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    Debut Solo Show by Jess Valice at Carl Kostyál Gallery, London

    Jess Valice’s debut solo show in London will open at Carl Kostyál, 12a Savile Row on Wednesday, April 6th, private view 6-8 pm to coincide with the Mayfair West End Gallery HOP.Born 1996 in San Fernando Valley, California, Valice lives and works in Los Angeles, CA. Having initially studied Biopsychology she later decided to become an artist instead. She is precociously gifted, both as a painter and in her handling of space. For this exhibition, she has made a series of large and small scale portraits in oil.Bold in scale and unflinching in their gaze, the face of the artist gazes out at us, like selfies rendered confidently, masterfully in oil. The artist as meme. Pensive, uncertain, lost in mourning for her father, who hailed from Italy and whom she recently lost, all too young, Valice’s compositions nod to a classical tradition of portraiture, their signifiers clear. Their distorted perspectives and the romantic stylised backdrops beyond the faces to 17th Flemish pastoral landscapes. But her characters, and she becomes such as the subject of her own painting, share a cartoonish voice that recalls the clownishness of George Condo, the outrageous figures of Phillip Guston, the bold and monumental gestures of Dana Schutz, their exaggerated extremities, feet, hands and ears, loom large, oversize, like Popeye’s bulging biceps, pulling the rug of assumed gravitas from underneath the painting as we study it.Jess Valice has exhibited at Carl Kostyál, Milan and Stockholm; Bill Brady, Miami; ATM Gallery, NY, The Pit, LA; Wilding Cran Gallery, LA; The Lodge, LA; and the Library Street Collective in Detroit. More

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    “Home Bodies” Solo Exhibition by Emma Stern at Carl Kostyál Gallery, Stockholm

    Carl Kostyál Gallery | Hospitalet, Stockholm proudly presents “Home Bodies”, New York-based artist Emma Stern’s second solo exhibition with the gallery and first show in Sweden. The exhibition will open on Thursday November 11th and will run until December 3rd. Preview: Thursday November 11th, 5-8 pm.Emma painted the series Home Bodies while living in London at the beginning of 2021. The country was under a strict and prolonged lockdown due to Covid-19 and Emma spent her days between the house and the studio. In this series of paintings, she explores the female body in typical housekeeping activities, questioning gender roles through the idiosyncratic, overly-sexualised poses of her cybers.Borrowing from the visual vocabulary of online niche subcultures such as fursonas, fandom and 3D erotica, Emma Stern plays with the quasi-pornographic representation of women in the virtual world, combining traditional painterly techniques such as monochromatic underpainting and chiaroscuro with virtual 3D programmes and modelling to create eerily anonymous, finely-worked ‘portraits’, reclaiming these man-made avatars for the female domain.“Stern comments on the consequences of biases and preferences, particularly within the male-dominated spheres of software and technology. She further inspects the effects of these biases through the female body as it would be seen in cyberspace. Her dreamlike aesthetic borrows from the visual lexicon of gaming culture, such as those seen in furries, fandom and various erotic 3D art message boards and creates arresting scenes that truly float in space.” Hypebeast, 2021“What my work is most critical of is the inherent inclination toward pornographic (or at least porn-adjacent) representations of women throughout cyberspace. As our virtual selves become ever-more inextricable from our physical selves, I’m interested in how the preferences of the programmers are imposed on virtual female bodies within the largely male-dominated arena of software and technology.” Emma Stern, Cool Hunting, 2019Emma Stern (b. 1992) lives and works in Brooklyn, New York. She holds a BFA from Pratt Institute’s School of Painting.Recent solo shows include ‘Boy, It Feels Good To Be A Cowgirl’, Almine Rech, Paris (2021), ‘Revenge Body’, Carl Kostyál Gallery, London, ‘‘Slow Fade’, The Newsstand Project, Los Angeles (2020); ‘Works’, Jorge Andrew Gallery, Brooklyn, NY (2017); ‘Tabs’, Stream Gallery, Brooklyn, NY (2015). Stern has an upcoming solo show at Carl Kostyál, Stockholm in November 2021.Recent group shows include ‘Stockholm Sessions’, Carl Kostyál, Stockholm (2021); ‘Resting Point of Accommodation’, Almine Rech, Brussels (2021); ‘The Artist is Online’, Konig Gallery, Berlin (2021); ‘Friend Zone’, Half Gallery, New York (2021); ‘06’, PM/AM, London (2020); ‘Escapism’, Meredith Rosen Gallery, New York (2020) and ‘American Woman’, Allouche Benias Gallery, Athens, Greece (2020). More

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    “Revenge Body” by Emma Stern at Carl Kostyál Gallery, London

    Carl Kostyál London is proud to present Revenge Body, Emma Stern’s first solo show with the gallery. The exhibition is open from 13th May to 12th June 2021.Borrowing from the visual vocabulary of online niche subcultures such as fursonas, fandom and 3D erotica, Stern plays with the quasi-pornographic representation of women in the virtual world, combining traditional painterly techniques such as monochromatic underpainting and chiaroscuro with virtual 3D programmes and modelling to create eerily anonymous, finely-worked ‘portraits’, reclaiming these man-made avatars for the female domain.“What my work is most critical of is the inherent inclination toward pornographic (or at least porn-adjacent) representations of women throughout cyberspace. As our virtual selves become ever-more inextricable from our physical selves, I’m interested in how the preferences of the programmers are imposed on virtual female bodies within the largely male-dominated arena of software and technology.” – Emma Stern in conversation with Evan Malachosky, Cool Hunting, 2019.“There are recurring female archetypes that appear all throughout history but are especially pronounced in the world of 3d fandom and pornography: the cheerleader, the cowgirl, the pin-up girl, the bimbo, the secretary, the girl next door… and then when you start involving all these niche internet/gamer subcultures, you get these fantasy elements and wind up with the slutty elf, sexy centaur, the warrior princess and so on. All these characters are recognisable even if you’ve never seen them before, so they have their own narratives in a way, because they are archetypal.” –Emma Stern, De:Formal, 2020.Emma Stern (b. 1992) lives and works in Brooklyn, New York. She holds a BFA from Pratt Institute’s School of Painting. Her recent solo shows include ‘Slow Fade’, The Newsstand Project, Los Angeles (2020); ‘Works’, Jorge Andrew Gallery, Brooklyn, NY (2017); ‘Tabs’, Stream Gallery, Brooklyn, NY (2015). Stern has an upcoming solo show at Carl Kostyál, Stockholm in November 2021.Recent group shows include ‘Stockholm Sessions’, Carl Kostyál, Stockholm (2021); ‘Resting Point of Accommodation’, Almine Rech, Brussels (2021); ‘The Artist is Online’, Konig Gallery, Berlin (2021); ‘Friend Zone’, Half Gallery, New York (2021); ‘06’, PM/AM, London (2020); ‘Escapism’, Meredith Rosen Gallery, New York (2020) and ‘American Woman’, Allouche Benias Gallery, Athens, Greece (2020).Check out below for more images of “Revenge Body”Fiona, 2020. 3D printed PLA plastic, pearlescent acrylic enamel paint, clearcoat laquer.Erowid + Emily, 2020. Oil on canvas.Gabbi (Flexing) 2, 2020. Oil on canvas.Nina, 2020. Oil on canvas.Jess 2, 2020. Oil on canvas.Emily and Fiona 1, 2020. Oil on canvas. More

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    Coverage: “NOBODY’S BABY” by Austyn Weiner at Carl Kostyál Gallery, London

    Talented multimedia artist, Austyn Weiner recently opened a new show entitled ‘Nobody’s Baby’ last Monday, October 5th, at Carl Kostyál in London.

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    ‘NOBODY’S BABY’ is about independence; both forced and found. A growing into oneself when longing to grow into another. The desperation and desire for answers that do not exist. ‘NOBODY’S BABY’ is a survey and a celebration of our most primal intuition; survival.

    “Nobody’s Baby” by Austyn Weiner, 2020

    I AM THE BABY⠀I AM NO LONGER THE BABY⠀I FOR SURE AS HELL AIN’T YOUR BABY⠀I AM NOBODY’S BABY⠀With love and resentment – AUSTYN, 2020

    Austyn Weiner is a multimedia artist whose practice denotes and engages a recourse in chaos. Weiner’s practice explores A duality of forces that are influential and abject to the subjective mind; romance, rejection, isolation, and performance. Weiner’s use of charcoal, house paint, crayon, acrylic, oil paint, and oil stick, suggest a disposition of combative struggle and distressed victory.
    Check out below for more photos from the show.

    “Coming Together Whilst I Tear You Apart” by Austyn Weiner, 2020

    “In The Heat The Moment No One Told Me Was A Moment” by Austyn Weiner, 2020

    “In The Heat The Moment No One Told Me Was A Moment” by Austyn Weiner, 2020

    “Best Kept Secret (An Ode To What Happened In That Garage)” by Austyn Weiner, 2020 More