Made to Appear | Viraj Khanna & Brian Robertson at GR Gallery New York
Brian Robertson
GR gallery is pleased to present "Made To Appear," a two-person exhibition featuring artists Viraj Khanna and Brian Robertson, whose works merge traditional textile techniques, contemporary imagery, and cultural commentary to examine emotionally residual forms and the performative nature of today's social media-driven world.
Pushing beyond the rules of craft and fine arts, the exhibition presents mixed media threaded works that challenge perceptions of materiality, identity, and community by offering a timely exploration of modern life through texture and form. What the viewer encounters is not immediate or neutral, but constructed to produce a specific visual and emotional impression. On a perceptible level, the works resist instant recognition: embroidered surfaces initially register as paintings or digital images, revealing their textile nature only through closer observation. The title reflects the tension between what appears to be seen and what is physically present, allowing the exhibition to operate in an intentionally ambiguous space between image and object, authenticity and construction.
"Made To Appear" will present new series of artworks created specifically for this occasion, marking the gallery's first collaboration with both artists.
The exhibition invites the viewer to examine the way self-expression is shaped and curated when contributing to social media or when in pursuit of acceptance, vanity, endorsement, or other personal motivations. Through their works, Khanna and Robertson highlight the tension between genuine experience and a carefully constructed, often deceptive, yet visually alluring narrative most commonly presented in contemporary life.
Viraj Khanna's newest works capture the surface of privilege through colorful layers of embroidery, moving between spectacle and scrutiny by revealing existing tensions surrounding class, consumption, and constructed but eager-to-please personas. Khanna examines the cycles of online validation and the true worth of one's experiences beyond the screen before repackaging for public consumption. Developed alongside artisans from West Bengal who have preserved this intricate embroidery practice across generations, the work uses a medium defined by intensive labor and rich ornamentation to pause and question modern ideals of success, desire, exclusivity, and image-making.
With time, place, and self at the forefront, Brian Robertson isolates moments of personal significance, causing the viewer to move between the captured scene and recalled memories filled with fleeting imperfections and true raw emotions. Robertson offers an exploration of how spaces and experiences are continuously reimagined for both the self and an audience, leading us to question the nature of memory, perception, and authenticity. The use of material in his pieces introduces an experimental world of rich layered textures and whimsical aesthetics, weaving a unique narrative that blurs the boundaries of real life and dreamlike distortions.
"Made To Appear" is on view at GR gallery, 116 Chambers Street, New York, NY 10007, June 19 through August 1, 2026. Gallery hours are Tuesday through Sunday, 12:00pm to 7:00pm. For press inquiries, contact info@gr-gallery.com.
