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PAST EXHIBITIONS: TYLER DROSDECK, BASIM MAGDYCURRENT WHEREABOUTS UNKNOWNThursday, December 16, 6 - 8 pm
Tyler Drosdeck will exhibit both sculpture and drawings. The map drawings are outlines of the continental United States where portions of the border have been re-arranged. The original line is preserved, meaning that even though its all mixed up, it’s still exactly the same length as if the map had been untouched. He pairs these works with another series - The airplanes drawings that show images of commercial aircrafts from the 1980’s. Whereas the airplanes seem easily identifiable, his title is not only the airline name and model it is also a date – the date that the aircraft crashed or exploded.
Tyler Drosdeck is a recent graduate of Bard College. He has exhibited in group exhibitions 667 Shotwell in San Francisco and SUITE 106 Gallery.
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SUITE 106 Gallery is pleased to announce the two-person exhibition of Brooklyn-based Tyler Drosdeck and Cairo-based Basim Magdy. The show will comprise paintings, sculpture and drawings which reference both war and heroes, but in a generic and pop-culture idea of these concepts. The title of the show uses a military terminology – ‘current whereabouts unknown’ – the defense department’s phrase for a casualty status. The ambiguity and anonymity of the phrase, the absence of a who, where, when and why corresponds to the artistic term “untitled.” Magdy’s painting When Heroes Unite or Drosdeck’s United States Map Manipulations drawings are examples of contemporary imagery that surrounds us except these works lack the details to determine which part of the world we are looking at. In other words both artists reference the feelings of ambiguity in terms of one’s place in the world.
Tyler Drosdeck and Basim Magdy are equally interested in the same issues of power and hero/celebrity that is intertwined with the current political situation in their respective homelands: The United States and Egypt. These artists work is full of irony and humor that at the same time has amalgamated sense of tragedy in it. 
Basim Magdy writes in his statement for the show that he wants to make a solid combination of work that deals with the construction of power and heroism at the same time. Magdy’s imagery of war and absurd situations involving 'heroes’ become parallel worlds where things look familiar but also awkward as their usual roles are confused. In Unknown Soldier the silhouette of a militant figure is recognizable but the coloring of pink background and orange figure is a contradictory of anything military.