Canyon Castator, SOS, 2017. Oil on canvas. 96 x 72 inches.
CANYON CASTATOR
Pissing Match
January 6 — February 10, 2018
"Debauchery is perhaps an act of despair in the face of infinity."
—Edmond de Goncourt, Pages from the Goncourt Journals
Postmasters will begin the New Year with Canyon Castator's debut solo show, Pissing Match. Both gallery spaces on
Franklin Street are dedicated to the exhibition.
Castator's large-scale oil paintings bring us into a twisted version of today's social reality. Each is a gruesome, cartoon-like
collage with graphically distorted figures, packed into vivid scenes of debauchery. By heightening what is already grotesque
and salacious about party culture, substance abuse, harassment, and violence override the casual vice. The more disturbing
the scenario, the more macabre its actors. This is a world of extremes, from the overloaded content to the work's strong
narrative impulse to the bright and bold aesthetic that Castator never shies from.
Digital processes give the work its copy-paste quality. Preparatory drawings are executed on an iPad, where compositional
elements can be readily resized, moved, deleted, or restored. Imagery is often culled from personal or found photos.
Exuberant patterns and a melange of textures, whether they are superflat or perspectivally perfect, commingle with humor
and ease.
Canyon Castator (b. 1989) is a Los Angeles-based painter. In 2013, he was invited to be a resident at the Kunstakademie
Düsseldorf, where he studied with Tal R. He is originally from Boulder, Colorado.
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Canyon Castator Pissing Match 2018 installation view |
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Canyon Castator Of course you know this means war 2017 oil on canvas 68 x 84 inches |
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Canyon Castator SOS 2017 oil on canvas 96 x 72 inches |
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Canyon Castator Boys Will Be Boys 2017 oil on canvas 68 x 90 inches |
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Canyon Castator Deep End 2018 oil stick on Dura-Lar 114 x 193 inches |
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Canyon Castator Pissing Match 2018 installation view |
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Canyon Castator The Pillars of Society 2017 oil on canvas 84 x 66 inches |
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Canyon Castator Bathroom Line 2017 oil on canvas 90 x 114 inches (overall) |
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Canyon Castator The path forward will be covered in broken glass and chicken shit 2017 oil on canvas 72 x 96 inches |
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Canyon Castator Pissing Match 2018 installation view |
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Canyon Castator Butting heads with strays 2017 oil on canvas 80 x 80 inches |
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Canyon Castator Cesspool 2017 oil on canvas 70 x 90 inches |
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Canyon Castator Draft Dodgers 2017 oil on canvas 64 x 80 inches |