DUO - Tandems in Contemporary Art

NEW YORK CITY — It’s a long-held belief that artists work in solitude, but the truth is art is rarely, if ever created in a vacuum. Focusing on artists who choose to create their work in tandem, DUO at Harman Projects features a global array of artist duos, emphasizing how collaboration shapes contemporary art practices. Encompassing a number of relationships, from partners to twins, and stylistic influences, from Spanish street art to German design, the artist pairs in DUO complicate the widespread idea of lone artistic genius.

Mixing fine art and alternative materials, duos Saman & Sasan Oskouei and Skewville make thoughtful, provocative work by leaning into the connotations of objects and contexts we see every day. To address social and political issues, Iranian brothers Saman and Sasan have taken notes from activists, employing stencils and screenprints while also creating site specific works out of chain link fence and other industrial materials. New York-based twins Ad and Droo of Skewville attempt to transform the urban landscape around them through their unique brand of sign-making as well as their iconic wooden sneakers, injecting bits of nearly imperceptible art into the everyday.

Twosomes PichiAvo and SNIK come together to blend street art style with fine art sensibilities. Spanish artists PichiAvo have grown their careers together under one name, becoming recognized for their signature murals and canvas works that layer graffiti burners, throw-ups, and tags with realistic representations of sculptures from Classical Antiquity. Artist pair SNIK combines their respective male and female perspectives to create haunting forms of portraiture rendered through hand-cut stencils and aerosol paints.

KeFe, Yok & Sheryo, and  Zebu demonstrate how big our imaginations can be when we put our heads together. Wife and husband Kelly Tunstall and Ferris Plock join their contrasting individual painting styles in KeFe to create fantastical, gyrating depictions of sirens, plants, and cartoon characters. Meanwhile, Yok & Sheryo’s synthesized works are loud and vibrant, depicting equally fantastical scenes of time-traveling dragons, smoking bananas, or squawking snake-ducks, all seemingly pulled from a deep collective subconscious. The unified practice of Lynn Lehmann and Dennis Gärtner in Zebu falls into order rather than chaos, their rich and colorful compositions featuring plants, animals, and houses offering a refuge through their balance, poise, and measure.

Join us on March 2nd from 6-8 pm at 54 Ludlow Street for the opening of the group exhibition DUO. The exhibition will be on view through March 23rd. For additional information, images, or exclusive features, please contact info@harmanprojects.com.

Participating artists: KeFe, PichiAvo, Saman & Sasan Oskouei, Skewville, SNIK, Yok & Sheryo, Zebu