Ward Shelley at Pierogi

Ward Shelley
"Autonomous Art, ver.1"
2007 - 2009
Oil and toner on mylar
24 1/4 x 36 inches

"Who Invented the Avant Garde - and other half-truths," Ward Shelley's recent solo exhibition at Pierogi, is comprised of striking schematic paintings that anatomize the development of intellectual and social streams within the humanities. The artist describes them as "attempts to use real information to depict our understandings of how things evolve and relate to one another, and how this develops over time."

In spirit as well as in appearance, then, Shelley's paintings are cousin to phylogenetic trees, the taxonomic diagrams that biologists use to denote evolutionary relationships among species. But, though Shelley's genealogies look like mappings of biological exuberance, the subjects of his brightly colored, illustrative works are not so scientific: Frank Zappa; Beat Generation writers; nodes of postmodern philosophy; modern art movements.

Importantly, even as Shelley strives to elucidate these cultural begats (whether a seed that becomes a trunk or an ill-fated offshoot), the artist acknowledges that a subjective filtering of "the facts" is central to his paintings. He writes,

"[...] We know this content is mediated in a thousand ways before it takes shape in our awareness. Moreover, content is also shaped by the receiving mind which, as a pre-existing form itself, exerts a strong shaping influence."

Unfortunately, although Shelley's project is intelligent and the stylized diagrams he produces are visually remarkable, his subject matter will appeal to a narrow band of viewers. The afternoon that I visited the Pierogi space, a thirty-something couple contemplated each of the works at length, earnestly discussing an array of topics including the career trajectories of obscure members of Andy Warhol's entourage, Francois Truffaut's filmography, and Nixon-administration flunkies. Their exchange was more a trivial cataloging than a conversation and, in style and substance, they struck me as a sendup of the well-educated hipsters that populate Williamsburg, Brooklyn.

There are far more interesting things to discuss than the 20th century's pop-political canon and Shelley's most rewarding pieces - "Autonomous Art, ver.1" and "Counter Culture, ver.1," for example - consider significant, sweeping lineages. I hope that his lens continues to broaden.


Ward Shelley
"Autonomous Art, ver.1"
2007 - 2009
Oil and toner on mylar
24 1/4 x 36 inches

Image credits: copyright, Ward Shelley