Playstation is proud to invite you to the exhibition ‘Precious Burns’ bringing together works by Travis Boyer (1979, New York) and Matthew Lutz-Kinoy (1984, Berlin and New York). Both artists work with sculpture, video and painting stemming from a more performative approach. The works cite those moments in which their social engagement literally gained meaning and form.
Boyer’s “Belt Paintings” result from a cyanotype process in which two chemicals are combined in equal parts to produce a blue and white photogram; or negative shadow. This process was widely used during the early surveys of the American West when pictures of native peoples were made and developed in covered wagon darkrooms. Through this one-to-one, object-on-object photographic process, the result is neither an exploded view nor a miniaturized image. The works mark the actual physical presence of belts, leaving shadows that become marks, compositional lines, architecture, figures, and characters.
The ceramic works by Lutz-Kinoy carry titles such as ‘Culp, DHEBP’ and ‘Lewis, STARS’ referring to performances he conducted over the years in Amsterdam, Berlin and New York. These works, that become commemorative trophies, are portraits of the performers. The objects have been part of an exhaustive dance performance, presented during spring this year in a parking lot of OUTPOST Studios in Norwich England. During this performance, the series of in total nine figurative reliefs, were fired simultaneously as part of a performance. The physical marks of the fire are left as shadows of the live moment merging the individual characters.
This exhibition is curated by Mels Evers.
Matthew Lutz-Kinoy was born in Brooklyn, New York in 1984, and has lived and worked in Berlin and Amsterdam since 2008. Lutz-Kinoy’s recent exhibitions include a performance at the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, a touring ceramics show with Natsuko Uchino, at Elaine MGK Basel, Villa Romana Florence and Kunsthalle Baden-Baden, and solo exhibitions at Silberkuppe, Berlin, Galerie Van Gelder, Amsterdam and Deweer, Ottegem, Belgium. His videos have been screened at the Kunstlerhaus Stuttgart, New Museum, Berlinale Film Festival and White Chapel Gallery.
Travis Boyer was born in 1979 in Fort Worth, Texas. He received his MFA from Bard College in New York. His work in painting, sculpture, and performance, as well as collaborative projects, have been shown at museums and institutions including Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam; Goethe Institute, New York; High Desert Test Sites, Joshua Tree, California, SOMA Arts, San Francisco; and CAMH, Houston. Boyer lives and works in New York.