Geoffrey Chadsey, Fibro Flay, 2023. All images courtesy of Michael Benevento. — Geoffrey Chadsey, *Fibro Flay*, 2023. All images courtesy of Michael Benevento.

Opening June 10, Michael Benevento will present New York-based artist Geoffrey Chadsey’s first solo exhibition in Los Angeles, Sly glancer, Angry dancer.

In striking psychological and virtuosic renderings, Chadsey deepens his longstanding interest in fraught masculinity and queer subject-hood. Chadsey’s approach to composition is distinct—reminiscent of the Surrealists’ exquisite corpse based surprising juxtapositions, Chadsey’s figures stand before you in all their complexity—ostentatious, anxious, eager, abject or aloof. These figures present themselves in various states of peacockery, wanting to be marveled at, or regarded with admiring disgust.

Sly glancer, Angry dancer is on view through July 29 @ Michael Benevento, 3712 Beverly Blvd. Los Angeles

Glower Puff and Pinch, 2023. All images courtesy of Michael Benevento.

Dandy Zipped, 2023. All images courtesy of Michael Benevento.

Blue-Faced Double D-Angelo, 2023. All images courtesy of Michael Benevento.

Downside Up, 2023. All images courtesy of Michael Benevento.

Kristen Sanders, One in the Other, 2020. All images courtesy of Asya Geisberg Gallery. — Kristen Sanders, *One in the Other*, 2020. All images courtesy of Asya Geisberg Gallery.

For Protoself, Kristen Sanders asks the question: Where does the self-start or end, and are the traces/fragments left behind a part of self? Bringing together imagery such as marks left in fossils and bodies formed by medical mannequin skins, Sander’s uncanny paintings flatten time and explore the negative space between the physical body and one's environment where the self is formed.

As the show’s title suggests, Sanders points her inquiry into the crux of what makes us human; imagining a moment of first consciousness of a hypothetical early human ancestor. Since 2015 her work has been circling between the extreme past of hominids millions of years ago – and the increasingly closer future of robots with super-human powers and artificial intelligence. Sanders’ fascination lies within the threshold of self-invention, distinguishing the human from both the animal and the animatronic. In considering the former, her work posits that behavioral aspects such as making a mark, or the first non-utilitarian artwork, should be valorized before corporeal evolution. By considering these defining moments for the pre-human, we can then reframe the post-human, negotiating our current unease with AI and its possible outpacing of the human body – arriving at a post-body consciousness.

Protoself is on view through July 8 at Asya Geisberg Gallery, 537B West 23rd Street, New York, NY 10011