Library Street Collective is pleased to announce Encore, the first American solo exhibition of works by NY-based multimedia artist Tyrrell Winston. Winston’s practice in sculpture is rooted in the recontextualization of discarded objects and the stories they tell. Each basketball, tarp, or cigarette butt the artist collects from the urban and suburban landscape was abandoned in a singular circumstance, but the seriality of his presentation unites these instances limitlessly. In an age where connections are intangible and we’ve lost sight of material consequence, Winston’s assemblages are a reminder that the things we neglect don’t disappear just because we’ve moved on. Nostalgia, angst, speculation and the gap between where we are and where we want to be are regular themes within his work.

Winston spends much of his time outside the studio gathering items around New York City, a practice that began during a post-college period where he was unable to find work. Between job interviews he would wander the streets, and took to picking up intriguing pieces of paper that he used to make collages. Eventually, this led to the collection of discarded objects around neighborhood basketball courts, a practice that has evolved into something of a service where Winston hangs new nets to replace the ones he repurposes.

New to Winston’s body of work is a chromed Gatorade© cooler, titled Splash, which elevates the 10-gallon plastic container to trophy status. Though most prevalent in the NFL, the championship game of nearly every major American sport anticipates a Gatorade© Shower after the win, and the jugs can be found on sidelines from little league to high school, college and house league. The ritual has made it one of the greatest performance props in major league sports, and the spectacle is mimicked all over the world. The artist has also further developed his ‘Protection Paintings’, considering new proportions and configurations of worn tarps and steel plates sprayed in automotive paint. The woven plastic of a tarpaulin has widespread usage for protecting both people and objects from weather and debris, and in their tears and markings, one can see the blows that the guarded would have suffered without them.

When considering life cycle and embedded history, it’s hard not to imagine Winston’s objects in their ‘original’ state - shiny and clean, packed in plastic - untouched basketballs, tarps and nets. Gradually they wear through use and exposure to the elements until they’re abandoned, lost or thrown away. The marks they carry tell a story; however abstract and universal, they each have their own. The artist’s presentation of these objects in the gallery and the decision to show ‘trash’ makes us question what constitutes the word, as well as presents the chasm between product and artifact; objects once industrially ‘perfect’ made dirty and blemished by the use of ‘imperfect’ people.

Tyrrell Winston: Encore, on display from February 5 through April 4, 2020. A limited edition catalogue is available for purchase at the gallery.