Young Brooklyn-based artist Gustav Hamilton’s paintings in glaze on ceramic slabs have the solidity of sculpture and painting’s capacity to tell a story, making them standouts in George Adams Gallery’s summer group show. Recurring archways in Hamilton’s work were inspired by Rene Magritte’s transitional states and here, add spatial complexity to what might be a rendering of a bird on a tomb-like slab or a bird seen out the window against a night sky. Below, a volume titled ‘Guide to Essential Knowledge’ promises to ground readers in fundamental understandings of life. Propped up by Hamilton’s ceramic coffee-cup bookends (which actually exist elsewhere as sculpture) the artist mixes profundity and lightheartedness. (On view in Tribeca through Aug 19th).
