Loyal is pleased to present The Reveal with new works by Sascha Braunig, Raul de Nieves and Francine Spiegel. The exhibition includes painting, sculpture, as well as installation.

Braunig, de Nieves and Spiegel each echo the fantastical and theatrical, rather than the restrained and practical. With a tension between fantasy, reality and the quality of the myth, The Reveal is an exhibition that balances between experience and aesthetic form. The stylization takes on an extra resonance when seen through the passageways of performance and sculpture that underly the work of these three artists.

The work of Raul de Nieves spans large-scale figurative sculpture, narrative painting, ornamental shoes and garments, multimedia performance, and live music. De Nieves boldly sculpts shoes in intricate beadwork that evoke the appeal of glamour, capturing in a subtle way, the fairytale disguised in fashion. The shoes derive from and are often worn in de Nieves’ decadent performances. These items assume an autonomous significance with the afterglow of the experience. Rebellion is enshrined into lavish color and pattern.

Sascha Braunig’s figures of noble lines, coils and curls create a connection between adornment and its environment. Surface tension is stretched in a play between elements - covered and uncovered, hidden and revealed. Somber and saturated hues along with a gently caustic palette create a pervading uneasy feeling in her oil paintings and gouache works. In a wave of flirtation, the image is exposed to the onlooker.

Francine Spiegel’s paintings depict the female figure who seems to have undergone a regeneration after a ceremony of unpredictable effects. There is a sense of peril and distortion in these enshrouded figures that wobble with poise and prominence. There is also an underlying performative practice in Spiegel’s work in which liquid color, foods and gooey substances are poured onto herself and her subjects. A revelry in the unknown where opulence, optimism and menace are mingled and recrossed in a web of adventurous and deliberately advanced grandeur.

Sascha Braunig (1983, Qualicum Beach, BC, Canada) currently lives and works in Portland, ME. She holds a BFA from The Cooper Union, New York, and an MFA in painting from Yale University. Sascha Braunig is represented by Foxy Productions in New York where she has mounted two solo exhibitions, most recently Wrister, Fister, Plaster (2013). Recent group exhibitions include Rien Fair Et Laissair Rire, organised by Bob Nickas, Galerie Rudolphe Janssen, Brussels (2013); Surreal Selves, Baltimore Museum of Art, Baltimore (2013); Alex Da Corte: Fun Sponge, The Institute of Contemporary Art / MECA, Portland (2013); A Top Hat, A Monocle, and A Butterfly, curated by Anthony Huberman, Etablissement d’en face projects, Brussels (2013).

Raul de Nieves (1983, Morelia Michuacan, Mexico) lives and works in Brooklyn, NY. De Nieves’ performance has been featured at The Whitney Museum, MoMA PS1, MoMA San Francisco, Performa, as well as prominently in the works of Ryan Trecartin. His sculptural shoes have recently been photographed by Mario Sorrenti and Karl Lagerfeld, worn by Lady Gaga, and earned notable press editorials in publications including V Magazine, W Magazine, and Harper’s Bazaar. De Nieves has mounted solo exhibitions at Live with Animals (2010); Newman Popiashvili Gallery, New York (2009 and 2007); Galerie Giti Nourbakhsch, Berlin (2008) among others.

Francine Spiegel (1975 Miami, FL) currently lives and works in Saugerties, NY. Spiegel received her BFA from Rhode Island School of Art and Design in 1997. Previous exhibitions include: The Visit, Loyal, Malmö (2010 solo); Con Amore, Leif Djurhuus Collection, ARoS Aarhus Kunstmuseum, Aarhus, Denmark (2011); Dadarhea, curated by Jim Drain and Devin Flynn, CANADA, New York (2011) and OHWOW, Miami (2010); Portugal Arte 10: A Survey of Contemporary Art, Lisbon, Portugal (2010); Mud and Milk, Deitch Projects, New York (2009 solo); New York Minute: 60 Artists on the New York Scene, Garage Center for Contemporary Culture, Moscow (2011) and MACRo Future Museum, Rome (2009); Mail Order Monsters, curated by Kathy Grayson, Max Wigram, London and Andreas Melas Presents, Athens (2008) and Peres Projects (2007); The Ice Cream Show at Loyal, Stockholm (2008); Mad Love: Young Art in Danish Private Collections, Arken Museum, Copenhagen (2007); How Could You?, Bas Fisher Invitational, Miami (2007 solo).