Gagosian Gallery is pleased to announce Summer Show, a group exhibition featuring work by Tom Friedman, Douglas Gordon, Damien Hirst, Mike Kelley, Jenny Saville, Alec Soth, and Franz West chosen for their emphasis on the physical form.

The expressionless pose of Tom Friedman’s bigbluefigure consciously recalls the conventions of classical sculpture. The almost fluid interchangeability of Styrofoam and marble and exaggerated spatial proportions mark an experimental approach to form and material that Friedman takes in many of his sculptural works.

Although sharing a similar affinity for the monumental, Jenny Saville’s paintings of grotesques exploit the organic qualities of paint that compose her semi-abstract corporeal figures, in this instance a slaughtered pig. Marked by broad, messy brushstrokes, Suspension is firmly rooted in the physical world of blood and decay.

Damien Hirst’s triptych, The Sun, The Moon and The Earth, expands on his career-long preoccupation with life, death, and mortality. Part of an ongoing series of paintings, Hirst’s use of real butterflies as a metaphor for nature and beauty symbolize the precarious balance of life.

Mike Kelley’s Farm Girl and Beard, Betty, Veronica expand on the themes of Day is Done, a multi-part installation that explores the masquerades of identity and the nature of memory through varied media, including sculpture and photography. With these two works, Kelley targets both Californian identity and the artifice of representation.

Alec Soth’s photographs combine the often-anonymous conditions of his locations with a warmth and familiarity that resonates from his subjects. Part of his Niagara series, Soth’s double portrait of Michele and James reflects the fragile balance of harsh reality and humanity embodied by this couple.

Franz West’s furniture, much like his sculpture, combines common materials that invite us to interact with it. Facing West’s Divan, Douglas Gordon’s video Blue II (In collaboration with West) captures playfully suggestive hand gestures that seem to signal the promise of another peaceful summer.