Stowaway is pleased to present Let the Children Play, a solo presentation by Los Angeles based Grant Shumate, opening June 8th from 4-7PM. Shumate goes where the spirit plays. Through an immersive presentation of painting, sculpture and ceramics Shumate brings us to a place of origin, the intersection of nature and story. Interested in myth as a connecting point of community, ego, and the unknown, he uses his work as a place of stillness. A place for stories to take root, a direct counterpoint to the pace of ever evolving contemporary culture. Shumate harnesses the eternal nature of painting to propagate his own myths.

Channeling an inner childlike wonder, Shumate presents imagination as truth. Sperm become rivers and cells become galaxies with tendrils that spill and splinter like fractal tree limbs. The microscopic and the cosmic swirl together as the self and the whole become entangled, lost, and rediscovered. Remnants of the artist’s upbringing reverberate through the exhibition. The carpeted floors soften the space and bring pause, a reference to the homes of his youth that prominently featured a room children were not allowed to enter. Decorated with furniture and artwork too delicate to be lived in, perhaps a metaphor for the rooms of our mind, or society, that are rich and filled with treasure, yet we are told not to enter.

Grant Shumate’s multifaceted practice encompasses painting, ceramics, assemblage, performance and installations. While working with a wide range of materials, Shumate has created an oeuvre that, while diverse, is firmly rooted within an interconnected artistic identity. Often autobiographical in its origin, his work expands outward to connect the personal with sociological, ecological and the mystical in a seemingly effortless manner. His practice merges ideas of self and material with a continued investigation of the polarities of macro and micro, desire and contentment, and the belief that art can be used as a clearing agent for societal toxicity.

Grant Shumate (b. 1983, Aurora Colorado) lives and works in Los Angeles. His work has been included in Surveys at MOCA, Los Angeles; Thee Underground Museum, Los Angeles; MACBA, Barcelona Spain. Gallery shows include Dries Van Noten Gallery, Los Angeles; Yee Ho Chan Gallery, Los Angeles; The Design District Miami Beach; and LVH Gallery, London.