Gary Taxali
Hindi Love Song

Gallery II
Solo Exhibition

April 4, 2009 through May 2, 2009

NEW YORK, NY (March 9, 2009) — Jonathan LeVine Gallery is pleased to announce Hindi Love Song, a solo exhibition of new works by Gary Taxali. For his fist solo show in New York, the artist has created a series of mixed-media paintings and sculptures in what will be his largest collection of original work to date, both in quantity and in scale. Highly explorative when it comes to application methods, Taxali combines layers of collaged materials and silk-screening techniques. His images are produced using a variety of mediums—ink, oil, acrylic, enamel, and gouache—applied to a number of different surfaces including: paper, plywood, masonite, steel, aluminum, and vintage book covers.

Hindi Love Song features Taxali’s anachronistic aesthetic, evoking nostalgia for an era before his own time. Expanding upon his signature style, works in the show feature playful imagery inspired by vintage animation and packaging, often combining the artist’s hand-rendered typography with geometric patterns to compliment his figures. In a Los Angeles Times review, Holly Myers wrote: "The work of Gary Taxali takes a basically juvenile bibliophilic impulse—doodling in the leaves of borrowed books—to a more artistically sophisticated level. There is an appealing sense of play, drawn from childhood but supported by a mature iconographic sensibility."   

An award-winning illustrator, Taxali’s process in creating commercial work remains void of digital assistance (a rare trait in an increasingly electronic industry) which perhaps has led to the appeal and stylistic development of his retro-looking visuals. The same is true of his approach to gallery work, which is based on a deep love of drawing and hands-on printmaking methods. Taxali’s subjects, with their minimalist yet exaggerated facial expressions and gestures, are painted in flat color onto found materials and other non-traditional canvases. Some of his characters have been created in three-dimensional form, first as a series of vinyl figures, and later in fiberglass. For this show, one of Taxali’s reoccurring characters makes his debut appearance as a limited edition bronze sculpture. Gary Taxali’s new line of limited edition gold and porcelain cufflinks, produced by Hobbs & Kent, will also be on view and available for purchase during the exhibition.

ABOUT THE ARTIST
Gary Taxali was born in Chandigarh, India in 1968. A year later, he and his family immigrated to Toronto, Canada. In 1991, he graduated from the Ontario College of Art and immediately began working as a professional illustrator. A few years later, he began showing in various exhibitions and galleries throughout North America and Europe. In 2005, he launched his first vinyl toy, The Toy Monkey, which included a special edition specifically created for The Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City. Gary was also asked by the Whitney Museum to donate a limited edition print to be given to top donors at their annual fundraising Art Party. This November, his work will be included in a group exhibition at the Contemporary Art Museum in Rome. Currently, Gary is working on his next mass production toy figure, Oh No and Oh Oh under the name of his new company, Chump Inc. as well as This Is Silly, a children's book published by Scholastic and slated for a Spring 2010 release. Gary recently designed the packaging for Aimee Mann’s new album @#%&*! Smilers, which was nominated for a 2009 Grammy Award for best package design.