Nathalie Karg Gallery is pleased to present new works by British artist Danny Moynihan on view from October 24, 2024 to November 30, 2024. Taking its title from a poem by W. H. Auden, In Praise of Limestone presents a new series of cave paintings by the artist and marks Moynihan’s representation with the gallery.
Moynihan graduated from the Slade School of Art and was closely aligned with the Young British Artists (YBAs) of the early 90s before taking an extended hiatus from exhibiting his work since 2003. Following his relocation to New York City in 2016, Moynihan embarked on a new series of works shown here at Nathalie Karg Gallery for the first time. Through the displayed pieces, Moynihan explores the interplay between memory and ever-evolving landscapes characterized by futuristic, erotic, and energetic themes. Moynihan’s fascination with humanity's earliest musings and visual representations of the world, coupled with the expanding consciousness towards realms unknown, culminate in the creation of landscapes that feel both familiar and in flux. He works with oil paint and sand to produce rocky, tangible textures characterized by remarkable unity and coherence. The artistic vision is as original as it is dynamic, weaving strands of mysticism and mythology to cross boundaries and evoke a sense of wonder and intrigue in viewers.
In an essay produced to accompany the exhibition, writer, and curator Adrian Dannatt comments: “These paintings go back to the beginning of it all, most obviously to the caves, to Cosquer and Chauvet, but also to Morocco where Moynihan spends much time, where the earliest human remains have been discovered. These are very much ‘cave paintings’ themselves, as French as North African, concluding a line of landscape in art from Lascaux through the Arcadian ideals of Poussin to the muddy realism of Courbet, a devolution, a ‘nostalgie de la boue’, returning to our primal darkness.”
Moynihan has exhibited nationally and internationally, most notably at Grob Gallery, London, UK (1992); Anne Faggionato, London, UK (2001); and McGrath Gallery, Los Angeles, CA (1988, 89). Recently, he has been in group shows at Miguel Abreu and Lyles & King. His curatorial projects include Bacon in Tangier, Musée Yves Saint Laurent (forthcoming, 2025); Beach, Nino Mier Gallery, New York, NY (2023) and North by North East and Naturalia, Kasmin Gallery, New York, NY (2017, 2021). His book, Boogie Woogie (2001), cast a satirical eye over the New York art scene in the 90s. The film version (2009) starred Gillian Anderson, Alan Cumming, Heather Graham, Danny Huston, Christopher Lee, Joanna Lumley, Charlotte Rampling, Amanda Seyfried, Stellan Skarsgård and Jaime Winstone. In 2012, he produced Me and Me Dad, nominated at the Cannes International Film Festival and Telluride International Film Festival. Moynihan also wrote and produced an opera called Agongo for the Edinburgh Festival in 1994 with set design by Damien Hirst in 1994.
