Artist Jos Prol's Debut Solo Show Opens November 9, 2024, at Gowanus Dredgers Gallery with GIANT GOWANUS DRIFTWOOD SCULPTURE and 14 FOOT-TALL PAINTING.
Prol hosts an opening reception at 165 2nd Street, Brooklyn, in the waterside home of the Gowanus Dredgers. His large-scale sculptural installation “Leviathan” made from a 36 foot-long driftwood tree found on the Gowanus winds through the space on a custom armature of wooden ribs.
“Simply put: I canoe out into the Gowanus, and I haul in floating hunks of driftwood that wander by,” said Prol. “Then I make art out of it. Beauty emerges even from a dirty industrial waterway. It gives me life. This is my first show, and I’m thrilled.”
Prol’s other driftwood creations, “digitized” with geometric, multi-colored sections, range from the size of a coffee cup to five foot-high examples bigger than fire hydrants. New angles and patterns distort the organic wood grains after Prol’s chopping, carving, and dremel work. Sculpture is not the only medium on display, however. The artist also presents three huge, intensely-hued acrylic paintings the size of barn doors.
Altogether, the ARRIVALS show, in addition to embracing the random tide-borne arrivals of driftwood from parts unknown, marks Prol’s arrival as an artist. Following a crossroads earlier in the year, he changed careers and ventured off from an engineering firm into the realm of art. Prol serves as first mate of the Gowanus Dredgers Canoe Club, and his many hours leading tours on the Gowanus Canal and Gowanus Bay inspired the new course.
“It’s hard to understate the sublime colors we see on our dawn, sunset, and moonlight paddles out on Gowanus Bay,” Prol said. “I want people who experience my art to feel a glimpse of that aesthetic power and wonder, along with the mysteries of the tides. But all of the natural ends up in conversation, in my work, with a sense of the harder-edged urban reality we inhabit.”
Prol’s process also involves time: the driftwood, often heavily waterlogged, goes through a period of drying aboard a float before it is modified and prepared for painting. Each piece has a name, and all of the work on display at ARRIVALS is for sale.
The 11.9.24 opening reception is free and open to all. Light refreshments will be served. Special thanks to the Gowanus Dredgers Canoe Club for hosting. For more: @jos_prol
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