Cameron Welch (American, b. 1990)
Orpheus in the Garden, 2024
Marble, Glass, Ceramic, Stone, Spray Enamel, Oil, and Acrylic on Panel
96" x 80" (244 x 203 cm)
Orpheus in the Garden, 2024
Marble, Glass, Ceramic, Stone, Spray Enamel, Oil, and Acrylic on Panel
96" x 80" (244 x 203 cm)
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Yossi Milo is pleased to announce Labyrinth, a solo exhibition of new mosaic works by New York-based artist Cameron Welch (b. 1990; Indianapolis, IN). The exhibition opens to the public on Tuesday, September 3, and will be celebrated with a reception on Friday, September 6 from 6-8 PM, and will be on view through Saturday, November 9, 2024. Labyrinth is Welch’s second exhibition with the gallery, and coincides with the release of the artist’s debut monograph Mosaics, co-published by Radius Books and Yossi Milo.
Built around mazes, spirals, and garden motifs, the exhibition reframes the chaos of contemporary life through tropes and stories from ancient art history, taking the Labyrinth as both its theme and structure. The frenetic scenes Welch creates — made up of thousands of pieces of hand cut marble, stone, ceramic, and glass — cast a collision of modern and archaic elements that unfurl within the mire of an unruly garden maze. The artist’s material and literary combinations result in a distinctive pictorial intensity, a visual language whose commotion mirrors that of the modern era. Continuing his exploration of contemporary tumult through story and archetype, the artist hones his focus on the meandering paths of the mythical Labyrinth as a setting for this new body of work.
In ancient Greek legend, the Labyrinth was an ingenious maze designed by the architect Daedalus to house the Minotaur, a monstrous half-man, half-bull creature. Theseus, the heroic prince of Athens, volunteered to enter the Labyrinth of Crete to slay the Minotaur, and was gifted a spool of golden thread to follow his path through its winding passages. Referencing Theseus’s golden thread, Welch weaves spirals and tendrils across these new works composed of glass tesserae that are gilded with gold leaf, knotting together abstracted figures and scenes with their glimmering forms. This reference to ancient liberation becomes a guide through the twists and turns of the artist’s cacophonous world.
To be featured in Labyrinth is the new mosaic “Orpheus in the Garden” (2024), in which Welch places another Greek hero within this Edenic locale. The legendary bard, musician, and prophet Orpheus appears at the work’s center, surrounded by figments of the Underworld from which he sought to rescue his wife Eurydice. The surface of the mosaic is inlaid with innumerable twisting forms, repeating swirls that resemble Vitruvian scroll motifs and the distinctive spiral of the golden ratio. The work also shows the spiral forms of labyrinths that exist today as tools for meditation: flat, looping paths walked by those who seek tranquility through a circuitous journey. In this contemplative tool, the artist represents a reflective, winding path through the density of modern confusion.
In Welch’s hands, ancient history and mythology join the modern day in a synchronous view of time, and in this context the labyrinth takes on a similarly multivalent existence. The maze becomes a trap, a metaphor, and a tool by which awareness is achieved through change. Overgrown with plant life, tied with golden threads, and populated with heroes and monsters alike, Welch’s labyrinthine world is a place of confusion, yet it is also a space rife for growth and exploration.
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Cameron Welch's work has been exhibited at Gagosian, Beverly Hills, CA; Nino Mier Gallery, Los Angeles; Kavi Gupta Gallery, Chicago, IL; Harper’s Books, East Hampton, NY; Rental Gallery, East Hampton, NY; Jack Hanley Gallery, New York, NY; Jenkins Johnson Gallery, San Francisco, CA; Carl Kostyàl Gallery, Malmö, Sweden; and the Kunsthal KAdE, Amersfoort, Netherlands, among others. Welch presented his debut solo exhibition with Yossi Milo, RUINS, in 2022, which received a glowing review by Roberta Smith for The New York Times. Work by Welch is held in the collection of the Museum of Art, Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, RI, and The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO. The artist earned a BFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, IL; and an MFA from Columbia University, New York, NY. Welch currently lives and works in Brooklyn, NY.
ABOUT MOSAICS
Mosaics is Cameron Welch’s debut monograph, co-published by Radius Books and Yossi Milo. The volume collects highlight mosaic works from across Welch’s oeuvre. An introductory essay by Alexis Belis, Associate Curator of Greek and Roman Art at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, contextualizes Welch’s work alongside artistic practices from ancient history. Mosaics also contains an interview between Welch and painter Joel Mesler, who together discuss the creative process, the contexts of the art world today, and the evolution of Welch’s practice over the past several years.
