Tucker Nichols: Almost Everything Else Vol 1 and 2
ZieherSmith Pop-up, 485 Madison Avenue, October 16 – November 16
Madison Ave reception and artist talk: Monday, October 15, 6-8pm
ZieherSmith, High Line Nine, 505 W 27th St, October 18 – November 3
Chelsea reception: Thursday, October 18, 6-8 pm
Tucker Nichols: Almost Everything on the Table
Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum, through January 13
Artist talk and collaborative project: Sunday, Dec 2, 1-3 pm
Almost Everything Else Vol 1 and 2 is a two-venue exhibition of dynamic new paintings, drawings, and sculptures by Tucker Nichols, presented by ZieherSmith at their gallery in the new High Line Nine in Chelsea (505 W 27th St) and at a special temporary storefront location in Midtown Manhattan (485 Madison Avenue). These presentations complement Nichols’s current solo exhibition at the Aldrich Museum, Almost Everything on the Table, which centers on an array of tabletop sculptures that act as makeshift scientific experiments aimed at helping us better understand what can’t be seen. The work on view with ZieherSmith expands this theme, exploring a range of subjects that are broad and oddly specific at the same time: maps, electronics, the human body, celestial dynamics and even his trademark flowers. Whereas the artist is known for his simplification of seemingly complex phenomena, here we see his depiction of complexity itself, with layers of information, grids and specimens often all visible at once. By pointing our attention to languages of information just beyond our comprehension, Nichols delivers both wonderment and delight.
Together, these three simultaneous exhibitions mark an important moment in Nichols’s career—a celebration of curiosity and analysis for the sake of something beyond its technological, scientific, or even philosophical achievements. He revels in the sheer energy of endless human inquiry into the larger universe, full of promise and futility. There are no conclusions here—there aren’t even remotely useful applications. Instead, his work leaves viewers with the pursuit itself, something as natural and powerful as any great breakthrough.
Tucker Nichols (b. 1970, Boston, MA) received his BA from Brown University and his MA from Yale University. His work has been included in exhibitions nationally and internationally, at venues including the Institute of Contemporary Art, Portland, ME; Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco; Contemporary Art Museum, Raleigh, NC; Asian Art Museum, San Francisco; Denver Art Museum, Denver; and SFMOMA, San Francisco. Of his 2016 show at the gallery, Roberta Smith wrote that “these hardy works vibrate with energy…The works’ flattened space, dense tactile surfaces, random drips and sharp, solid colors are very much of the moment, as is their boisterous scale. They self-identify as new. Part of the modernity and joy of Mr. Nichols’s paintings is the suggestion that all the elements in a composition are autonomous” (The New York Times). Nichols lives in Northern California. This is his sixth solo exhibition at ZieherSmith.
Gallery hours are Mon-Fri, 11am-5pm at Madison Ave and Tues-Sat, 10am-6pm at High Line Nine, Chelsea. Inquiries can be sent to info@ziehersmith.com or call 917-837-7201.
