Dawning @ Peep Space, Solstice @ Flux Factory and De Umbris et Figura

My solo exhibition Dawning ran from May 20-June 19 at Peep Space. The artwork continued my use of light, shadow and reflection as a medium and my thematic explorations of our attempts to understand the unknowable.

The centerpieces of the exhibition were 3 large “arches” called Passagers. The Passagers were designed to interact with the space to guide visitors to intimate, meditative moments with smaller pieces.

Made of polished aluminum, the Passagers were also designed to expand, contract and transform the space with shadows and reflections.

One of the promotional images for Dawning was created with a text-to-image platform called Midjourney. Between March 11 to around June 13 of this year, I created thousands of images using this platform. I collected about 100 of them into a text called De Umbris et Figura.

I also participated in a group show called Solstice curated by Jonathan Sims at Flux Factory on Governor’s Island. My two contributions continued the conversations in Dawning with an emphasis on human scale in comparison to sublime and grandiose natural phenomena.

Lockdown and After

I’m fortunate to have made it through lockdown in good health for myself and those around me, and during that time I was also lucky enough to have continued opportunities to share my artwork in some really fun and fascinating exhibitions. Here are a few.

My piece Chromatic Array was included in the Wassaic Projects 2020 Summer Exhibition. Originally intended to be in person, it moved on line and was accompanied by a beautiful print edition.

A related piece, Chromatic Intervals, appeared in Minimum Space Requirements, an exhibition curated by Suzanne Dittenber, Luke Whitlatch and Jackson Martin under the auspices of Tiger Strikes Asteroid Greenville. Appearing in a beautifully crafted Little Free Library-style box on the side of a hill in a residential neighborhood, the show was a fun and perfect display of hope and resilience during times that were still (and remain, even as I write this in 2022), very challenging.

Completed during the pandemic, this triptych titled Radial Harmonics II, I & III, was included in Place/Displace at Pratt Institute’s Schafler Gallery, curated by Linda Lauro Lazin. An exploration of the relationship between certainty/uncertainty and Utopian dreaming, much of the imagery and themes in these paintings continue to recur throughout my projects. In a way, it is a kind of a manifesto.

I contributed this piece, titled Hierophanies, to Light Show, curated by Ben Shattuck at DeDee Shattuck Gallery. Created while in residence at 77ART in Rutland, VT, Hierophanies is part of my continued exploration of projection as a source of light, and light as both meaning and medium. Projected onto 4 plexiglass boxes, the boxes seems to glow from within as images slowly drift by across them, periodically interrupted by wild prismatic flames. Hierophanies synthesizes themes of ecstatic vision (Anarkhos) with Utopian dreaming (Pure Phase City).

Of Masonry and Shadows in the Brooklyn Rail

I’m proud to be affiliated with The Brooklyn Rail and its staff. At risk of sounding romantic (although romanticism has its appeals), they transcend their genre(s) with a true sense of mission in all they do. This month’s issue is dedicated to George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Tony McDade, Nina Pop, David McAtee, James Scurlock, Jamel Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery (statement of solidarity here).

Read my most recent piece for them, Of Masonry and Shadows, here.

Monday February 3rd: Space & Desire: The NYC Apartment Gallery in 2020

Save the date! On Mon Feb 3 I will be moderating a panel hosted by Artists Talk on Art on the subject of NYC apartment galleries: how they begin, grow, end and/or transition. Our illustrious speakers will include J. Simmz (Doppelgänger Projects) , Lauren Wolchik (Gloria’s Project Space), ⁣⁣Steve Mykietyn (Orgy Park), and Olivia Swider & Michael Fleming (Selenas Mountain). It's an honor to be able to participate in conversation with this outstanding group of impresarios. Thanks to Peter Duhon for inviting me and to all the panelists for coming on board. I hope you can join us!  More info below.

SPACE AND DESIRE:⁣⁣
THE NYC APARTMENT GALLERY IN 2020⁣⁣

Monday, February 3rd 2020
12 West 12th Street, New York, NY
6:00 PM – 7:30 PM EST
Doors open at 5:15pm
$10 entry

J. Simmz
⁣Doppelgänger Projects

⁣⁣Lauren Wolchik
Gloria’s Project Space

⁣⁣Steve Mykietyn
Orgy Park⁣⁣

⁣⁣Olivia Swider
Selenas Mountain

⁣⁣Steven Pestana
Organizer and Moderator⁣⁣

More details:
https://www.atoanyc.org/

Image Credits:⁣⁣

⁣Doppelgänger Projects: Katherine Finkelstein & Alison Kudlow
Selenas Mountain: Andy Cahill, Pastiche Lumumba
Gloria’s: Leah Dixon
Orgy Park: Phoebe Berglund

Collectors @ Space 776 and Fortress of Solitude @ Super Dutchess

In September, Space 776 in Bushwick hosted my most recent solo outing, Collectors.

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In terms of process, I’m most inspired by space. When I encounter a new space where I will be exhibiting my work, my mind is immediately flooded with visions. The possibilities of a space can become the basis for a whole new body of work. Space 776, with its unique architectural details and rich natural lighting, was an exciting canvas to work with.

The central idea that I was exploring in Collectors was how we take the chaotic mass of information that surrounds us every day and turn it into comprehensible information and ideas.

The first image that entered into my thoughts came together into a piece that ended up being what I considered to be a skeleton key to the show, Phase Realia via Memory Tiles. Phase Realia captured the most facets of this theme. In its structure, it included a sort of lens and an object evocative of an antenna —devices for receiving and transferring information. A small vitrine displayed the strange, half-formed output of these unorthodox data collectors.

Other pieces were conceived less as “instruments” in their own right and more as artifacts of an imagined conversion of raw data into discrete concepts. For these pieces, I borrowed visual devices from map projections and tessellations, both of which I was looking at both as formal languages as well as instrumental methods of imposing form upon otherwise amorphous bodies of information.

Most important for my own recent research as I move forward is what I have been referring to as “the authority of objects”. From a big-picture perspective, this can refer to the way permanent or long-lasting structures of great scale can predetermine our behavior — infrastructure, architecture, urban planning, and so on. On a more microcosmic level (which I believe may be more consequential), I was looking at how our objects become an externalization of our consciousness. How do the objects we surround ourselves with become a sort of hard drive for our psyches, not only a record of possession and ownership, but, perhaps more importantly, also extensions (or hindrances) of our agency? How much of possibility or potential is predetermined or foreclosed by the objecthood of the things that surround us?

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Photo by Andrew Woolbright

Photo by Andrew Woolbright

1/2 of the two tables which comprise Primal Quadrant also made a reappearance in September at Super Dutchess gallery on the Lower East Side. Curated by Andrew Woolbright, the piece is shown alongside some excellent work by Kajahl, Joe Bochynski, Marco Tulio Venegas, and Roque Montez. It was nice to revisit this piece, which is now 5 years old. It was reassuring to know that I am as sure today as I was when I first made the piece about the ideas in this piece, and the way they are captured and expressed in the format. Like Phase Realia, it remains a sort of skeleton key, not only to the body of work that Primal Quadrant was a part of, but also a road map to the work which followed, and continues to follow it.

The Aurora Chamber @ Play/Ground

In October, I had the privilege of participating in a unique exhibition focused on installation art called Play/Ground. My installation was called “The Aurora Chamber”. It took place in a decommissioned high school, now called Mustang City, in a charming town in Western New York called Medina, just east of Buffalo. Here are some images:

One of the (many) highlights was my performance on opening night with Sophia Sobers who also did a live improvisational scoring of the installation before and after the performance. Here is an excerpt of her atmospheric sounds:

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One of the goals of the Aurora Chamber was to work with light, reflection, translucency, and shadows. When it wasn’t cloudy (which it was, most of the time), a dazzling grid of rainbows could be seen coming through the windows where I had created an otherwise imperceptible installation. But the Aurora Chamber was not only designed to harness the sunlight, but also to be equally experiential at night when the shadows really came to life.

The centerpiece of the show, called The Martyr’s Tablet, was a sound and video installation that reimagined a piece called Tristia from my show In Raptures. You can view an excerpt here:

Play/Ground was presented by Resource:Art in partnership with Hallwalls and Rochester Contemporary Art Center. Anna Kaplan, Elisabeth Samuels, and Emily Tucker did an amazing job curating and producing the project.

Thanks to everyone involved, more to come soon!

Four Quartets for the End of Time @ The Knockdown Center

An Excerpt from Tristia

Outakes from In Raptures

There was a lot of work that I made over 2017 with In Raptures in mind. By the time the show came around, I knew that not all of it would end up being included. In fact, there was almost enough left over for a whole separate exhibition. With that in mind, I assembled a slideshow "mini-exhibition" of some of my favorite outtakes so that I could share some of this work. I hope you enjoy it.

Also, I will be participating in a panel featuring many of the artists from Post-Earth for the exhibition's closing at Index Art Center on February 1st. In the meantime, here are some images of my installation from that show. It was another welcome opportunity to bring out some work that I hadn't yet had the chance to share with the world outside my studio.

2017 Recap: In Raptures, Post-Earth, and More

This has been a busy year with new work appearing in quite a few group shows, my third solo show, and three residencies over the course of 2017. 

I started the year at The Studios at Mass MoCA, an artist residency where I made three of the paintings included in In Raptures (more on that below), another one that appeared in Art  Speaks, a group show in Providence at The Wurks, and developed a special project that I showed at CAA's ArtExchange in New York in February. Most of these pieces were a continuation of painting experiments I began in 2016, such as The Witnesses. I started as a painter and have been rediscovering how to paint with a very sculptural attention to materials and process. This started out as a brief digression but has continued to fascinate me, so I’ve decided to just roll with it for a while. 

I also participated in the inaugural Summer Art Residency at CalArts. It was insightful and inspiring to spend time there and see what makes that place — and especially its artists — tick. One of the pieces I made there, a diptych called (An Inscription of) Relays, Etheric and Instinctive wound up in The Gallery at BRIC House’s exhibition Truth, and another piece, this time a sculpture, called Reflexive Architectures, was also included in In Raptures. 

I ended the Summer at the peaceful and bucolic Catwalk Institute, in Catskill NY, where I worked on new ideas and processes for upcoming projects (more on that in 2018). Bushwick Open Studios gave me a chance to preview some of this work to over 400 visitors that came through my doors over that weekend. 

The highlight was In Raptures, my third solo exhibition, which took place in December at Rhode Island College’s Chazan Family Gallery. It brought together a year of new work on a subject I’ve been researching since early 2016: specifically, as the irrational has become increasingly present in every day life, how are we to deal with and understand this human impulse towards the irrational? As much work was edited out of the show as made it in, and I’m looking forward to the opportunity to show some of this work in 2018. 

On that note, in January 2018, I will be participating in a show called Post-Earth, curated by Sophia Sobers and taking place at Index Art Center in Newark, NJ. The show is a consideration of environmental concerns under the current erosion of environmental protections and skepticism of scientific data. A difficult subject, but I’m looking forward to this exhibition and have great optimism moving forward in 2018.

Empyrean Prismatic Room @ Satellite Art Show, Miami

In December 2016, I presented a suite of works called Empyrean Prismatic Room at Satellite Art Show in Miami during Miami Art Week.

The centerpiece, called The Witnesses, was set in a pure white room, awash in sunlight during the day, but imperceptibly lit with RGB lights overhead. As the sun set over the course of the day, the room gradually became activated with prismatic shadows cast in geometric patterns throughout the installation. The imagery, painted in airbrushed watercolor on the front and scorched wood on the back portrayed a tableau of human silhouettes and angels of the Merkabah, or Chariot of God, as described in the Biblical Vision of Ezekiel. Parmenides Contemplating the Fates of Martyrs, an eight-foot long stainless steel etching was a visitor favorite.

All the pieces belong to an ongoing series of work called Anarkhos which explores the human tendency to seek oblivion and absolve oneself of accountability in everyday life, and the various ways we do this. 

The Ekstatikon Canon @ Fertile Solitude

As mentioned earlier, I just debuted some new work in the Fertile Solitude exhibition at Mills Gallery in Boston. The suite of four pieces is called, collectively, The Ekstatikon Canon. The title comes from a Greek term for ecstasy, notably used by the philosopher Martin Heidegger in his study of time. These pieces share many elements: an entreaty to look closer, discover, and see the unseen. 

Why Ekstatikon? I've been researching time, not so much as the linear experience that we encounter every day, but the ways we attempt to transcend its limitations. Silhouette imagery is taken from historical representations of religious deaths, apotheosis and nemesis. Given the near-universal acceleration of modern communication to the point of singularity, I think the subject matter is particularly (apologies in advance) timely. 

Other things to keep an eye out for: light and shadow, projection and reflection, and materials not always being what they seem. Although if you can't make it to the show, the images above will hopefully provide a feel for these latest works. 

BOS, Fertile Solitude, Satellite Art Show and Mass MoCA

I’ve spent the better part of 2016 shifting gears in both life and art. With two shows to close out 2016 and a residency at Mass MoCA, I have lots of exciting news to report! 

Last week, I inaugurated my long-awaited return to NYC by participating in Bushwick Open Studios. It was as great a homecoming as I could have asked for, with hundreds of friends and friendly strangers passing through over two days. Visitors previewed new work for two upcoming shows, Fertile Solitude and In Silhouette.

For both exhibitions, I’ll be showing pieces from a new body of work called Anarkhos, inspired by the ancient Greek term for “without a beginning”. Whereas Geometer considered ways of measuring experience, Anarkhos looks at the opposite: the immeasurable. 

The first show, Fertile Solitude is curated by the exceptional Elizabeth Devlin opens October 14 and takes place at one of my favorite venues in Boston, The Mills Gallery at Boston Center for the Arts. With a floorplan laid out like an intimate hedge maze, its goal is to offer an antidote for an age of a technologically "self-inflicted state of constant connectivity” by creating individual moments of curiosity and contemplation.

The second upcoming show is called In Silhouette. Curated by writer/curator/consultant/powerhouse Kristin Sancken, it will take place at Satellite Art Show in December during Miami Art Week. The show will feature site-specific installations engaging the silhouette, extending the tradition from its original graphic meaning to explore elements such as lighting ratios, spatial awareness, artistic conventions and viewer comprehension. 

Last of all, I’ll be continuing these projects and more at The Studios at Mass MoCA artist-in-residence program in January. I couldn’t be more thrilled to have been selected for this program.  

Fertile Solitude
Curated by Elizabeth Devlin
ARTISTS Piper Brett, Caleb Cole, Emily Eveleth, Dana Filibert, Cig Harvey, Kyle Hittmeier, Annette Lemieux, Megan and Murray McMillan, Noritaka Minami, Hao Ni, Steven Pestana, Shelley Reed, Erin M. Riley and Sarah Wentworth
Mills Gallery at Boston Center for the Arts
October 14–December 18, 2016
Opening Reception Friday, October 14, 6–8pm
539 Tremont St
Boston, MA 02116

In Silhouette
Curated by Kristin Sancken
ARTISTS Julia Colavita, Coke Wisdom O'Neal, Steven Pestana
Satellite Art Show, Room 16
December 1 – December 4, 2016
1510 Collins Ave
Miami Beach, FL 33139

The Epitome Theater @ BRINK v2, curated by John Pyper

Click above to view The Epitome Theater

I'm honored to kick off 2016 with new work created for BRINK v2: Space and Intimacy, curated by John Pyper, at the Mills Gallery, Boston Center for the Arts. BRINK is a bi-annual exhibition series dedicated to introducing emerging artists based in the Northeast. This installment is dedicated to sculpture . . . or not, since each of the six artists included here easily transcend what is traditionally associated with the term. 

My contribution is called The Epitome Theater and is an extension of the themes from October 2015's GEOMETER exhibition at GRIN. Whereas the centerpiece of GEOMETER was a measurer, here the centerpiece is himself being measured (both are life-sized self-portraits). An epitome was an early type of portable atlas, but here refers to both the figure on the table and the ancient notion of microcosm. Inspired by Renaissance anatomical theaters, the recumbent figure rests on a classical dissection table atop stones evocative of an elemental ritual. Beneath, a pile of anthracite suggests that the setting may actually double as a pyre, an alchemical burning from nigredo to albedo to citrinitas. At the figure's feet, a small bronze arch suggests an enshrined culmination of the study of human proportion in the applied arts and their underlying code of geometrical forms. Also included in BRINK are the sister pieces Morning Star and Evening Star. 

Getting to know curator/writer/artist/all-around inspiring gentleman John Pyper while preparing for this show was a pleasure and a privilege, and I'm tremendously fortunate to share my work alongside the work of five other stellar artists, Johnny Adimando, Samantha Fields, Coe Lapossy, AJ Liberto and J.R. Uretsky. Additional information on BRINK and it's surrounding events can be found here. A roundtable discussion with the artists will take place on Saturday February 20th, 2016, 3:00-5:00 PM, in addition to performances throughout the run of the show.

You can read more about the exhibition in Cait McQuaid's review for the Boston Globe here. Thank you Cait for the thoughtful article! 

BRINK v2: Space and Intimacy
January 15, 2016-March 26, 2016
Opening Reception Friday January 22nd, 2016 6-8 PM
Mills Gallery at Boston Center for the Arts
539 Tremont St
Boston, MA 02116 

Installation views of Geometer

Click through the images below for a virtual tour of the GEOMETER exhibition. 

Please be patient while the images load. 

Interview with Sarah Montross, Associate Curator of the deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum

I was honored to have a thoughtful and generous exchange with Sarah Montross on the occasion of GEOMETER. Thank you Sarah! 

*Please be patient while the link loads.

Announcing GEOMETER at GRIN, and a recap of 34

It’s been a busy few months developing the pieces that comprise GEOMETER, my second solo exhibition with GRIN in Providence. GEOMETER continues my explorations of the space between intuition and science.*  

GEOMETER runs from October 15, 2015 to November 14, 2015 with an opening reception Saturday October 17 from 6PM-9PM. GRIN, 60 Valley St, Providence, RI 02909. 

For more information, see the press release here. 

I was also recently included in 34, part of Elizabeth Lyons Devlin's extraordinary Isles Arts Initiative. Huge thanks, Liz! Read more about it in this article from the Boston Globe, written by Cait McQuaid . . . keep an eye out for her mention of my piece (and big thanks to you too, Cait!).  

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Recent Work at Momenta Art Spring Benefit 2015

Marsyas, Supplicant (2015) will be on view at the Momenta Art Spring Benefit 2015, opening on Friday, April 3rd, with a Preview Opening Party from 7-9PM. The preview exhibition and opening party are open to the public. An auction will take place later in the month on Thursday, April 23.

More information here. 

March 2015: Past, Present and Future

I’ve just returned from Spring/Break Art Show, where my installation Opus Novum Sensorium, and frieze, Giordano Bruno at the Threshold of the Quaternion, were on view. The pieces were included as part of Corey Oberlander and Lindsey Stapleton’s three-person show, Annulus, alongside work by Leah Piepgras and Jodie Mim Goodnough (whose photographs can be seen in some of the below images). You can read more about Spring/Break on Hyperallergic (who very kindly picked my project as a standout). 

I am also honored to be a recipient of this year's Puffin Foundation Grant for Fine Arts. The funds will go towards supporting projects in my next solo exhibition, scheduled for October 2015 at Grin. 

Thanks!

TEEM at Grin November 20, 2014

Last year's flat-files show at Grin, titled SWELL, was truly impressive, so it's a privilege to be included this year's installment, titled TEEM. 

For TEEM, I will be contributing works from a new body of work titled Geometer. I'm very excited to debut these pieces, which are the first paintings that I've made in many years. Developing themes from my previous body of work, Metaphysics, Geometer takes inspiration from the various systems of measurement, both arbitrary and naturally occurring, which define our world. 

TEEM

November  20th – January 10th

Opening Reception Saturday November 22nd, 12-9PM. 

GRIN 60 Valley Street, Unit 3 Providence, Rhode Island 02909