UMWELT — Jakob von Uexküll's term for the unique perceptual world each organism inhabits.
In his first solo exhibition with the gallery, New York artist Christopher Astley presents fifteen new oil paintings that channel both the conceptual weight of the term and its poetic openness. Each piece embraces the freedom of painting, flowing in the direction it demands, arriving where it needs to.
Perception and the nature of reality have long been a chief concern of Astley's practice. Here, that inquiry extends into a body of work willing to embrace the complexity of the world and the strangeness of life.
Christopher Astley (b. 1965, lives and works in New York, NY, US) studied at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI. He has had solo exhibitions with Martos Gallery, New York, NY, US; Tracy Williams Ltd., New York, NY, US; Leo Koenig, New York, NY, US; and Kathleen Cullen Fine Arts, New York, NY, US. Selected group exhibitions were held with The Maramotti Collection, Reggio Emilia, IT; Hometown Gallery, Brooklyn, NY, US; Chamber, New York, NY, US; Martos Gallery, New York, NY, US; TOTAH, New York, NY, US; and The Margulies Collection, Miami, FL, US. Astley’s work has been featured in Cultured Magazine, Art in America, The New York Times, Interview Magazine, V Magazine, and Gotham Magazine.