Opening this evening at Freight and Volume in New York City is the exhibition Decomposing in the Land of Paradise, new work by New York based artist Russell Tyler. The exhibition marks the first solo presentation of the artist’s work, as he is currently a graduate student at Pratt Institute of Art and Design. The exhibition promises to be filled with twelve luscious oil paintings that literally dissolve on the surface, rendering each subject in a semi-abstract manor where the paint simultaneous exists as material and image. Figuration is consistently explored through each of Tyler’s paintings, clearly referencing formal qualities utilized art historical giants Phillip Guston and Willian De Kooning.

Decomposing  in the land of Paradise will be on view through March 20th, 2010. Russell Tyler has exhibited in recent group exhibitions including Surreal Landscapes at DNA Gallery in Provincetown, MA and Giver at Union Gallery in NYC.