Steven Harrington is making his Frieze New York debut with a sunny slice of Los Angeles. Recognized for his psychedelic-pop aesthetic and his beloved character, Mello, few artists can pull off such chaotic but composed illustrative acts.
Staged at The Shed’s top-floor lounge, Harrington transforms the house right into a lush technicolor setting the place a second of meditative play cuts via the clamor of Artwork Week, inviting viewers to decelerate, linger within the now and, because the title suggests, cease to odor the flowers.
For his cozy, residing room-like immersive set up, Harrington teamed up with LG to carry his vibrant universe into movement on their ultra-thin OLED screens. On the coronary heart of the show, Mello waves from blooming fields on a clear TV turned digital canvas. Elsewhere, he will be seen floating serenely via house and clinging onto cartoon palm timber ablaze.
Alongside animated scenes, the set up options works from Harrington’s inaugural museum solo at Seoul’s Amorepacific Museum, together with a portray from Harrington’s unique Cease to Scent the Flowers sequence, and a 10-foot canine sculpture, decked in blooms and bugs.
To have fun his first Frieze New York, we caught up with Harrington to debate his inspirations behind the presentation and what it’s like incorporating know-how into his observe. Learn on for the complete interview.
“Being an artist, one thing that’s actually vital to me is just honoring the method, it’s actually about consistently going again to the fundamentals – pencil on paper – that’s the place it all the time begins for me.”
Are you able to inform us about a few of the themes behind this presentation and the way it got here to be?
Numerous the work was initially created for show at Frieze in Los Angeles and due to the present occasions that occurred in the beginning of the yr, we pushed it to New York.
The theme right here is exploring my Cease to Scent the Flowers sequence. It was growing throughout the later phases of COVID, and I simply needed to carry some vibrancy, optimism and hope to myself and the world. I labored with LG to create my static work in an animated kind, and it was simply actually thrilling to work with the staff and use the brand new clear TV.
What was the method of translating static work into dynamic animations?
Being an artist, one thing that’s actually vital to me is just honoring the method, it’s actually about consistently going again to the fundamentals – pencil on paper – that’s the place it all the time begins for me. It’s all the time about that preliminary growth and refining that growth over time till I create a murals.
How do you envision rising know-how or digital instruments changing into part of your observe?
As an artist, I’ve all the time embraced know-how and although a variety of my observe depends on conventional portray, drawing and sculpture, I’ve all the time thought that it was vital to type of discover what’s forward. I feel nowadays, a variety of artists are exploring know-how an increasing number of, and also you’re seeing a variety of manufacturers discover artwork an increasing number of — I feel there’s a extremely attention-grabbing steadiness there.
“Artwork making, for me, has all the time been uncomfortable, and also you simply discover ways to navigate that instinct.”
Right here, we’re seeing Mello in present-day Los Angeles. Within the final a number of years, he has taken on many kinds, journeyed throughout so many locations, and most just lately, you teased your first bronze sculpture. The place can we count on to see him subsequent?
I don’t essentially know the place I see Mello going subsequent, and that’s what retains me type of chasing him. That’s what retains me in that inventive house, and retains me pursuing the act of constructing artwork.
What’s a bit of recommendation that you simply want you obtained as an early-career or rising artist?
My recommendation for my youthful self or anybody else that’s serious about making artwork could be to discover ways to turn out to be snug in an uncomfortable setting. Artwork making, for me, has all the time been uncomfortable, and also you simply discover ways to navigate that instinct.
