Why the Very Serious Artist Paul Chan Is Taking a Breather
Anyone who's driven by a car dealership in the U.S. has probably seen them: Inflatable nylon figures with smiley faces, bending and twisting in the breeze. These roadside attention getters are known in the marketing world as "tube men" or "sky dancers." Paul Chan calls them "Breathers," and they have played a central role in the artist's practice since he debuted his own uncanny renditions of the dancers in 2017 at Greene Naftali gallery in New York.
The swaying figures also symbolize the artist's own winding approach to his practice, and the need, sometimes, to take a breather. After working…
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