EXHIBITION SYNOPSIS

Canada is pleased to present UNDER THE NET, Marc Hundley’s second solo exhibition at the gallery.

Marc Hundley makes furniture for his paintings. Finely but practically executed chairs, benches, and kiosks invite the viewer to participate as foreground for his text works. From cradle to coffin, furniture is where human beings stage our most intimate moments. In examining this relationship between the public and personal, Hundley invites us to share in his memories or to act them out like birds on a branch or jokers on a stage.

Mr. Hundley’s “posters”—hand-painted on canvas or printed on a Xerox machine—offer text from music, literature, or poetry that have inspired the artist. Beyond the cultural referents of Hundley’s quotations, each of the works correlate to a personal moment or feeling. Like an afternoon spent alone in his apartment, listening to and thinking about Laurie Anderson's song "O superman." Hundley noticed the lyrics and thought about his own recent life events: the loss of a parent, the loss of a friend, the inevitability of aging. The resulting poster titled mom and dad is painted in simple, rectilinear shapes of gray.

O superman,

o mom and dad.

Hundley marks his posters with the date and location of the looking or listening, connecting the viewer to this contemplative event. These posters remind us of how the smallest brush with art can expand into a sea of musing. It’s not often that an artist includes us in the moment of the artwork's conception, and here it acts as a modest insistence on intimacy.

Do I need a new phone? What does old age look like? Have we only 30 years? 2050, 2040, 15 years…I don't want to order anything online, but the store stopped selling it and they said I have to get it online. But I need it now. A flight, a truck, the cardboard, the packing materials, the typewriter ink?

Will I feel the kind of excitement of love for someone like I did? Then I think-- 'Marc, you're not living in the moment! Just do the next thing you have to do today or right now. All of these things you worry about are just distracting you from doing the thing you have to do. It's up to you!’

My dentist suggested wearing my mouth guard during the day because I've been grinding my teeth. I do feel like I've been having anxiety for awhile. And this usually just makes me feel alone or lonely. So the posters I painted and printed for the show hopefully cover some of these feelings and also provide a call-to-action in me. The space is inspired by public spaces; I would love it if someone felt comfortable enough in there to just go eat their lunch or chat with a friend awhile. — Marc Hundley, 2019

Marc Hundley (b. 1971, Toronto, Canada) is represented by Canada and The Modern Institute, Glasgow, UK and has exhibited at Team Gallery, White Columns, Printed Matter, all in NY; Cherry and Martin in Los Angeles, and Herald St in London, UK. His work has been reviewed in Artforum, Frieze, New York Magazine and the New York Times Style magazine and is included in the collection of the Whitney Museum of American Art. Hundley’s furniture has been featured in Architectural Digest and Vogue. His installation for Comme des Garçons is currently on display at Nordstrom in New York.