Two Palms is pleased to present a new body of monotypes by Carroll Dunham from his ongoing Wrestlers series. The works depict two men in vibrant and often barren landscapes, locked in differing moments of pronounced struggle. They push, bite, choke and grab one another in a continuous effort to exert dominance. The intensity of these confrontations is emphasized by pencil marks and paint smears on the men's skin, indicating dirt, scratching and bruising, and the angiush perceivable when their faces can be seen. Dunham's tight cropping of these scenes places the figures in the forefront, allowing for an intimate view of the protagonists and highlighting the artist’s ability to play with scale and render complex forms in space.

Precisely because the wrestlers are so ludicrous in their monolithic and uniform hyper-machismo, the [works] suggest that there’s no single answer to what masculinity consists of, while not ruling out the possibility that the tendency toward violence might be hardwired. Yet Dunham’s figuration is somehow tender, accepting of confusion, touchingly nonjudgmental.

- Dan Nadel, Artforum

I think I am looking for a way to accept myself and not apologize for who and what I am. To the extent that that feels like a better way to live, a more realized way to live, maybe the images in my work embody that in some way. I can go back to when I was a child looking at the paleo-art illustrations in the museum in New Haven, I think I was very drawn to the idea of freedom to be male. The guys in my paintings look like some sort of caricature of what used to be called stone age man. But we are still that. We are not any different. We think we are different, but we are not. 

- Carroll Dunham, Between Two Palms podcast

Carroll Dunham has been an avid printmaker at Two Palms since 1995. The monotype process allows him to experiment with new approaches, materials, and techniques within the framework of his singular practice. Dunham’s prints executed at Two Palms can be found in the collections of institutions such as the Whitney Museum of American Art, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Yale University Art Gallery, and the Museum of Modern Art, New York.