Reginald Sylvester II: Reaching For Heaven

Pace Prints is pleased to present Reginald Sylvester II: Reaching For Heaven, on view March 4–April 9 (extended to April 16), 2016 at 521 West 26th Street, with an opening reception March 3, 6-8pm. This is the artist’s first exhibition at Pace Prints.

In his newest body of works on paper, Reginald Sylvester II works intuitively with acrylic paint and oil sticks to create densely packed abstractions. Jumbling bold colors, black outlines, child-like scribbles and disembodied cartoon limbs, Sylvester wrestles with the perpetual overstimulation of a digital lifestyle with the emotional urgency of the abstract expressionist canon. The exhibition questions the idea of humanity in an age where identity is synonymous with selfie.

Sylvester’s works are a meditation on the Zeitgeist of his generation, marked by its voraciousness for information, while simultaneously being overwhelmed by it. With the speed and automacy in which he works, the artist’s newest compositions move away from the literal figure and towards their dissolution into the surrounding space. “I’m trying to take it to a place where form and color are the characters in the work,” says Sylvester, “It’s all about pulling images from an unconscious place and putting energy in to reflect something bigger.”

Reaching For Heaven is a Pace Prints special works on paper exhibition, curated by the gallery to highlight an emerging talent in New York City. A publication chronicling work in Sylvester’s debut display will be released in a limited edition of 100 at Mast Books, 66 Avenue A, New York City on February 25, with a signing by the artist 7-9pm.