When we first reported about Eliot Greenwald's then-new book and a series of works, Night Car, we couldn't foresee how much of a gamechanger this body of work will be for the artist and how far he'll be able to push this concept. A year and a half later and following solo shows in London and NYC, the night car ride continues through the arguably most exciting environment yet, with a solo show Jungle Egg which is now on view at M+B Gallery in LA.
The work depicting a mysterious, highly atmospheric, and almost psychedelic journey through different scenery, and under the most impossible sky often dotted with two celestial bodies, continues into a surreal tropical environment. Stepping aside from the various custom-shaped canvases towards exclusively egg-shaped ones, displayed alongside coherent series of custom-framed works on paper, the presentation is somewhat calmer than the previous ones we've seen. But this is only a mirage in a way, as the new pieces are more detailed, intricate, and imaginative than anything we've seen from the artist. "I think that the jungle as a setting carries a similar mystique as a darkened mountainside for me. I am equally drawn to and terrified of both of them as physical places and that feels adjacent to some of the core themes within the series," Greenwald told us how this body of work connects to his previous shows. "I really loved making this new work and when it was finished felt that it would be a gateway for me to possibly take the emphasis off of “the car”. Perhaps to eventually completely obscure the car and simply have an environment with a light source."
As he explained to us in the past, this entire series of paintings came from a number of other disparate projects that led towards developing sort of a myth about a car at night and two planets called Dweeby Dimlight. And this evolution of the anthology keeps continuing informed by different inputs and scenarios taking place in Greenwald's life and practice. "The egg shape indirectly came from a friend of mine in Hong Kong. He asked if I would consider making him a circular painting. I responded by saying I’d likely make something more ‘egg-shaped'. I made a couple of egg-shaped canvases and kept them in mind for the future," the artist explains the simple origin of this striking format in which his imaginary narratives are now taking place. "Although the ‘egg’ is a symbolically rich subject it has no intentional relationship to the Night Car series. However, if subconscious decisions are to be trusted, then yes, I chose the egg shape in order to relate with preexisting themes within the night car narrative i.e. transference, regeneration, or birth."
Continuously working tangentially and exploring different venues in which his concepts can exist in a different shape and get elevated within this new format, the exhibition includes a series of works on Yupo paper presented in custom frames. Smaller in scale, featuring less colors, and individually focused around a certain tone, these small-scale works somehow feel like the precedent, a nucleus of the egg pieces. "The egg paintings are the location and the framed works are representative of choices or decisions within the setting. Simplicity framed and considered, next to shapeshifting complexity," Greenwald shared with us. From limiting himself to up to 4 colors for each piece to developing a way to custom frame them with the help of Ziello Frames, in Brooklyn, NY, this series creates a clear-cut separation that is emphasized with the way the works are displayed. The raw simplicity of formal elements facing off the large works' richness, creates a well balanced dialogue, evoking a sense of the origin and the outcome. And with the outcome being an egg, it feels like we're still looking at an early stage of the Night Car mythology. —Sasha Bogojev
