Philippe Labaune Gallery will open its doors to Narrative Images, an exhibition of paintings and original comic strips by French American artist Miles Hyman. This will be the debut of Miles Hyman’s paintings in New York. Informed by mid-century American realism, European symbolism, and film noir, Hyman’s recent work is a study in light, imaginative juxtapositions, and a record of personal geography. Accompanying his paintings will be a selection of original comic strip drawings from graphic novel adaptations of Hyman’s grandmother Shirley Jackson’s The Lottery, James Ellroy’s The Black Dahlia, among others. Narrative Images will be on view from May 13 – June 26, 2021 with an opening reception on May 13th from 11 AM to 9 PM.
The exhibition presents two painting series Crash and East Coast Light. In the ongoing painting series, Crash, Hyman creates imaginative dichotomies of figure and landscape. An elusive, potentially quixotic relationship forms between female characters seemingly unfixed in time, and similarly enigmatic vehicle wreckage behind them. The characters at times appear to be plucked from other worlds, while others seemingly have a more direct tie to the dramatic scene appearing over their shoulder.
Within East Coast Light, a suite of paintings depicts fictional characters at various locations throughout New York City. The subject matter highlights the importance the city has to Miles Hyman, a locus steeped with childhood and adolescent memories, and a source of development for him as an artist. To this day, the historical resonance and constantly evolving landscape, coupled with a quality of light unique to metropolises, continues to provide a wellspring of inspiration for the artist.
Accompanying Hyman’s paintings will be original charcoal drawings from several of his graphic novels, most notably The Lottery. In 2016, Hyman released the graphic novel adaption to his grandmother Shirley Jackson’s critically acclaimed 1948 short story. In what Hyman aptly termed “a feat of inter-disciplinary acrobatics”, he had the overwhelming task to create a visual expression from words on a page and to keep the novel’s nuances and the secrets intact for the reader. Hyman viewed the undertaking as a way to rediscover one of Jackson’s greatest works and allowed him “to affirm a tangible link to her life and work in a way that was both professional and deeply personal.” The ability to pair his grandmother’s word with his drawing is a familial pairing like no other.
Miles Hyman: Narrative Images will be on view from May 13 to June 26, 2021, with an Opening on May 13th from 11am to 9pm at Philippe Labaune Gallery, 534 West 24th Street, Ground Floor, NYC.
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Look back at Philippe Labaune Gallery tribute to Otomo, Good for Health ~ Bad for Education, and Line and Frame: A Survey of European Comic Art.