Marek Wolfryd, “The Great Logic of Contents that Bind the World into Existence or ‘Season’s Greetings!'” at Swivel Gallery, New York City.

“The Great Logic of Contents that Bind the World into Existence or ‘Season’s Greetings!'” by Marek Wolfryd, at Swivel Gallery, New York City, 14/12/2024 – 16/01/2025.

Exhibition Text:
Swivel Gallery is pleased to present the first New York solo exhibition of Mexican artist Marek Wolfryd, “The Great Logic of Contents that Bind the World into Existence or ‘Season’s Greetings!'” Merging several of his interests and research Wolfryd has worked on in the last few years, this exhibition leans into his passion and fascination for activating and questioning forms of artistic production in late capitalism, the circulation of images, merchandise, and intellectual property subjectivities — all of which are deeply rooted in Western thought. Certain works in this exhibition revolve around the concept of shanzhai, a contemporary Chinese socioeconomic phenomenon consisting of counterfeiting commercial products. The works play around the innovation generated from these shanzhai copies and their improvements with new functionalities. In recent works, Wolfryd has adapted this idea through the strategy of appropriation and reproducing artworks that he manufactures in collaboration with different Chinese suppliers, usually focusing on the idea of exact “shanzhai replicas,” from a Western perspective.

In this exhibition, Wolfryd introduces a new body of work that resonates with the commercial definition of a bootleg product. In sharp juxtaposition to a counterfeit item, a bootleg creation lacks any desire to present itself as the genuine article or a copied one. The objective of a bootleg item is not to replicate preexisting works, but rather to adopt brands and images, emulating authenticity while infusing a personal touch, culminating in a product that radiates uniqueness. Wolfryd provides a new dimension to his understanding of shanzhai, by producing new images or bootlegs from existing works of art.

It can be of note contextually that much of the work in this exhibition traverses the history of “American” art, which some argue only began in a critical sense post-war, in particular with the Abstract Expressionists. Wolfryd runs the gamut in riffing on these American artists; from Rothko, to Jasper Johns, Clifford Still, Jeff Koons, Damien Hirst, and Mike Kelly. Given the artist’s interests from a conceptual framework it can be interesting to examine, intentionally or not, that the burgeoning of this era of American art was one significantly propelled by government entities. A fact that does not take away from the quality of the art itself, but one that nonetheless was manipulated by outside entities.

When the US government established the CIA in 1947, it included a division known as the Propaganda Assets Inventory, a branch of psychological warfare intended to boost pro-American messaging during the Cold War. This operation was completely unknown to the artists but served as an effective counterpoint to Nazi, and then Soviet, oppression. Modernism, in fact, became a weapon of the Cold War in the battle for “hearts and minds” with both the State Department and the CIA supporting exhibitions of American art all over the world.

Within this concept, Wolfryd immerses the gallery walls in overlaid images of national parks, both in the United States and China, alluding directly to the governments’ corruption of natural resources within the two countries’ production and distribution relations, blurring them together to make one. This interesting scenario correlates with the artist’s practice when one begs the question of what is real and what is fake in this world? Who and what is in charge of our daily lives and circumstances? What is original, and if something is so does it require powerful entities in order to bolster its importance? All of these questions become ever more prevalent as the world continues to change and societies are controlled and employed by major corporations, wars, and shadow figures that move in the darkness while one sleeps.