On September 19th of 2025, I was able to travel to the Tribeca area, alongside with my peers and professors, to visit a number of galleries. First, we entered the Jack Shainman Gallery and viewed the "I Am Many" Exhibition by the artist Hank Willis Thomas.
Hank Willis Thomas is an African American artist, born in 1976, in Plainfield, New Jersey. His work has been showcased all throughout the United States and abroad, in locations such as, New Yorks Guggenheim Museum, Hong Kong Arts Centre in Paris, and the Witte de With Center for Contemporary Art in the Netherlands. Hank Willis's artistic journey is rooted in photography, but he creates works in many different mediums. In an interview by Art 21 "Hank Willis Thomas in 'Bodies of Knowledge', Willis explains "The two things that I remember people saying to me as early as three or four years old are 'You ask too many questions.' and 'You're not supposed to stare at people.'. Most of my work is some combination of the two. Photography was a reason to stare." In the exhibition "I am Many", a theme of historical photographs was shown throughout the gallery. Hank Willis alters historical photos from the civil rights movement using retroreflective vinyl. His altered photographs entice viewers to explore perspectives of historical truths, by only revealing themselves when the viewer takes a flash photography of the work. Once the image is photographed with flash, the true image is activated. This interactive journey to reveal historical photos, comments on the erasure of African American history and encourages people to actively educate and seek truth upon Black American history. His work challenges one to interpret how history is framed and presented.
Hank Willis Thomas, 13 panels, 27 x 21 x 1 3/4 inches (each framed), UV Print on retroreflective vinyl, mounted on Dibond, 2018.
Hank Willis tries to create things that open different ways to look at topics we may have repeatedly already seen. In the inspiration for one of Hanks art works, he researched the book "House of Bondage" by Ernest Cole. He was a black photographer who traveled over South Africa documenting the Apartheid, the system of institutionalized racial segregation in South Africa from 1948 to the early 1990s, characterized by severe discrimination against non-white citizens. Ernest smuggled photographs outside of the country, and one in particular struck an idea to Hank Willis for a sculpture. The image shows nude miners lined up with their hands in the air. Hank was overwhelmed with guilt gazing at their exposed backsides. He created a statue to give viewers the ability to walk completely around the statues and see the faces of the citizens that hold the pride, sufferings, and power represented of all racial prejudice. The murder of Mike Brown was about 6 months after Hank had made the sculpture. The phrase " Hands Up, Don't Shoot" became an unofficial title of the statue. In the same Art21 interview, Hank says "I see everything as connected, so if I'm making work about coal miners or Ferguson or basketball, frankly, a lot of the bodies are connected through this history of oppression." Hank Williams work exhibits not only a powerful and cohesive commentary upon black lives, but he also approaches it in a unique and different manner than other political artwork. This exhibition was extremely moving and allowed all viewers to immerse themselves in the extensive history of the black race.
Hank Willis Thomas, Bronze, cement, 7.5 feet tall, 25 foot long.
After Jack Shainman Gallery, we took a look inside Gaa Gallery. On the basement floor was an exhibition named "Laboratory of Flesh and Balls" by Andrej Dubravsky. Andrej Dubravsky is a queer male artist that was born in 1987 in Nove Zamky, Slovakia. He graduated from the Acadamy of Fine Arts and Design in Bratislava, Slovakia in 2013. The "Laboratory of Flesh and Balls" exhibition was a collection of acrylic and oil pastel paintings on recycled canvas. The collection of work was inspired by scenes Andrej had experienced during his artist residency program in Calasetta, Sardinia at the Laboratorio Mediterraneo. Andrej is inspired by the countryside life and nature. Living things such as bees, caterpillars, ladybugs, and nude men can be seen in his artwork as references and subjects.
This exhibition showed several photos of nude men playing soccer, the artist having mentioned he finds inspiration in scenes of men playing sports. His subjects being nude seem to be a translation for his love in painting the human body. He says "The paint itself is like a flesh for me... A flesh of thick paint." He enjoys depicting bigger body shapes and creating volumes in the folds of skin. In many of these paintings, the naked men are featured with rabbit ears or horns. The meaning behind the ears is rooted in the term "Zajacik", which in Slovakia means rabbit. This is a term of endearment to call someone cute. Andrej mentions that the ears eventually turned into horns. He says, "If I give them a horn, they become mythical creatures from art history, like Bacchus and Fauns. People immediately recognize that it's not a specific friend of mine or a lover, even if it could be. But then it broadens the concept. Everyone knows my work is deeply personal, but not in a descriptive way; it has metaphorical associations." Through this approach, Andrej is able to create these men into more mythical characters. His work reflects an intimacy and sense of wonder to topics of sexuality, anatomy, and concept of life. Each painting depicts the movement of living spirits through his use of color and composition. Overall, Andrej's work was an extremely enjoyable journey and inquisitive to the artists views of life.
Andrej Dubravsky, The bee which stopped for a minute and started to thinking about all the colors and shades of pollen in the world, 2025. Acrylic and oil pastel on canvas. 47 1/4 x 39 1/4 in
Andrej Dubravsky, Nobody cares about the ball anymore, and that's totally ok tonight., 2025. Acrylic and oil pastel on canvas. 37 1/4 x 45 1/4 in.
Andrej Dubravsky, Untitled, 2025. Acrylic and oil pastel on canvas. 85 1/2 x 53 1/2 in
One of the last galleries we entered was the Almine Rech. Inside the Almine Rich was the exhibition named "Myth Information" of a collection of work by the artist Chloe Wise.
Chloe Wise was born in 1990, in Montral Canada. Chloe has experience in a wide range in mediums including sculpture, video, paintings and installation. This showcase featured her large-scale paintings. Chloe's artwork creates a space, image and time of an unknown for the viewer. She finds a great interest in humankind domesticating the unknown and creating myths. The paintings in this exhibition were mainly tableaux scenes of models. Many of her subjects are seen to be looking upward. Her paintings seem to have their own realities, almost gaining consciousness of the viewer, breaking the fourth wall. Chloe's paintings in "Myth Information" allude to cinematic horror movie scenes. She creates paintings not with intention of depicting what the subjects see. Instead, she beautifully paints the stillness of the subject's consciousness. Her realism skill and intricate brushstrokes prompt a theme of Renaissance paintings. In the Almine Rech galleries written introduction, the writer Gideon Jacob says, "It's Spielberg attempting Caravaggio in the Scooby Doo cinematic universe." Spielberg is an American filmmaker with a wide range of movies, but mainly creating in the science fiction genre. Chloe's paintings have the composition and elegance of renaissance paintings, placed in a retro pop cinematic universe. Seeing her paintings evoke wonder, making a viewer develop ideas as to why the subjects are placed there, why they have a certain expression on their face, and what they are looking up to, reflecting questions upon our own perceptions of reality.
Chloe Wise, Some abysmal jam, 2025. Oil on linen. 72 x 60 1/4 x 1 1/2 in.
Chloe Wise, Body Amnesia, 2025. Oil on linen. 71 7/8 x 24 x 1 3/8 in.
The wide range in art works that we saw as a group on this trip was engrossing. Not only from each artists contrasting styles, but as well as the different concepts and meaning in each collection. While all three artists I have written about seem completely distinct, all three collections aim to create a new perspective and reframe thinking to subjects most people have been exposed to already. From the human body, the civil rights movement, nature, sexuality, and even mayonnaise, each artists managed to evoke deeper contemplation and thoughts to what seemed known.
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