Atomized Antihero

Kravets Wehby Gallery is pleased to announce Chris Regner’s Atomized Antihero in collaboration with A Hug From The Art World. On the occasion of Regner’s second solo show with the gallery, Kravets Wehby Gallery has invited A Hug from the Art World to be part of a dual location exhibition. Visitors are invited view a portion of the exhibition at Kravets Wehby Gallery, 521 W 21st Street, and then a second helping two blocks away at A Hug from the Art World’s new location 515 West 19th Street.

Regner’s figures are stitched together from myths, personal narrative, and historical/pop culture. In this body of work, his attention shifts to mythological gods, posing them as fallible beings. Frankensteinian in nature, each one is pushed to the limits of absurdity to negate their sinister effect. The ultra-pristine surfaces aid in smoothing out any traces of the grotesqueness, a kindness extended by Regner’s mastery of the airbrush. Cohesive and lyrical, Regner pulls back the curtain to peer at what is really behind the facade of the gods. What he finds are children’s costume capes colliding with Air Max 95s in deadly serious and brutally funny examinations of mortality. Envy, hope, resentment, triumph–humanity cannot be evaded even by the gods.

Chris Regner was born 1987 in Milwaukee where he continues to work and live. In 2020, he graduated from RISD’s MFA Painting program. His work has been exhibited internationally and is included in multiple private collections across the globe.