February 6 – March 1, 2014
Artist Reception and Awards, Saturday, February 8, 6 – 8 pm
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Elizabeth Boyne | Maxi Cohen | Jueqian Fang
Jen Grabarczyk | Amy Hamblin | Austin Irving
Gregory Pierce | Trevor Mahovsky & Rhonda Weppler | Lena Wolek
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Transient Moments Instead of grand declarations or statements, most of the artists in this exhibition capture a fleeting gesture, thought, or create sculptural forms that are inspired by everyday materials or rituals.
Rhonda Weppler’s still-lives of groceries, describe not only the collection of beer or wine in a shopping basket but note the event for which the goods were purchased– a vigil, a protest, or other social gathering. Amy Hamblin’s Soft Anatomy deconstructs mass-produced toys to create suggestive new forms. The large-scale paintings of Jen Grabarczyk are more akin to drawings that reference the movement of the artist’s body in the process of its making and the immediacy of the un-stretched canvas tacked to the wall assumes a bodily presence. By contrast, the Gregory Pierce’s assemblages are intimate in scale and integrate found rocks into earthy ceramic sculptures. His enigmatic titles heighten the mystery of these intriguing works.
In the grand tradition of street photography, Maxi Cohen creates poetic portraits of individuals in the public areas of restrooms— the artist captures individuals as they gather themselves or chat with others before returning to the world at large. The cave photographs by Austin Irving singles out the strange incongruities of what she terms “curated spaces” in nature: paved pathways, lighting, or a stray phone box turn the underground caverns she photographs into consumable spectacles for visiting crowds. Jueqian Fang’s enigmatic photographs isolate architectural details that take on a quiet insistence within the frame of his photographs.
By contrast, Elizabeth Boyne and Lena Woleck synthesize history and/or memory and give them new visual forms. Found materials become vehicles with which to bridge past and present.
Catharina Manchanda
