Chase R. McCurdy: Threads in Time

The Marjorie Barrick Museum of Art is proud to present Threads in Time, a solo exhibition of painting, photography, writings, and sculptural assemblages by Las Vegas artist Chase R. McCurdy. McCurdy has developed an intuitive practice that responds to the immediacy of passing time with abstract representations of a fleeting, spontaneous sense of reality.

“The work appears to be abstract,” says the artist, “but it deals with a concrete place.”

McCurdy develops the unity between abstraction and concrete reality across a series of large compositions animated by inquisitive whirling lines and suspended geometric shapes. Smaller paintings on cotton rag paper concentrate the springing forces of the larger works into imagery characterized by curved forms that almost – but not quite – resemble familiar objects such as hourglasses, eyes, and mountains.

The abstractions of the canvases continue into his sculptures, where found objects have been brought together to echo the two-dimensional alchemy with three-dimensional forms. McCurdy’s painted circles are subtly recast as light bulbs while his totemic shapes rediscover themselves in branches or repurposed machines. The relationship between sculpture and flat pictures is reimagined in his photographs. Here, the found objects — flags, trees, disembodied hands, human figures — have moved on in real life, but the suggestively-blurred black and white images retain the memory of their encounter with the lens. “What I’m really in search for are those moments when the camera comes out of my pocket,” he says, “those moments when the camera comes up to the eye and the picture is made without a conscious thought.”

Together, these artworks offer us a nuanced picture of an artist who believes that by paying attention to time, we can access a profound sense of reality. “Please do not come [to my work] seeking a diversion or distraction from life. We are not at a point in history where that is an option,” he writes.

“Let us merely focus on here
if only for a moment
for here is the seed
the soil
the root
which gives bloom
to after.”

The artist would like to thank his family and friends for their love and support. This exhibition would not exist without the presence of the spirit in its many manifestations and the love of those who came before us, yet are still here with us.

Support for this exhibition is provided by the WESTAF Regional Arts Resilience Fund, a relief grant developed in partnership with The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to support arts organizations in the 13-state western region during the COVID-19 pandemic.

-DK Sole, Marjorie Barrick Museum of Art (December 17, 2020)