Marianne Boesky Gallery is pleased to present World War Me, Gina Beavers’ inaugural solo exhibition with the gallery. For this exhibition, the artist will present a selection of both large-scale and intimate sculptural paintings, including new works that illuminate the ways in which social media has distorted and fractured our sense of self. The exhibition’s title, World War Me-inspired by an online meme satirizing the probing voiceover of Carrie from the series Sex and the City-encapsulates Beavers’ fascination with the juxtaposition of massive global events next to myopic self-obsession, particularly seen with social media.

Beavers spends hours scouring Instagram, YouTube, blogs, and other online sources in search of images that inspire, compel, repulse, and amuse her. In recent years, she has become particularly drawn to make-up tutorials created by both professional and amateur artists. Beavers takes stills from these tutorials and recreates them with incredible realism, enlivening the flattened image with dynamic physicality. To create her intensely tactile works, Beavers builds up acrylic paint so densely on the canvas that she is able to sculpt it with a knife. For larger works, she also uses foam to add to the fullness of the forms.