When we first sat down with Kyle Dunn in NYC back in 2018, he told us, "Times are changing rapidly, and queer imagery seems to finally be leaving the margins of visual culture." Night Pictures, his new solo show at PPOW in NYC, seems like a manifestation of this language he shared with us. The paintings have a dramatic scenery that speaks to the artist's process, but also the inspirations and influences that go into the works. The painter is painting, in a vulnerable state, where almost dream-like characters surround his vision.
The gallery notes,"Combining a broad range of melodramatic references including the Art Nouveau posters of the French diva Sarah Bernhardt, the set-designs of post-war Hollywood, and the technicolor palettes of 1960s Italian sex comedies, Dunn elucidates the contemporary masculine emotional landscape in an age of technological and environmental anxiety." There is a near surrealness in this concoction of influences, but at the heart of it all, is a painter gaining momentum as a visual storyteller, beginning to create cinematic works that are also his most intimate to date. —Evan Pricco