GERING & LóPEZ GALLERY will present Women: Sketches & Solutions, an exhibition of new work by New York-based artist Ryan McGinness. This will be McGinness’ first solo exhibition with the gallery.

For this exhibition, McGinness presents the series Women, a body of work that has occupied his attention for the past several years. Like previous works, these begin with numerous sketches. The Women works however are unique in that the sketches are done as academic figure drawings, in the artist-and-model salon tradition. The exhibition will be in two parts: for the Gering & López venue uptown, the exhibition will showcase McGinness’ working process and will be entirely in black & white. For the second venue, at Charles Bank Gallery on the Lower East Side, the works will be fluorescent paintings and sculptures derived from the process.

McGinness’ working method has always been a balance between reduction and construction. With the Women works, he begins the drawing process for each model with several figure sketches from life. These sketches are then processed over several stages during which the forms are transformed into various iconic drawings. This process of simplification is a purely aesthetic experience for the artist, and one that he uses to locate his final figures. For McGinness, this drawing process is an exploration to discover what he finds inherently sensual in his models.

McGinness approaches image making as an ever-expanding layering of language. His output has consistently straddled mediums, as many formats hold interest in presenting ideas, from books to billboards. But dissemination is only part of the process. The language McGinness explores is mainly one of symbols, and how images are created, read or understood in the viewer’s eye. For McGinness, the process is always focused on the idea of creating beauty, and its foil, truth.

Women: Blacklight Paintings & Sculptures will be exhibited at Charles Bank Gallery, 196 Bowery, NYC, May 4 through June 30, 2012.www.charlesbankgallery.com

Gering & López, 730 Fifth Ave at 57th St, #606, NYC, 646-336-7183, May 3-June 30