Karryl Eugene

Reception: Thursday, June 25, 2026, 6-8pm

White Columns is pleased to present “Overproof,” a solo exhibition by New York-based artist Karryl Eugene (b. 1998). “Overproof” features a range of works across painting, collage, assemblage, and sound, and debuts the artist’s new EP, No More Evening Plans, consisting of five tracks presented as part of a sound installation within the exhibition. The works on view amplify ideas that have become central to Eugene’s practice over the past five years since earning his BFA in 2020. Taking an interdisciplinary approach to concepts of masculinity, language, desire, portraiture, and community, “Overproof” interrogates what it means to be ‘masculine’ today, and the sociological effects of manhood on both self and others.

Eugene’s practice currently centers on the psychological space of the cis-hetero Black male as a subject—wherein he considers how this positionality moves within cultural archetypes, interpersonal relationships, and the lived experience. Drawing from psychological and existential frameworks, he works through his archive of personal photographs and found digital imagery to construct images that seek to hold both interior and projected identities. Many of Eugene’s works are grounded in the triptych as a compositional structure. Through portraiture, these works abstractly juxtapose self and other. Eugene reframes manipulated imagery sourced from stock images, video games, social gatherings, film stills, boxing weigh-ins, and images of celebrities. These seemingly disparate fragments are layered into allegorical compositions that work to examine the often flattened and monolithic framing of cis-hetero identity.

In What Was Left Of The Johnnie Walker, the left image features an acrylic cutout of an isolated silhouetted figure in a seated pose, while the central image depicts Franklin Clinton, the fictional protagonist from video game Grand Theft Auto V. The right panel includes an altar-like base that holds a decanter partially filled with Johnnie Walker Black Label Scotch whiskey. The work examines the notion of consumption, the methods through which individuals pursue escapism, and the ways these strategies shape a sense of self, particularly in manhood. Avoidant Attachment, presenting three variations of physical touch, is an investigation into the psychological space of discomfort with emotional closeness, alongside the comfort of hyper-independence. The Weigh In examines the public display of boxing opponents’ weigh-ins, often ending in an intense “stare-down”. The extreme proximity of the boxers, sometimes pressing lips, is blurred to suggest two men in passionate and romantic embrace. The artist views this transformation as a metaphor for hypermasculinity when pushed to its extremes, often revealing the very intimacy and vulnerability it seeks to remove and distance itself from.

Eugene’s use of laser-cut acrylic text throughout the exhibition examines the fragmentation and concealment of language as a means of exploring the instability of communication. Most evident in Text Painting 001 and Text Painting 002, these works consider how language functions through subversion, ambiguity, and layered meaning. They explore the tension between disclosure and opacity, revealing how communication is shaped by competing desires for articulation and concealment.

Alongside this, the artist’s sound practice operates through music production and DJing. The artist approaches sound as a process of curation, retracing, and collage, often through long-form mixes composed of both selected and self-produced tracks. His work frequently incorporates vocal samples drawn from Calypso and Soca, genres rooted in Trinidad and Tobago, while also engaging broader Caribbean sonic histories across the diaspora. These elements are placed in conversation with production approaches informed by alternative, left-field house, trance, club, and new age rap. Through this process, present in the sound work No More Evening Plans, the artist aims to reimagine the euphoric and emotional register of Caribbean music within his own contemporary sonic language.

Karryl Eugene (b. 1998) lives and works in New York. He is an MFA candidate in the Studio Art program at Hunter College and received his BFA from the Maryland Institute College of Art in 2020. Eugene has exhibited in the United States and abroad, including in exhibitions at Queue Gallery, Miami (2025), Silke Lindner, New York (2025); David Zwirner, New York (2024); Current Space, Baltimore (2021); the Reginald F. Lewis Museum, Baltimore (2020); ONART Gallery, Florence (2019); and the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia (2018), among others. He has performed at venues such as Cassette NYC, Jupiter Disco NYC, Rash NYC, Mood Ring NYC as DJ duo “Exit Strategy,” and Public Records in a music ensemble called “Judy Unisex.” Eugene has recently been listed in “Hot Picks 2025” for Smack Mellon’s Studio Residency Program.

White Columns’ 2026 summer programs focus on the work of artists who are currently represented in White Columns’ Curated Artist Registry, and have been organized by Violet Saxon (Curatorial Assistant) and Adeja Sterling (Gallery Assistant). Founded in the early 1980s the Registry provides a platform for artists – of all kinds – currently without gallery representation in New York. The Registry currently includes the work of more than 500 individual artists.

The Curated Artist Registry is currently open for submissions through August 6, 2026 at 11:59pm.

To learn more about the Registry, please visit: registry.whitecolumns.org

For further information about this exhibition contact: adeja@whitecolumns.org