Patagonia 2

Images of Guyton’s large-scale photo prints on canvas from Patagonia at Petzel Gallery, New York, May 4—June 23, 2018. The enigmatic and reticent “paintings” make reference to the artist’s process—scraps trimmed from an Epson printer, refuse of a take-out container lunch, onlookers during an installation (one prominently wearing a Patagonia-brand shirt), curled prints on the painters-tape-marked floor—yet ultimately reveal little. The images are cold, but their subjects are a feint at intimacy; Guyton seems to ironically place himself within the art historical tradition of artists depicting their studios (Courbet’s The Painter’s Studio comes to mind), even if his depictions draw attention to the empty aftermaths mundane events or the hours before a work is installed and presented. The images here of proofs and prints, set against actual installation views of the canvas works, add a further remove, prompting us to question where the actual artwork being depicted begins or ends, instead leaving us lost in an obscure and unknowable process.