtered cows) within plexi and resin, combined with other raw materials such as copper. By capturing this vital organic material, Eagles’ shamanistic practice evades the effects of time and decomposition, thus encapsulating the revered aspect of art being an immortal entity. The ephemeral, eerie nature of the blood is at times accentuated, when treated with a blowtorch it becomes a dark and cracked patina as in “TSV + TSV1.” Conversely the sublime “LFBC” surges with life via an intense glow and enveloping warmth, the form is evocative of a brilliant sunset, or perhaps a view from inside the womb, yet another reading calls to mind a nuclear explosion. Eagles is represented by Krause Gallery, NY and has also exhibited in Miami, San Francisco, Chicago, and the Hamptons. He has been featured in the NY Times, Village Voice, Juxtapoz, The NY Post, ArtDaily.org, and In the Art World (aka “M” Magazine.)

Gabriel J. Shuldiner has constructed/destructed/rec onstructed a “Post-Apocalyptic Black” painting series. The artist has conceptualized the very idea that painting is dead, with the singular use of the [non]color black, a natural embodiment of absence and death. Negative space, the glitch, the error, the page-not-found, the nothingness… that is what he “paints” calling our attention instead to the nuances of his surfaces. The textural, minimalist, post-modern, post-punk, nihilistic quality of his canvasses (which include the integration of materials such as wires and nails) provide space for a 21st century existential meditation. The titles of Shuldiner’s work reference everything from the end of days, to computer error codes, to the national debt crisis. Shuldiner was selected for The Bronx Museum’s First AIM Biennial(2011) and is also known for his successful black chunk jewelry collection, Fleurs du Mal.

Wonderpuss Octopus (aka PJ Linden) engulfs all consumer goods in its path, transmuting the smoothly manufactured into a barbed primal experience. Like a Technicolor algae, the viral textures seem to be alive with microorganisms. Linden presents a new époque where bio-plastics evolve into life forms, spreading like glittering fungus over our industrialized world. In the canvas work “Black Egg”, an archetypal womb/void is depicted as a cellular division in a sea of spiraling birth control packages. Rather than a single moment of conception or destruction, this work suggests that the cycle of creation is time spanning, ongoing and forever crystallizing. Linden has exhibited at various New York galleries and events including Muffinhead + Eric Schmalenberger’s “BANZAI”, AD Projects, and The Hole.