Fredericks & Freiser is pleased to announce the solo exhibition of new work by Sean McCarthy(born 1976, San Antonio, TX). The gallery will show new works on paper in ink and watercolor that feature McCarthy’s meticulously drafted creations that uncannily suspend disbelief in the fantastical.
In continuing his exploration of the forms and meanings of animal hybrids, Sean McCarthyreinvents the animal kingdom with phantasmagoric creatures that exist outside of texts and cultural connotations. Unlike the demons in McCarthy’s earlier drawings, these creatures have physiognomies and behaviors subject to imagined biological, psychological and evolutionary factors, or maladaptations– hence the
show’s title. No longer conceived of as evil, their physical characteristics indicate a disturbing and humorous awkwardness, evoking uncomfortable questions regarding their developmental mishaps.
McCarthy emphasizes that the term “maladapted” operates within both evolutionary science and psychology, to gently suggest metaphorical possibilities or even to confuse the metaphorical with the literal. Conjuring up the disquieting sensation of the grotesque, McCarthy’s creations recall the work of Brueghel, Goya, Audobon, Kuniyoshi, Bellmer, Jim Nutt and Peter Saul. His combinatory creatures turn the familiar into the horrific and the monstrous into the next step on the evolutionary chain.