Romer Young Gallery presents LD50, its first solo exhibition with New York artist Ryan Wallace. Wallace presents new paintings, sculptures and a site-specific installation. The exhibition title, LD50, derives from the technical term ‘median lethal dose’ used by toxicologists to refer to the dose required to kill half, 50%, of a tested population. Wallace borrows this title as a means of exploring what is maximal to the point of detriment. His works test the amount of material and mark that can be done or affixed to a painting, sculpture or exhibition space before it is figuratively, physically or compositionally destroyed. In his 1952 essay ‘The American Action Painters’ Harold Rosenberg coined the term ‘action paintings.’ The canvas was no longer considered a hermetic, independent object, but rather became ‘an arena in which to act’ and the finished work was only a
