DEEP FREEZE is the first of a two-part exhibition that forms the debut series at Mehr (Midtown) Gallery, located at 436 West 18th Street, above the Midtown Chelsea auto center.

DEEP FREEZE is comprised of installation, digital photography, sculpture, and drawing. Much of its work seems to have erased the artist's hand; in unexpected ways, it is brought back into relief. There are tendencies of repetition, reproduction, and technical invention of precise rendering and scoring. These artists seem to operate in a time out of time: in what frame do their works exist? How does their materiality - including horsehair, silicon, cast brass, vinyl, plastic, glass affect or preclude traditional cultural readings? In each aspect of the show there is a sense the artist has made her/his mark in absentia. She has hid or disguised her hand only to compel the viewer find it somewhere outside the grain. If it is not always easy to locate a mark, or trace the event of execution, it is nevertheless possible to identify an attitude, which may be cool, mannered, distant, chimerical. Across regions and spanning a broad historical timeline, the artists here assembled work in progressive modes whilst their treatment is carefully reined.

THE THAW follows as the second part of this exhibition and opens November 2.

Mehr (Midtown) Gallery thanks the many individuals who helped realize its early shows. Among them: Brooke Alexander, Bill Brady of ATM Gallery, Andrew Clark, Chantal Crousel, James Dorment, Derek Eller, Fawbush, Feature, Inc., Murray Guy, and the participating artists for their good work.