The Sunset Spot at Red Modern

In collaboration with Red Modern, The Sunset Spot is a new exhibition program curated by artist, Jesse Willenbring, inside Jonathan Wayne’s eponymous store. Each exhibition is a pairing of artworks by two artists displayed alongside two pieces of corresponding furniture. One combination is displayed inside a sparse gallery and another is displayed within the context of the store.

I am exhibiting with celebrated modern artist Matt Magee. In response Magee’s Poem for Dublin, Green 7, and Flag Hanger, I am previewing works from the upcoming A Vanishing American Folklore and Stalking A Serial Killer book. The exhibition is structured for collectors to view the work with socially distanced appointments and a complimentary face covering designed by by Jesse Willenbring.

Curator Jesse Willenbring-­“For the past decade, my wife and I have worked collaboratively under the name, The Sunset People. We have a shared list of passing thoughts about sunsets and their relationship to our work as visual communicators. We often return to this list as a place of inspiration at the start of a project. Our modest, slightly clunky notes remind us of a philosophical ideal larger than the work we pursue. One of my favorites is, “take a deep breath and make time to take in the sunset at the end of each day.”

For this project I wanted to create a place to reflect upon our collective relationship to an earth that gives back a unique sublime beauty daily. The sun’s bright hot life is also the world’s most efficient demarcation of time passed. Ever prescient right now, it feels like a safe reminder that we are not alone during this lonely time. Experiencing a good sunset is like the best of an art exhibition, simultaneously universal and yet personal in meaning.

In collaboration with Red Modern Furniture, The Sunset Spot is a new exhibition program inside Jonathan Wayne’s eponymous store. It is a westward facing wall within a retail space that presents a pairing of artworks by two artists. Select pieces of furniture will encourage and enhance what is in front you. Matt Magee, Jesse Rieser is the inaugural exhibition.

Matt Magee and Jesse Rieser are wanderers. They’re masters of the passing observation: bringing light to the splendor of everyday visual happenstance. To Matt Magee a discarded aluminum can, a tube of green paint, a misprinted fortune cookie text, or a shadow glanced from an open studio door equally contribute to his visual lexicon. For Jesse Rieser, “his use of light and bleached color, leaves the viewer with the illusion that our existence is equally beautiful as it is fleeting.” Together, these two artists present works that reveal and look back at us, putting the viewer on the spot while giving us a starting point to create our own languages and stories.

The pandemic has shocked us all and although it has restricted our return to ‘normal’ it has not limited the potential to use art to create distinct, memorable experiences. The sun will set again tomorrow, enjoy another one today.”

Pictured Above:Jesse Willenbring curator (top right) By way of New York and Los Angeles, Jesse is a painter represented by Ceysson & Bénétière. He also is the cofounder and creative director of of bleach books; specializing in artist books and collaborating with film makers such as Jordan Peale, Jonah Hill, and Gus Van Sant.

Jonathon Wayne gallerist (top left) As owner of Red Modern, Jonathan has been dealing art and rare mid-century furniture for nearly three decades. “A piece of art, a well-designed chair, both carry stories and history that transform banality into magic – blank walls into conversations with friends and ancestors.”

Matt Magee exhibiting artist (bottom left) Born in Paris, educated at Pratt and mentored by Robert Rauschenberg. Known for his minimal abstract paintings and sculptures widely collected and exhibited.

Jesse Rieser exhibiting artist (bottom right) Rieser’s photographic work focusses on the unique American experience. His use of light and bleached color, leaves the viewer with the illusion that our existence is equally beautiful as it is fleeting. He and his projects have been featured in the NY Times, The Washington Post, National Geographic, and NPR.