VOLTA New York: Lavaughan Jenkins

Wednesday, March 4 – Sunday, March 8, 2020
Metropolitan West, 639 West 46th Street @12th Avenue, New York, NY

Abigail Ogilvy Gallery is proud to announce our second year of participation in VOLTA New York art fair with a solo booth presentation by Lavaughan Jenkins. The booth will feature Jenkins’ new large scale figures and works on paper that will be publicly exhibited for the first time. His paintings push the boundaries of medium by using oil paint to make 3-dimensional work—what he refers to as 3D Paintings, which imitate sculpture. The works are thick, multi-colored brush strokes smeared and built up to form an army of men that vaguely resemble the artist. The figures prod and extract memories of moments Jenkins has forgotten, bringing them to the forefront of his mind to be discovered and recovered. Intrigued by the novel ‘Man Walks into a Room’ by award-winning author Nicole Krauss, Jenkins investigates the “memory doctor” characters who observe others’ memories and retell them as not to be forgotten. He is drawn to the idea of wanting to recover things lost, the paintings are narrators, storytellers, “memory doctors” observing and reacting to his recollections as people from his life play parts in his work. As Jenkins works, the paintings tell their story back to him.

Artist Statement:
“I have cultivated a long relationship with painting—one that I challenge and redefine with each piece. My works demand attention and admiration of the viewer, rather than being polite and academic societal studies of art. I attempt to grasp complex human emotional ideas and memories, reclaiming them over time, and all the while never losing grip on present moments and emotions. My work is an ephemeral experience of being human and the realization that we create a lifetime of memories that fade and are replaced with newer ones.

The very materiality of paint consumes me. I apply the paint with anything I can get my hands on: brushes, palette knives, syringes, and Q-tips. All of these serve as tools for a diverse mark-making. Through scraping and adding, and repeating, I continuously work and rework the surface. The figures emerge, and at times spill over the edge of the canvas, allowing them to come in contact with the world beyond the painting, unrestricted as three-dimensional paintings. The depth of the work creates ever-changing shadows across the wall, nearly as important as the finished paintings themselves. Accidental spills creating boundless forms; this is what I love about painting. With each work brought from conception to completion, I am compelled to experience love’s conclusion and after effects. The process allows me to fall in love over and over again. As with love itself, sometimes a sensitive and delicate touch is required, yet other times they need to become abrasive and cruel. One must come to know when to allow what is murky, or dubious in nature, to be vivid in its own right. At other times, the paint must work like frosting on a cake, sweet and concealing that which is substantial. In that near concealment it becomes substantial itself. Still yet, there are times when the work must delve into grotesque distortions and excesses.”

- Lavaughan Jenkins

Lavaughan Jenkins is a painter, printmaker and sculptor, he was raised in Pensacola, Florida and currently creates his work in Boston, MA. With no prior experience in the arts, Jenkins moved to Boston in 2003 to study English Literature at Roxbury Community College where they suggested he take one “real” class and one “make believe” class – which was art. His Drawing professor urged Jenkins to instead enroll in an arts college, he did so, and received a BFA from the Massachusetts College of Art and Design in 2005. Since that time, Jenkins has become a recipient of the 2019 James and Audrey Foster Prize awarded annually by the Institute of Contemporary Art / Boston. In 2016, he was named Emerging Artist of the year at Kingston Gallery in Boston, MA, Jenkins is a recipient of the 2015 Blanche E. Colman Award and in 2002 received the Rob Moore Grant in Painting. He has exhibited his work most recently at venues such as The Institute of Contemporary Art/ Boston, Spring Break/Art Show (NYC), Fitchburg Art Museum, Abigail Ogilvy Gallery (Boston), Galerie C.O.A. (Montreal), Craig Krull Gallery (LA), Suffolk University Gallery (Boston), and Pine Manor College. Jenkins donates annually to the Massachusetts College of Art and Design Auction which supports student scholarships.