WAITING ROOM

JOHAN DECKMANN | First Editions

November 3 - December 15, 2017

VIEW EXHIBITION

In the Waiting Room, Johan Deckmann’s exhibition First Editions will feature a collection of the artist’s hand-painted books, selected from his ongoing series that began in 2014. Sourced from thrift stores and antique shops, Deckmann takes vintage books and re-directs their supposed content by gluing the pages shut and painting the covers with thoughtfully irreverent titles in black lettering and silhouettes. These spare and poignant phrases perfectly distill life’s grand existential quandaries into quiet moments of self-awareness and reflection. At once bitingly humorous and tenderly introspective, Deckmann’s pithy titles tap into the many facets of the human condition: the beauty, the folly, and everything in between.

Johan Deckmann was born in Denmark in 1976. As a practicing psychotherapist, Deckmann divides his time between his private practice and his adjacent art studio located in central Copenhagen. Recent and upcoming exhibitions include: Kunsthal Charlottenborg and Gallery Christoffer Egelund (Copenhagen), White Noise Gallery (Rome) and Unspeakable Projects (New York), opening in early 2018. Deckmann’s work has been featured in print and online publications, including; Harper’s Bazaar, La Vanguardia, The Guardian, Vice, Colección SOLO, Thisiscolossal.com and coolhunting.com. “First Editions” at 57W57Arts marks the artist’s debut exhibition in the United States.