"Shadows Through a Prism" Exhibition
109 gallery
This event has ended.
109 Gallery presents Shadows Through a Prism, a sixperson show curated by Heidi Hahn. The show focuses on a system of narratives dealing with an idea of transfiguration. Each artist investigates shifts of perception through materiality and concept. Paper, glass, video, plastic and paint all become signifiers of a code, pointing to the furtive complexity of time and memory. Existing in a very narrow spectrum of color, Shadows Through a Prism is an exploration of the gray zones in which we perceive ideas of tangible transformations.
In his painting "Above," James Miller has built a thick, waxen texture around the perimeter in which shadowy figures emerge, creating for the viewer an excavated experience that is both tactile and nostalgic. We are transported to a foreign place, a multi-planar dream in which larger figures take shape in the various layers. It is a journey that feels familiar, yet it remains ambiguous as to whether this was a pleasant memory, or some lingering, unshakable anxiety. In Claudia Cortinez' piece "within a hairsbreadth," one feels a different game of perspective taking place. The mirror reflects light, and, in turn, our own image. Two picture planes exist within the frame, slightly offset, so that one sees various portions of themselves and their surroundings reflected back at different angles in a sort of visual delay. The notion of obscured time is further amplified as one of the two mirrored fields is a clock-face, left blank, confronting us with a forgotten eternity.
Nicholas Steindorf has created a video installation that plays with the idea of a self-collapsing, recurring system. In the video, we see an egg being cooked, or perhaps cooking itself. As the video loops, and the colors and image become distorted, we expect the egg to disintegrate and implode, instead it regenerates in a sort of digital breakdown of timelessness.
Olof Inger's pieces generate a tension between common materials and a hierarchy of ideals. These mysterious works sidestep conventions of practice and societal norms. Do we see the inflated bags in the corner as slowly expiring towards their end, or are they, in fact, more animate than a bag should be, brought to life for some other destiny than their suggested use? Krysten Koehn's work recontextualizes actions of travel and motion, creating prints that become roadmaps for her own journey. The environment transforms itself towards the action, while the image – and its negative – serves as an index of this action. In Lauren Seiden's "Other Spaces" series, graphite drawings test the conventions of their medium by transforming paper into a metallic form. Through layers upon layers of graphite, applied at different pressures and speeds, subtle variations occur in texture, surface, and darkness, creating an intimate and ambiguous plane in which elements of control and chance fight for balance.
[Image: James Miller "Above" (2012)]
Media
Schedule
from November 30, 2012 to December 14, 2012
Opening Reception on 2012-11-30 from 19:00 to 22:00