Untitled (from the field)

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In his abstract, mixed-media paintings and sculptures, Liam Everett explores the process of art making, centered on the artist himself, and the gestures and movements of his body as he shapes raw materials into finished pieces. Inspired by dance, theater, and philosophy, he produces work abundant with human traces. The gestural smears, smudges, lines, and creases in his works on panel and fabric reflect his elaborate, labor-intensive method, in which he alternately builds up and erases layers of pigment. He uses such caustic, everyday substances as salt, lemon juice, and alcohol to remove sections of color, aligning painting with the practice of alchemy while simultaneously foregrounding its earthiness. Whether stretched onto variously shaped wooden frames, or draped over planks and rods, Everett’s heavily worked compositions are full of tension—between their ethereal abstraction and the physicality of their making.