About the artwork:
There is nothing to hide behind with drawing, it is a thinking language, transparent and immediate, unburdened by material pressures. Breitenbach's drawings linger on the precipice of transformation, like a cartoon strip without resolve, we never catch exactly what's happened. These crisp and elusive compositions draw from a large archive of negligible illustrations of an era far gone, whose essence grapples with logic and humor. Recognizable symbols sail past viewers, faces spontaneously appear from the smog of charcoal, two lovers dance, visible only from below the ankles; we stumble through scenes via a perverse pantomiming, we look as much as we are looked at, hopefully eliciting a brief moment of sympathetic wonderment.
About the artist:
K.P. Breitenbach (b. 1992, Sleepy Hollow, NY) lives and works in New York City; graduated from SUNY Purchase College with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree.
Solo Exhibitions: Kitty Corner, The Meeting, New York, NY, 2024; When the Leaves Come Down, Shrine, New York, NY, 2019. Two Person Exhibitions: Go Where I am Going, with Natalie Lerner, Left Field Gallery, Los Osos, CA, 2020. Group Exhibitions: Double Lift, curated by Janine Iversen, David Petersen Gallery, Minneapolis, MN, 2024; Heaven is a Different Thing, Unclebrother, Hancock, NY, 2023; Spielraum, Cotyledon Projects, Los Angeles, CA, 2022; Where Y was Thus Released, Ampersand Gallery, Portland, OR, 2017.
Bibliography: Heskes, Nicholas, “Kyle Breitenbach: When the Leaves Come Down”, Brooklyn Rail, September 2019; Schneider, Tim, “Editors’ Pick: 19 Things Not to Miss in New York’s Art World This Week”, Artnet News, August 2019.
Awards: Ellen Battel Stoeckel Fellowship, 2013.
