Skip to content

Nicholas Buffon

Vehicles

Opening: Sunday, February 17, 6–8pm

February 17 – March 24, 2019

An installation image of Nicholas Buffon's exhibition, a wide view, including 7 artworks
An installation image of 4 paintings by Nicholas Buffon hung on the wall
An installation image of 2 paintings and 1 sculpture hung on the wall by Nicholas Buffon hung
An installation image of 1 sculpture and 1 painting by Nicholas Buffon hung on the wall
An installation image of 3 paintings and 1 sculpture by Nicholas Buffon hung on the wall
An installation image of 4 paintings by Nicholas Buffon hung on the wall
A sculpture hung on the wall that recreates B&H Dairy Luncheonette in Manhattan, and it's accompanying doorway with all details (counter, signage, vents) made of foam or paper
A painting on paper of a hot-dog truck parked in the grass, surrounded by trees and flowers. There is a cartoon of a dog eating a hotdog against the New York City skyline.
A painting of a pickup truck parked in a vacant lot with a brick apartment building in the background. The truck says "SKYHIGH" across it's door and half of the caddy.
A painting of a man standing on yellow scaffolding, painting the red exterior on the first floor of an apartment building.
A painting of Bethesda Fountain in NYC's Central Park, on a summer day with lots of people gathered, sitting on the edge of the fountain, trees in full green bloom.
The side of a box truck that says "MANHATTAN FRUIT EXCHANGE" in bold red letters
The brick exterior of Anthology Film Archives in NYC, with a small NYPD car and red cadillac parked on the sidewalk. Two figures stand in front of the Archives' green door.
A white NYPD Corrections bus parked in a cement driveway, with NYC buildings in the background.
A painting of firefighters washing a firetruck on the street of NYC during the summer. There is water bubbly.

Press Release

Callicoon Fine Arts is pleased to present Vehicles, an exhibition of sculptures and paintings by Nicholas Buffon. This is Buffon’s fifth solo presentation at the gallery.

It’s impossible to ignore the vehicles cruising the East Village where Buffon lives. These beasts dominate the streets, transporting goods and providing services to our feeble bodies. Slipping through the arteries and veins of this city, they clog the roads and belch pollution. But we can’t complain! Their every drip and dribble means someone is earning a paycheck, a bodega is being re-stocked.

These vehicles don’t just move, they have voices that honk, beep, scream, and rumble. They express themselves with vinyl graphics, customization, and those seductive curves. Their rear-ends block sidewalks and their bodies obscure views. Each vehicle is a living specimen from Buffon’s urban ecosystem, often hinting at gay culture. They are plastered with innuendo—a buff dog licks a sausage; plump, technicolor balloons crowd every square inch of a sprinter van. The descriptions written upon several vehicles, like “Fruit Exchange,” are suggestions of utility with a twist. These vehicles measure time, like animals, as their cycles become recognizable with frequent viewings. Buffon photographs these creatures in downtown Manhattan, then paints their portraits.

These cars and trucks live adjacent to and in the service of buildings. The exteriors of these buildings are vehicles for the businesses that occupy them. Buffon’s paintings of LGBTQ establishments are part of an ongoing series that illustrate social spaces. In these paintings, Buffon fuses his own photographs with images from Google Street View, then renders the composite image in acrylic paint. Foreground and background coalesce, making every detail appear tightly in-focus. 

Some locations are transitory: The Cock, for example, is pictured here in its third location on Second Avenue. Breaking Ground (2018) celebrates the construction of The Center, an LGBTQ stronghold in Cleveland, Ohio. Zoe Leonard on the Highline (2018) captures a temporary installation of Leonard’s poem, “I want a president” (1992). In Bethesda Fountain (2019), all elements, including queer sculptor Emma Stebbins’ Angel of the Waters fountain at the center, are made equal through Buffon’s consistent use of texture and color. The fountain, unveiled in 1873, is the earliest public artwork by a woman in New York City. Buffon’s vivid details, normally lost in the rush, breath life into the cast of characters that inhabit this city. 

Nicholas Buffon (b. 1987, Seattle, WA) is a painter and sculptor who lives and works in New York. He attended the School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, MA (BFA, 2008), and the Milton Avery Graduate School of the Arts, Bard College, in Annandale-on-Hudson, NY (MFA, 2011). Recent solo exhibitions include Callicoon Fine Arts (2016) and Freddy, Baltimore, MD (2014). In 2018, he participated in FRONT International: Cleveland Triennial for Contemporary Art, Akron Museum of Art; and Spatial Flux: Contemporary Drawings from the JoAnn Gonzalez Hickey Collection, Gregory Allicar Museum of Art at Colorado State University. His work has been included in exhibitions at the Jewish Museum, New York; the Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit (MOCAD), Michigan; the Weatherspoon Art Museum, Greensboro, North Carolina; QT Gallery, Chicago; and The Hole, Foxy Production, and Shoot The Lobster, all in New York. His work can be found in public collections including the Rubell Family Collection, Miami; the Kadist Foundation, San Francisco; and the Akron Art Museum, Ohio. Most recently in 2019, Buffon mounted a major solo exhibition at Poets House in New York City.

Back To Top