COMA is pleased to present a solo exhibition, titled Pulping at the Forum, by Naarm/Melbourne-based artist Nick Modrzewski (b. 1988), on view 13 October – 11 November, 2023 in the Darlinghurst Gallery. This is the artist’s third solo presentation with COMA.
Pulping at the Forum refers to an enigmatic process or procedure of squashing, crushing or smearing something or someone at a formal meeting place. Each of the works in the exhibition make loose reference to this idea: figures congregate in ambiguous locations, meeting for a conference or bartering at a marketplace. They churn and writhe as they interact with one another, their bodies turning into painterly pulp, squeezed out of shape.
Nick Modrzewski
(Details) Conference, 2023
acrylic on canvas
180 x 160 cm / 70 7/8 x 63 inches
Utilising a confluence of painting techniques, from semi-abstract mark making to carefully drawn patterns and blurrily airbrushed faces, the paintings depict a range of scenes. They are warped, chaotic and continually undergoing drastic changes: backgrounds and foregrounds seem to oscillate, confounding a straightforward reading. The figures take on mythical or fantastical dimensions, seemingly both of this world and apart from it – spectres, historical characters and unidentifiable beings.
This is Modrzewski’s take on social interaction: from a simple verbal exchange to a formal negotiation, interpersonal relations are densely complex scenarios. The very act of communication – the sharing of an emotion or the expression of an idea – becomes a labyrinth of visual references and cues, replicating the experience of being born into language for the first time, primordial and unruly.
Nick Modrzewski
Breeder, 2023
acrylic on canvas
180 x 160 cm / 70 7/8 x 63 inches
Heads receive special treatment in the universe of Pulping at the Forum, propagating and multiplying like clusters of mushrooms or inflating like balloons. Sometimes they are connected to bodies, other times they float in space. For Modrzewski, the head is the symbolic sovereign ruler of the body, the rational dictator or chieftain. It is the head that attempts to bring the body into a state of order and control. Modrzewski subjects these heads to various types of mockery and distortion: noses of mixed shapes and sizes spill out from faces, tacked on like absurd theatrical prosthetics, undercutting their authority.
Ultimately, these paintings depict the tension between fitting into the formal and rational structures of the world, and the visceral experience of living in a body and interacting with another.
Modrzewski’s work turned my attention to the fitness of law for the task and perhaps, an acknowledgement of its incompatibility with real life, made up of luck, coincidences and simple mistakes. Like a puzzle it doesn’t fit yet tries to provide black and white answers to a kaleidoscope of questions rooted in human experience.
– Memo Review, ‘Homo Sacer: Life Unlawed’, by Sofia Skobeleva (Sid Akhmed), 2023
Nick Modrzewski
(Details) Ushers in the Thicket, 2023
acrylic on canvas
172 x 158 cm 67 3/4 x 62 1/4 inches
There is a logic in these worlds, these planes, that is to a point inexplicable, yet somehow comprehendible. Despite their rational qualities they are each contradictory paintings in their own way.
– Nick Modrzewski
– Mason Kimber
Whatever the setting, nothing in these paintings seem static. Rather, they enter into chaotic states through strategic acts of partial destruction.
Nick Modrzewski
Ushers in the Thicket, 2023
acrylic on canvas
172 x 158 cm
67 3/4 x 62 1/4 inches
Nick Modrzewski
Breeder, 2023
acrylic on canvas
180 x 160 cm
70 7/8 x 63 inches
Nick Modrzewski
Merchant’s Gambit, 2023
acrylic on canvas
180 x 160 cm
70 7/8 x 63 inches
Nick Modrzewski
A Light Skirmish, 2023
acrylic on canvas
150 x 120 cm
59 x 47 1/4 inches
Nick Modrzewski
Conference, 2023
acrylic on canvas
180 x 160 cm
70 7/8 x 63 inches
Nick Modrzewski
Allegation, 2023
acrylic on canvas
150 x 120 cm
59 x 47 1/4 inches
Nick Modrzewski
Bounty, 2023
acrylic on canvas
150 x 120 cm
59 x 47 1/4 inches