Leon Xu Airbrushes Fleeting Moments From His 1989 Toyota Celica
As part of a solo exhibition called “Butterfly Kisses.”
New York City’s Helena Anrather gallery is currently hosting a solo exhibition entitled “Butterfly Kisses” featuring works by the emerging artist, Leon Xu. The presentation features a fresh crop of airbrush and acrylic on canvas works that reference specific moments captured by the artist on his iPhone camera. Ranging from small to large scale, the pieces also portray meditative scenes from the artist’s car: a royal blue 1989 Toyota Celica.
Altogether, the artist champions the theme of memory across the paintings on display. ” The familiar landscapes provide a view into Xu’s world at once generic and specific — the curves of the dashboard, the sparkle in the rearview mirror, the pop of the headlights — and leave us with glimpses of Xu’s memory bank and reminds of us of our reliance on fractal images in the reconstruction of thought and lived experience,” said the gallery in a statement. “Memory becomes an emotional imprint rather than a cerebral reduction of a series of events.”
Check out installation images for “Butterfly Kisses” in the slideshow above and visit Helena Anrather’s website for more information.
Elsewhere in art, Rashid Johnson is curating a group exhibition that touches on the everyday mundane over at Hauser & Wirth’s Southampton location.
Helena Anrather Gallery
28 Elizabeth St.
New York, NY 10013
