“These oil-on-canvas works are symbolic vehicles plainly behaving as art objects, rather than expressive or narrative paintings. Physically, canvas tarpaulins are sliced and sewn together in a Poveric manner with hints of Boro style repairs; and are stretcher-mounted to completion. The loaded imagery of wild-cat pump-jack oil derricks (hand-painted in crude black oil from a paint tube), emphasizes a coupling of the characteristics of logo graphics along with the definitive sundown silhouettes. The most prominent metaphors suggested are one of capitalism and the other a hunch of content. Drawn out further are aspects appropriate to this artist’s on-site production… determination, drive, patience, risk-taking, investment, gambling, ambition, discovery, desolation, desperation, good fortune, untapped territory —and the root faith to arrive at a gusher rather than a duster.”
-balanelcher website.

“In pirating the material of Western art’s execution—oil on canvas (which is also the title of each painting)—and supplanting it with punning displacements, Belcher wraps the age-old support of genteel representation in a set of connotations redolent of more worldly and politicized concerns, namely, those attending the administration of wealth, power, industry, and labor. A prolific artist with a deep history, Belcher is best known for astutely transfigured readymades and brand-conscious presentations that focus and shift attention in illuminating ways. In this instance, and not for the first time, he shines a light on painting itself, reconceived as a materially and interpretively rich image-clad object.”
-Jeff Gibson, Artforum (online May 18th, 2018)

Also ‘On view…’ at MKG127 will be the ’Dog Chew Rag’ carpet from 2016 (published by Equator Production, New York) “The basis for the ‘Dog Chew Rag’ carpet is a dog’s tug-of-war chew toy. The design comes full circle in that it resembles a Himalayan mandala appropriate to the weavers in Katmandu who painstakingly hand-knotted the wool carpet. In contrast to the luxuriousness of the finished piece, the design also suggests the look of classic and modest braided recycled rag rugs.”
-balanelcher website

This is Alan Belcher’s second solo exhibition with MKG127. A selection of other past solo exhibitions include Le Consortium in Dijon, greengrassi in London, Galerie Daniel Buchholz in Köln, Margo Leavin Gallery in Los Angeles, The Japan Foundation in Toronto, The Winnipeg Art Gallery in Manitoba, Studio Guenzani in Milano, The Power Plant in Toronto, Wacoal Art Center in Tokyo —as well as various solo exhibitions in New York City at Cable Gallery, Josh Baer Gallery, Jack Shainman Gallery, Malborough Gallery, and White Columns. Selected past group exhibitions include “Brand New: Art and Commodity in the 1980s” curated by Gianni Jetzer at the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in Washington D.C., “FRONT International Cleveland Triennial” curated by Michelle Grabner at the Cleveland Institute of Art, “Readymades Belong To Everyone” curated by Fredi Fischli & Niels Olsen at the Swiss Institute in New York City, “Phot(o)bjects” curated by Robert Nickas at Presentation House in Vancouver, “As Found” curated by Benjamin Buchloh at Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, “Le Courtiers du Desire” curated by Walter Hopps at Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris, and the 20th Sao Paulo Bienal Internacionale. He has participated in numerous group exhibitions in New York City which include the Whitney Museum of American Art, the New Museum, Marianne Boesky Gallery, Paula Cooper Gallery, Sonnabend Gallery, Andrea Rosen Gallery, Marlborough Gallery, and 303 Gallery. Belcher’s work can be found in many collections including the National Gallery of Canada (Ottawa), Centre Georges Pompidou (Paris), Morris & Helen Belkin Art Gallery at UBC (Vancouver), Musee des Beaux-Arts (Montréal), Fotomuseum Winterthur (Zurich), Walker Art Center (Minneapolis), Chase Manhattan Bank, and Musée Nicéphore Niépce (Chalon-sur-Saône, France); as well as various prominent private collections.

Alan Belcher was co-founder/co-director of Gallery Nature Morte (1982–88) with artist Peter Nagy in New York’s East Village. He continues to live and work in his hometown of Toronto. As an independent Canadian artist, it is of interest to note that Alan Belcher’s work is never government subsidized by any municipal, provincial, or federal arts councils; nor has he ever participated in those juries in judgement of other artists. 

Upcoming: MKG127 will present a solo booth of Alan Belcher’s work at the Independent Art Fair in New York, March 7th through 10th, 2019 and in May 2019 he will exhibit a series of his vintage work with Beauty Supply Room in Toronto.