All Photos By Gail
Multidisciplinary artist, Chad Wys has some really fantastic work in Not The Sum of Its Parts, Just The Parts, up now at the Joseph Gross Gallery. The two person show (which also includes works by Jesse Draxler) examines the variables of abstraction, conceptualism, and markmaking. In this exhibit, Wys rips apart and questions the use of traditional arts materials, rediscovering and reevaluating the limits of the surface.
The title of the show is a reactionary statement against the Aristotelian philosophy that “the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.” Rather, the title attempts to highlight, in a multilayered approach, that each part is essential, individual, unique, and not to be overlooked in its contribution to the “whole.” Both artists utilize this principle in their practice.
Chad Wys is interested in manipulating found objects – the more in a state of depreciation, the better – he adds new life, meaning and function to existing materials and products, adding to the object’s history and its journey. Throughout his work he has maintained a longstanding fascination with the ideals of conceptualism. Informed by Dadaism and minimalism as well as postmodernist philosophy, Wys’ work examines visuality, from images and objects to decorations and art, and how the reproduction of these materials influence our visual experience.
Not The Sum Of Its Parts, Just The Parts, Featuring the Works of Chad Wys, will be on Exhibit Through October 1st, 2016 at Joseph Gross Gallery, Located at 548 W 28th Street, in the Chelsea Gallery District.
