Backyard Ghost

Backyard Ghost is pleased to present ‘Alternative Reflections’, the newest body of paintings by NYC based artist Cyle Warner. 

 

Warner’s recent body of 2.5-dimensional paintings pulls the viewer into a psychological space where identity meets uncertain ends. The strong presence as an ‘object’ comes from a brimming collection of materials, such as textile, paper, sugar, sand and wood, heavily layered and brightly colored. Looking at Warner’s painting brings the awareness first to the ‘existence’ not only of the painting’s substantialness but also of the viewer’s body in a physical space. It is still an image - an abstract painting of loose geometry - however; and the spatial vocabulary doesn’t go far beyond ‘square and 2-dimensional’ as it is constructed on a canvas surface that is oftentimes only functional as a structure to be hung on the wall. What is it then? What is calling to mind the compassionate narratives?

 

The artist abridges the immeasurable time and place that he comes across while researching his cultural identity. It is not as simple as someone looking into a mirror, but there are sensations of reflecting personal history and its desire to connect with the spirituality in Warner’s work. Intuition and sensitivity perform a series of bold movements to create an alternative -quite utopic- space and a sense of unity. Layers of fabric pieces are overlapped and buried under opaque acrylic paint while another layer is attached with one corner glued on the surface letting the weight simply play with gravity. Other components are intertwined and intimately joined physically with paint-layover, knots, staples, and so on. This repetitive act of connecting fragments continues to build and arrive at compositional symmetry creating rich wholeness and integrity as if a body holds the multifaceted history of its own. 

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Working with deeply personal materials like vibrant, hued textile and paper inherited from his mother and grandmother’s previous careers, Warner found a way not only to generate his unique painting language but also to shape his freedom to bury, embrace, discover, connect and create harmony in his work.