Nathlie Provosty

Before a group of twenty-five people I recited text from an unwritten paper; my paper, but one “written” through channeling. The words flowed out of my mouth, bypassing my mind. I remember only the first sentence: “I shoot an arrow through the palm of intention.” I saw as I spoke one arrow going through many palms, as though the palms were rings… but the image only existed in language and the language as metaphor. 

 

The above dream, observed in July 2019, encapsulates a relationship to abstraction with which I’m involved: intention is the palm and the arrow shooting through; the palm is a hand and a ring; the scenario is incident, image, language, and metaphor; the theme is aim—action—without control. The dream is a dense container in which each thing is multiple things at once. 

 

In painting terms, the above dream vessel provides an entrance into the question of form: can a single form be a covert, compact rocket of allusions? Can form portray an imaginative, non-didactic site of experience?

 

Falling and rising is commonly encountered in art history as well as human life: think Raphael’s Transfiguration, Bruegel’s Landscape with the Fall of Icarus, Yves Klein’s Leap into the Void (which wryly captures both falling and flight), or falling asleep every night. The exhibition attempts to build upon this history / banality with paintings that splinter, soar, intertwine and constrict, and drawings that dab, scratch and spill open pictorial space. 

 

It is accompanied by a 112 page artist’s book, [a partial list of falling], which reproduces drawings from 2020-2022, together with writing / dreams / photographs, quotes from various books, emails, art historical paintings, and a poem by the writer Charity Coleman. The narrative tells the story of transformation, with a special emphasis on the avant-garde filmmaker and friend Jonas Mekas, and the recurring appearance of a dragon.

A Partial List of Falling

Nathalie Karg Gallery

https://cdn.filestackcontent.com/qAp4aASwRdCvK8jTl38r

20-16

The Fungible Collection

Photographs: Under 1K

Contemporary Curated Milan

Unwrapped, Part I: The Hidden World of Christo and Jeanne-Claude

Contemporary Showcase: Kawaii Pop

Classic Photographs

PROUVÉ x BASQUIAT: Art and Design from the Collection of Peter M. Brant and Stephanie Seymour

The Modern & Contemporary Art Auction

Contemporary & Post-War Art // Prints & Multiples

Modern Discoveries

A Life Among Artists: Contemporary Photographs from an Esteemed Private Collection

Sealed Cryptopunks: Five Punks on Paper

Contemporary Discoveries

Contemporary Day Auction

Impressionist & Modern Art

Modern & Contemporary Auction

Impressionist and Modern Art Day Sale

Fine Chinese Paintings

Art Collection from a Barcelona mansion

British Art Evening Sale: Modern/Contemporary

Made in Britain

Art Contemporain Evening Auction

20th Century Art / Middle East

Somewhere Out There

Belle Époque Splendor: The Discerning Eye of a Collector

XXe siècle Arts décoratifs du XXe siècle, Design et Art contemporain

Fine American Art Auction and Spring Sale

Urban & Contemporary Art

Prints & Multiples

Editions : estampes, livres illustrés, multiples

Fine Art & Design Selections

287. Versteigerung / 287th sale

100 Years of Harlem: Resonating Around the World

Past/Forward - Part II

Modern Evening Auction

19th & 20th Century Sculpture

Natively Digital: A Curated NFT Sale

21st September - ARAS JÁUREGUI Private Collection - Old Masters, 19th & 20th Century

FriendsWithYou

Modern Art Online

FC Barcelona: In A Way, Immortal

Art Contemporain Evening Sale

Art Impressionniste et Moderne Day Auction

7th April - 19th & 20th Century Art

Post-War & Contemporary Art Evening Sale

Art Impressionniste et Moderne Day Sale

Arthur work for sale: Crooked finance... Gradient economy... Every colour left…

Inside Job: Christie's Staff Art Show

Contemporary Art | London

20th and 21st Century Art Evening Sale

20th and 21st Century Art Morning Session

20th and 21st Century Art Afternoon Session

20th Century Art Day Sale

21st Century Art Day Sale

Modern & Contemporary Art

Little Cassiobury: The Collection of Susan Lyall

Modern Art and Design

Contemporary Art Day Auction

Picasso Ceramics Online

Natively Digital: CryptoPunk 7523

European Paintings

Made in California

Prints

Photograps

Modern and Contemporary Art

Prints and Multiples

Inside Job: New York Edition | Christie's Staff Art Show

Picasso Ceramics

Scottish Art

Modern Pictures

The Greek Sale

Old Master, Modern and Contemporary Prints

Photographs

Pictures including Modern & the Property of an Institution to be sold without reserve, Works by 'Snaffles' including the Weightman Collection, Furniture & Works of Art

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Nathlie Provosty

20-16, 2020

ink, gouache and collage on paper

16 1/2 x 14 1/2 in framed