"Is there such a thing as a 'natural history of colours' and to what extent is it analogous to a natural history of plants? Isn't the latter temporal, the former non-temporal?"

-Wittgenstein

TURN Gallery presents Andy Mister in Some Things Last a Long Time, opening Wednesday, March 8th, 2023. With his second solo exhibition at the gallery, Mister introduces us to a new facet of his practice; utilizing the medium of pastel to create paintings on linen.

Exploring the boundaries between manual and mechanical reproduction, Mister examines how meaning is constructed and lost through the act of “copying” vintage and contemporary photographs. Furthering his impeccably detailed practice of “drawn paintings”, Mister’s experiments with tone and medium result in glowing floral images that seem to emerge from an ethereal haze of color. Much like Daniel Johnston’s song Some things last a long time, “your picture is still on my wall / the colors are bright / bright as ever”, Mister’s still life canvases celebrate the sensuality of nostalgia.

Mister was originally inspired by the book “The Art of Arranging Flowers: a Complete Guide to Japanese Ikebana”, specifically the small black and white photographs used to illustrate certain “lessons” in flower arranging. He later supplemented these materials with images from other instructional flower arranging books, mostly out of print and often out of fashion. In recent years, Mister has been interested in strategies of appropriation and recontextualization of imagery used by the Pictures Generation, moving away from contemporary media and culture to focus on the history of art and design.

Andy Mister (1979) received a B.A. in English Literature and Philosophy from Loyola University New Orleans, and an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Montana. He has exhibited at galleries and institutions including Lowell Ryan Projects, Los Angeles, CA; Aldrich Museum, Ridgefield, CT; Rebecca Camacho Presents, San Francisco, CA; Second Street, Charlottesville, VA; Commune Gallery, Tokyo, Japan; Turn Gallery, New York, NY; Hirschl & Adler Modern, New York, NY; and Dieu Donné, Brooklyn, NY, among others. Mister has published two books: Heroes & Villains (Cultural Society, 2015), a book of drawings, and Liner Notes (Station Hill, 2013), a lyric essay. He has been awarded residencies from the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council and the Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts. Andy Mister’s works have been reviewed and discussed in Hyperallergic, artReal, Frontrunner Magazine, Quiet Lunch, Artnet, BOMB Magazine, Whitewall.art, COOL HUNTING, Art Now LA, and Monster Children amongst others.

Some Things Last a Long Time will open Wednesday, March 8th from 6 - 8 pm. The show will be on view until April 15th. We are located on the 2nd floor of 32 East 68th Street NY, NY 10065. The gallery is open Wednesday - Saturday 12 - 6pm. For further information, contact Annika at ap@turngallerynyc.com.