David Nolan Gallery is delighted to announce TILT, an exhibition of new and recent work by preeminent American sculptor Mel Kendrick (b. 1949), on view from April 23 through June 6, 2026. Marking the artist’s ninth solo presentation with the gallery, the exhibition includes free-standing and wall-based painted wood sculptures as well as cast paper drawings that represent Kendrick’s singular capacity for innovation within his own inimitable visual language. TILT features a body of work that is as immediately familiar as it is startlingly novel.

Over a career spanning more than five decades, Kendrick’s adventuresome experimentation has found seemingly endless expression within a narrow band of materials and processes. Working primarily in wood, the artist approaches sculpture as a form of drawing, using carpentry and construction tools as extensions of his own hands. Kendrick makes no preparatory sketches, but instead develops his ideas in the sculpture itself, reacting to the material’s natural resistance. Unlike drawings, however, where mistakes can be erased, wood retains every cut, slice, and misstep. Embracing the Joycean belief that errors are portals to discovery, Kendrick does nothing to cover up his misguided marks. Rather, every piece contains a timeline of its own making: developmental ideas and final draft visible in the same instant.