I’ve been twice to see Matthew Hansel: Inner Demon Delectatio at The Hole’s Tribeca location. I first saw his work at their Bowery location that I posted about back in May. I totally fell for his weird and fantastical imagery. I am really drawn to the rich colors of these Hieronymous Bosch feeling oil paintings. There are fourteen in the exhibition.

“For “Inner Demon Delectatio” Hansel mines his inner world of depravity and weirdness. Creating a grotesquerie along the lines of Hieronymous Bosch but scaled up to disrupt the cuteness of these monsters, Hansel depicts nudists, demons, cocktail parties, orgies, sea creatures, corpses and cheese—lots of cheese! In fact the rear room of the gallery is a bit of a cheese cave where the soft geometric forms pile like chiseled landscapes and have all manner of little demons crawling over them.

The works attract and repel in equal measure as they blend amazing oil painting skill with the irrational mind. Letting himself be seduced by his demons, Hansel creates artworks that allow us to safely contemplate things that normally scare or disgust us, like death and monsters, while also considering what is contemporary about these vintage uglies.” (The Hole)

I love how The Hole regularly paints their floor to work with their exhibitions. I cannot believe they were able to cover the aubergine painted floor I mentioned in my Walker Street post.

The exhibition is open through December 5, 2021, and definitely worth a visit. I’m sure I’ll stop in again.