Dan Yoshii is pleased to present LUNCH, a series of paintings and works on paper by Los Angeles-based artist Michael McGregor as its inaugural show of the gallery's new space on 54 Henry Street. Expanding on his ongoing exploration of the still life in his distinctively loose yet dynamic touch, McGregor spins the idea of traditional still life tropes into contemporary scenes that focus on the act of eating and the subtle hedonism embedded in enjoying a meal in today's fast-paced world.
Drawing from the artist's previous series made on hotel stationery, this new body of works further dives into McGregor's exploration of the impermanent nature of the materials he utilizes. As echoed by the exhibition title LUNCH, the works in this series depict scenes of meals had alone or shared across multiple cities with other artists and are created on menus personally collected on the artist's travels. The menus McGregor incorporates in his work carry the physical traces of their journeys, rejecting the idea of the pristine, and preferring surfaces shaped by movement, experience, and time. A lived-in feeling is organically created through the creases and stains on the menus that have been stashes in pockets and purses, stuffed in boots, and slid in the back pocket of a pair of Levi's jeans.
Finding inspiration from artists whose practices revolved around everyday objects such as Tom Wesselmann, Andy Warhol, Claes Oldenburg, and the energetic mark-making of Robert Ryman and Cy Twombly, the artist deftly switches between modes of fast and slow both visually and in subject matter. The works on paper carry a sense of spontaneity and vibrancy that crayon drawings on restaurant tablecloths often do. Through his signature graphic style of linework, McGregor renders cutlery, restaurant interiors and staff, wine bottles, and food of different cuisines with visual immediacy. While the works on canvas are larger in scale, Business Lunch and Cash Only invite the viewer to slow down and catch a glimpse of the more intimate moments of shared meals and sobremesa - a Spanish tradition of spending time at the table after a meal is over. Through layers of charcoal, gesso, oil paint, oil sticks, and collage, the loosely rendered glasses, plates, and fragments of meals emerge and disappear in rhythm.
LUNCH asks the viewer to reexamine the act of eating through not a lens of the overlooked mundane, but as a celebration of how it brings people together through its collectivist nature, shared conversation, and storytelling.
Michael McGregor's work has been exhibited internationally in cities including London, Mexico City, Miami, Los Angeles and New York.