NYAB Event - Ray Caesar "In the Garden of Moonlight" Exhibition

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At Jonathan LeVine Gallery
Media: Graphics

Jonathan LeVine Gallery presents In The Garden of Moonlight, a solo exhibition featuring new works by Ray Caesar. The Toronto-based artist returns for his third solo show at the gallery, having created a new series of large-scale original pieces and limited edition multiples installed in ornately designed frames.

In The Garden of Moonlight is a collection of beautifully bizarre images, in which Caesar expands upon his signature style. A hauntingly captivating cast of doll-like figures are depicted with physical abnormalities, dressed in costumes from both the past and future, fashioned from deep within the artist’s own whimsical imagination. They appear in elaborate Rococo style interiors, peering at the observer with the innocence of a child, yet also possessing an underlying awareness of dark truths—their inner strength and courage seemingly in contrast with the fragility of their physical appearance. These characters are messengers, or spirit guides from another realm. Caesar offers them a window into ours, where he has created a safe place beyond the cruelty of humanity. They arrive carrying clues with them, layered in mystery and meaning, trusted only to eyes sensitive enough to witness.

Ray Caesar has said that he is often able to access his creative subconscious through time spent in a waking dream state, bringing back memories and bits of detail, which appear frequently in his artwork. An expert in his digital medium of choice, the artist uses Maya, a 3D modeling program, to create his figures and the virtual environments in which they exist. His meticulous process incorporates elements of drawing, painting, collage, sculpting, and more, to achieve his completely intricate digital world. He has compared working in this software to the experience of lucid dreaming, as in both situations, one has the ability to control and manipulate a simulated reality.

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