The Empty Circle is pleased to present aura – featuring the work of Germán Enrique, Hale Jones, and Jacob Lay curated by Ernesto Renda
October 19 - December 1, 2024
Opening Reception October 19, 5 - 8pm
When a painter goes into the studio, they navigate the expectations of the viewer, the vague notion of painterly subjectivity and intent, the scripts being written for them. For these three artists, that negotiation is less a hurdle than a game. Playful approaches are presented to preserve and parody the aura of the artwork and the artist.
In Hale Jones precisely executed graphic works, the control and rationality exercised by the artist allows for absurdity and randomness in the viewer’s experience, arranging a maze of signs and symbols. Jacob Lay deftly blends languages of pop, provisional painting, and a personal impressionist language of the hand. “Embracing each style's alleged ‘failures’ as necessary and potent elements of what a style is feels exciting to me.” Lay’s paintings, often exploring the psychedelia of lust and courtship, have a sense of im-mediacy in the sense that the idea to paint something is un-mediated by waiting time or studied curation. Those types of hesitations are responsibilities delegated to the viewer. A necessary irreverence to the eroticized object is central to Germán Enrique’s nudes. Enrique extracts male bodies from twitter and old physique magazines and casts them in his own stories, treating them without care or preciousness. His mark-making acts as a protective film, wrapped over the source images, sealing in the original bodies with a new, skin-tight cloak.
In contrast with the severity of a canvas on a wall, this exhibition features a vitrine with works on paper that blend collage and drawing, an adjacent practice that informs the way these artists conceive of borrowed imagery that becomes painting. Sensing our expectations of their work, they circumnavigate them with a cool verve and a powerful aura, indirectly imbuing the works with a sense of personality and invitation to conversation.
- Ernesto Renda, October 2024.
Artist Bios
Jacob Lay (b. 1995 in Oak Ridge, Tennessee) received his bachelor's degree in creative writing at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville and Masters degree in studio art at Hunter College. Lay lives and works in Queens, New York. IG: www.instagram.com/sir_jake_a_lot
Hale Jones (b. 1999 in Providence, RI) earned a BFA from the Rhode Island School of Design in 2023. He has exhibited his paintings at the Gelman Gallery at the Rhode Island School of Design in the shows Bliss Information, Rubrica, and the Senior Painting Exhibition (2023). Additionally, he co-curated the show Peace on Earth (2023) at Memorial Hall at RISD. His work has also been exhibited at Paradice Palase, a studio collective in Bushwick, in 2023 and 2024. He lives and works in Brooklyn, New York. IG: www.instagram.com/halejones1
Germán Enrique (b. 1993 in Miami, FL) earned his BFA at the University of Florida. He has exhibited work at Mindy Solomon (Miami), Central Fine (Miami), Bob’s Gallery (NY), and Grouper (Miami). He presented work with Dále Zine at NADA Miami 2022 and Spring Break Art Show 2023 (NY). He lives and works in New York. IG: www.instagram.com/okyeahnoforsure
Ernesto Renda (b. 1995 in Trenton, New Jersey) is an artist and curator based in New York. He has presented curatorial projects at Brown University’s Granoff Center (2016), Zürcher Gallery (2020), Super Dutchess (2020), and Moskowitz Bayse (2022). He has presented solo and two-person exhibitions with The Empty Circle (NY), Moskowitz Bayse (LA), Management (NY), and In Lieu Gallery (LA) among others. His work is in the collection of Museo Jumex (Mexico City). Renda earned a BFA in Painting from Rhode Island School of Design and a BA in Modern Culture and Media Studies from Brown University. IG: www.instagram.com/ernestorenda
The gallery is open by appointment only.
Please contact matt@emptycirclespace.com for inquiries, images and requests.
