– a fine word, galaxy exhibits new cast bronze and concrete sculpture, hand-woven cloth, kinetic sculpture, prints, photographs, video, and sound presentation by New York University Abu Dhabi faculty Jonny Farrow.

A multi-disciplinary artist, Farrow also lectures on Visual Arts and Interactive Media, teaching courses on sculpture, hardware hacking, printmaking, and sound art. His work often uses sound, as both a poetic concept and a material, to research the liminal spaces of memory and suspect histories. Utilizing concepts such as resonance, feedback, and transmission, Farrow sounds these overlooked spaces through various material means.

– a fine word, galaxy will feature works such as the sound installation Frequency Shift, which startles listeners into the present moment, never quite allowing the mind to wander. Sculptural works such as Spiral and X, both cast bronze, and Swing/Inclination, cast iron, present the artist’s fascination with tension, suspension and time and how simple motion can mark territory. Hover/Nadir, a bell/bowl-like shape, also cast bronze, is inspired by Farrow’s interest in the potentials of forms and the thwarting of expectations that a simple re-presentation can offer—neither bell nor bowl—a curved surface for the eyes to follow.

Artist Jonny Farrow commented,

“Seeing with our eyes requires light, but to look far across space requires complicated instruments that engage areas of the electromagnetic spectrum which we are unable to sense directly. This, to me, is poetry, and it drives my practice. I work at the edge of what I know and keep going, approaching materials with an alchemical stance. At this edge of knowing, objects come alive, new associations are made, vibration happens, and I sense the futility of that gaze that would try to know everything.”

The exhibition takes its title from Kenneth Koch’s poem, The Duplications:

“This galaxy in which—a fine word, galaxy,

Giving a sense of clean wide open spaces”

About the Artist

Jonny Farrow is a multi-disciplinary artist primarily working in cast sculpture, printmaking, sound, and transmission art. His work stems from research into the liminal: from suppressed historical narratives, to popular mythologies, and to the far-reaching registers on the electro-magnetic spectrum. Coming out of New York’s Lower East Side music scene of the 90s, Farrow’s work also questions the narrative of expertise; with nearly every project, he embarks on learning a new skill set in order to disrupt viewer expectations as well as his own. For Farrow, this practice is both political and metaphysical.

He has shown and presented work in New York, Chicago, San Francisco, Sweden, United Kingdom, Kuwait, and has had two solo exhibits in the United Arab Emirates. From 2011-2016 he produced The Distract and Disable Program broadcast on WGXC 90.7 FM in Hudson, NY, and his music and sound works have been released by Hello CD, free103point9, and Must Die Records. Along with an MA in music, he holds an MFA in Studio Art from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and is currently a lecturer in Visual Arts and Interactive Media at New York University Abu Dhabi.