Interested in the “space between an original and its reproduction,” Manor Grunewald creates works that explore techniques of mimicry and erasure. His exhibition, Glances Closer to Blindness, includes abstract paintings and mixed-media works that the artist made while in residence at the RH Contemporary Art residency in Dumbo, Brooklyn. Grunewald enjoys playing with craftsmanship and painting techniques that suggest digital reproductions and vice versa. He is drawn to a black-and-white palette, influenced by his collection of 1960s-era exhibition catalogues in which color artworks are reproduced in black and white. Grunewald mimics this technique, reproducing printed matter in two tones.

To achieve these effects, Grunewald makes digital prints of photocopies on canvas. These photocopies draw from a range of source material, including the cover of Olivia Newton John’s 1981 pop album, Physical, which he happened to have in his studio. Upon using the images from the album, he discovered art historical parallels and significance to his own art-making process. He sees the image on the album cover as resembling the figure from The Raft of the Medusa (1818–19), by Théodore Géricault, while the song itself suggests the physical imperatives of the artist’s studio practice.

After printing these images on canvas, he uses the viscous material that accumulates at the bottom of a jar of paintbrushes to paint a fog over the images. Through employing this normally discarded material, Grunewald takes a byproduct of the painting process and uses it to both obscure and create content. He considers his work an open-ended narrative, saying, “I don’t like to point the audience in too much of a direction but instead provide reference points so they can make their own story of it.” Based in Ghent, Belgium, Grunewald has exhibited in New York, San Francisco, Brussels, London and the Netherlands.