Opened in 2009, by the former director of the Deitch Projects, Kathy Grayson, the Hole NYC has produced a number of cutting edge shows over the past five years. The gallery’s most recent undertaking, a group show entitled “Early Man” tackles the theme of art making through the ages. Looking as far back as the Upper Paleolithic period and then tracing this forward, the artists in this exhibition “use various strategies to create meaning, from the barely rudimentary to the highly sophisticated.”

The artists featured in the show include: Aurel Schmidt, Austin Lee, Barry McGee, Bjarne Melgaard, Bruce High Quality Foundation, Christian Rosa, David Pappaceno, David Shrigley, Dennis Hoekstra, Devin Troy Strother, Eric Yahnker, Francine Spiegel, Giovanni Garcia-Fenech, Jim Drain, JIM JOE, Katherine Bernhardt, Misaki Kawai, Paul DeMuro, Takeshi Murata, Theo Rosenblum and special guests. It is through these diverse artists’ interpretation of the process of creating meaning which has resulted in a variety of pieces that address this topic. The work within “Early Man” ranges from drawing, sculpture and installation and offers a wide look at the show’s theme.

While the “Early Man” show is taking on a very complex topic, it also helps to encapsulate many of the issues facing working artists of the 21st century today. Many of the pieces within the show seem to be directly engaging with primitivism but in a new context. It is through many of the work’s refusal to be categorized and their direct engagement with art historical movements that is helping to create a new context for meaning.

The works are at times aggressive, raw, comical and energetic. Painter and graffiti artist Barry McGee for example, takes his work a step further within “Early Man.” McGee’s two carved wood figurines are shown side by side on matching white pedestals with tiny spray can bottles in their hands as they attempt to paint the gallery wall black.
McGee’s work is featured among other paintings and sculptures which showcase the human form in various settings, positions and mediums.

Giovanni Garcia-Fenech’s canvases are lush with peach and black hues that depict a lone male figure. Garcia-Fenech’s paintings are filled with a bulbous, overflowing, body that seems to stretch beyond the frame of the canvas.

In Dennis Hoekstra’s flooded, dark, Cave Installation. the viewer feels as if they have entered another world given the amount of art you are presented with. The installation is multidimensional and features a video piece by artist Takeshi Murata in addition to fifteen sculptures created by David Pappaceno. Pappaceno’s sculptures fill the cave like space and are accompanied by other paintings and drawings throughout. Murata’s video piece features an angry yeti set against the background a of pixelated, hallucinogenic series of images with music. The video is projected over the pond that has been created within the cave adding yet another element to the already overwhelming installation.

The pieces within “Early Man” not only challenging the status quo of the art making process but also the way in which art is viewed. The show is complex, funny and makes the viewer feel that you are in on the joke rather than being on the receiving end of it. The show points to not only the transitions that have been made within art over last several thousands years, but also what this means on a more basic level. This is one of the best group exhibitions I have seen by far this year and is not to be missed!

“Early Man” runs through December 28th at the The Hole Gallery which is open Tuesday through Saturday from 12-7 PM and is located at 312 Bowery.

–Anni Irish