SEAN McCARTHY

Hiss My Way Down
September 5 - 27, 2020

Reach, 2020. Acrylic and graphite on canvas, 22 x 28 inches.

I push myself through the dirt with short arms and thin legs. The weight of my shell pitches my body downward. My head lies low to the ground, my nose and mouth fill with mud and dust.

Sometimes I feel things other than fear. I feel gravity pulling at my weight with a certain kind of pleasure—an awareness that I participate in the vast web of forces that holds the universe together, or a pride in my ability to stay upright.

I can imagine what it would be like to be something else. Sometimes I wish this were true.

I tell myself stories. I would tell others, too, were I able to speak.

Sean McCarthy (B. 1976, San Antonio, TX) has exhibited at venues such as Marlborough Chelsea and Fredericks & Freiser in New York; One in the Other and Cubitt Gallery in London; and Ada Gallery in Richmond, among others. He received a BFA in Studio Art from the University of Texas at Austin and an MFA in Painting and Printmaking from Yale University. He is currently Associate Professor of Art at Lehman College of the City University of New York and lives and works in New York City.