Structured around the plot-line of a sexually frustrated private detective and his suspect - a 'sexually deviant' dentist - Matthew Brannon's arresting murder mystery first courted visitors at this year's Frieze Art Fair. His graphic body of work, which makes use of text and narrative and incorporates his trademark intermingling of print and sculpture, went on to sell out on day one. Now Brannon's tale is being played out in full in a show entitled 'Gentleman's Relish' at New York's Casey Kaplan. Told through silkscreen and letterpress prints, paintings and sculptures, together with collaborative artworks by designer Carlo Brandelli - it is once again giving visitors the chance to indulge in an old-fashioned spot of mystery-solving.
To navigate the show, you find yourself weaving through a graphic set of props, personas, sets, and scenarios, separated into three rooms within the gallery. The 'Adult's Only', 'Powder Room' and 'Police Station' - venues central to the story - are entered through a sculptural door, hand-painted in back-to-front signage.
Brannon invited designer and artist Carlo Brandelli to design two contrasting coats for the characters in the story. To give visitors a greater sense of the 'private detective' and the 'dentist', Brandelli has devised scents for each character, comprising notes of whisky and tobacco for the detective and mint and chloroform for the dentist - to be sprayed on the coats daily as part of the artwork. Little details like these, combined with Brandon's trail of clues along the way, result in a show that intrigues and puzzles in just the right balance.
Separated into three rooms within the gallery, the ’Adult’s Only’, ’Powder Room’ and ’Police Station’ venues central to Brannon’s tale are entered through a sculptural door, hand-painted in back-to-front signage
Courtesy of the artists and Casey Kaplan; Photograph by Cathy Carver/NY Photo
Installation view of the ’Police Station’ room
Courtesy of the artists and Casey Kaplan; Photograph by Cathy Carver/NY Photo
’Early Retirement’ by Matthew Brannon, 2011
Courtesy of the artists and Casey Kaplan; Photograph by Cathy Carver/NY Photo
’Horror Formal’ by Matthew Brannon, 2011
Courtesy of the artists and Casey Kaplan; Photograph by Cathy Carver/NY Photo
Brannon invited designer and artist Carlo Brandelli to design two coats for the characters in the story. To give visitors a greater sense of the ’private detective’ and the ’dentist’, Brandelli has devised a scent for each character, sprayed on the coats daily as part of the artwork. Pictured here is ’Murder Weapons’ by Matthew Brannon and Carlo Brandelli, 2011
Courtesy of the artists and Casey Kaplan; Photograph by Cathy Carver/NY Photo
Pegging the ’sexually deviant’ dentist suspect as the sort to fantasise about his uniform, Brandelli created a typical white dentist coat style garment, featuring a seam made from white medical tape, and a heady scent of mint and chloroform
Courtesy of the artists and Casey Kaplan; Photograph by Cathy Carver/NY Photo
Brandelli has also produced some hand-embroidered handkerchiefs for the coats
Courtesy of the artists and Casey Kaplan; Photograph by Cathy Carver/NY Photo
Laced with a scent containing notes of whiskey and tobacco, the detective’s dark trenchcoat was created as a stark contrast to the dentist’s, with the seams and detailing in blood red
Courtesy of the artists and Casey Kaplan; Photograph by Cathy Carver/NY Photo
’As it turns out...’ by Matthew Brannon, 2011
Courtesy of the artists and Casey Kaplan; Photograph by Cathy Carver/NY Photo
’Song & Dance’ by Matthew Brannon, 2011
Courtesy of the artists and Casey Kaplan; Photograph by Cathy Carver/NY Photo
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