“Bricolage” Exhibition

Causey Contemporary

This event has ended.

Causey Contemporary presents Bricolage.
Bricolage is an underused word relating to the compositing of diverse materials, ideas or structures. It is used mainly with regards to art or literature.

Each of the artists in this curation created works which fall into this description. Further, each of the artists utilizes Bricolage to help them enunciate responses to the myriad identification issues present within our current society whether as a result of branding, politics, gender differences or societal norms. Each artist believes it necessary to “copy and paste” borrowing via the use of photography, newspaper transfers or direct image copying to illustrate the confusion of identity within which we now live.

Ben Bertocci appropriates images of animals and appliances within his paintings to portray self-identity.

Kevin Bourgeois draws almost photorealistic logos in graphite and pairs them with matches, bullet casing or found objects to show how we identify with branding even when those brands harm ourselves and our environment.

Nick Cash incorporates digital photographs and magazines to discuss our perception of the environments we live in or with.

Michel Demanche uses a collage of photographs, drawings and photo transfers from children’s books to discuss gender perception and how mentally handicapped are viewed in society.

Steven Dobbin, casts exact copies of found objects or toys, then photographs them and displays the duo to raise discussions on gender roles directed at children.

Erik Foss uses photo transfers from old Maxims or Playboy magazines to speak about female identities.

Greg Haberny recycles pieces of old paintings, and melted crayons to convey ideas on our polictial and socio-political beliefs

Gerry Mocarsky composes staged photographs which copy famous portraits or paintings but with transgender men in place of the central figure.

John David O’Brien like Nick Cash, focuses on our identification of space, of home, of environment using paint, and photographic transfers, straight photography and collage.

Benjamin Bertocci was raised in Stockbridge Massachusetts. The layered collages and oil paintings featured in his most recent solo exhibition at Fuse Gallery most notably garnered praise from the Village Voice, and Vice Magazine. Mr. Bertocci lives in Queens with his wife Mariko and their new son Luke. He works as Assistant Manager and is a top painter at Jeff Koons studios.

Kevin Bourgeois has been working as a self taught contemporary artist for over fifteen years using all available means to educate and expand his vocabulary in Modern Art. Starting in the late eighties with encouragement from his art teachers in high school, Kevin began personal research and exposing himself to many forms of contemporary art. In 1991, Kevin held his first solo and group exhibitions in a gallery. Since living in New York Kevin has exhibited in locally and internationally. He has exhibited in group exhibitions with Causey Contemporary, Fuse Gallery and Exit Art in New York, with Parlor Gallery and the Shore Institute of Contemporary Art in New Jersey and with the Peacock Room, The Cornell Center Gallery and Wilfong Remeres Gallery in Florida. His work has also been exhibited at Collectors Contemporary in Singapore, the Virginia Beach Museum of Art and the Orlando Museum of Art. Additionally, Kevin’s work has been published in Swindle Magazine, Wallspankers Magazine, Vapors Magazine, Asian Art News, Village Voice, Lucid Culture and others. Artist registries include The Drawing Center and Artist’s Space. In the past few years he has been included in the touring exhibition DRAW at the Museo de la Chided de Mexico curated by Erik Foss and Curse Mackey, in Songs at Fuse Gallery, NYC, in the 3D ART BOOK released by Prestel Publishing, in a solo exhibition, SYS™ at Causey Contemporary and as part of a group exhibition at Collector’s Contemporary in Singapore alongside art by Man Ray, Andy Warhol, Donald Baechler, Richard Serra and Thomas Ruff. His work can be found in prominent private and public collections in California, Florida, New Jersey, New York, London and Singapore.

Nick Cash is probably best known to the world for his drumming with The Members, Fad Gadget and the Unmen. However since completing his foundation course at St. Martins College of Art, he has also continually made art. His art films such as Craft Vs. Craft, Drumming About Architecture, Ay Song, and Scary Chair are simultaneously performance art and image documentation, in the style of and perhaps in homage to Wolf Vostell. Nick has mixed film and live performance at such places as Galerie Arnaud Lefebvre in Paris, The Turtle Salon in Brighton and Birmingham and Hardy Tree Gallery in London. He has always been interested in art makers such as Kienholz who created political statements or made a dig at the pious worship of art. His two and three dimensional artworks are most often collage and assemblage based on the layered topography created when using shapes and images from architecture, contemporary culture, branding and identity. His work is regularly exhibited in France and England.

Native-born Texan Michel Demanche, currently a professor of art at the University of Maryland Eastern Shore, is known for a multi media manner of art visualization. Often her work is the result of stories that manifest into painting, mixed works on paper, or photography. For 25 years Michel was interested in the subject of eminent disaster, be it in the form of nightmares, storms, or man made destruction. However, Ms. Demanche’s work from 2001-11 were predominately straight photographic works focusing on what man is doing to his environment. Works from her Memento Mori and Tagged: Triage Mother Nature have appeared in Unseen, at the Arc Gallery of the MOSI Museum in Tampa, Florida, as a billboard in Grand Rapids Michigan during ArtPrize 2010 and in Tagged an exhibition on art and biodiversity at the Ward Museum in Salisbury, Md. In addition to her photography exhibitions, Ms. Demanche has continued with her multi media works showcasing them most recently in Continuum: A 35 Year Investigation of Alchemy, Enthalpy and Entropy at the Salisbury University Art gallery, at the Mosley gallery at U.M.E.S. and in her solo exhibition at Causey Contemporary in NYC. Ms. Demanche’s art has found its way into many venues such as the Whitney Museum of American Art, The Houston Museum of Art, The Levinson Collection of Sheppard Pratt Institute, the Women’s Museum, E Systems, Frito Lay, SUNY University Oswego, Chase Bank and Franklin Furnace. Additionally, her photography won her the grand prize at the Florence Biennale in 2003 and a first place award in the national Holgapalooza competition.

Steven Michael Dobbin was born in Washington D.C. He received his BS in Urban Affairs from the University of Maryland, his Masters in Education from George Washington University in Severely Emotionally Disturbed Adolescents and his MFA from the University of Southern California. He has been represented by the Meyers/Bloom Gallery in Santa Monica, California and is presently represented by Causey Contemporary Art in New York, New York. Steven teaches Special Education at Frederick High School in Frederick, Maryland. He was Co-Director of Artomatic@Frederick in 2011,2013 and 2016 which displayed the work of over 400 visual artists as well as providing a venue for performance, film and music. Steven was awarded the Maryland State Arts Council award for excellence in sculpture and has shown his work internationally and national for over 30 years.

Erik Foss is an american artist who began making art at 12 years old when a bartender who was an illustrator set him exercises in drawing. He grew up in the skateboarding and underground music scene and is influenced by his childhood, music, literature, politics, pop culture, everyday street experiences in New York City where he lives and works. Many of his creations are collage based or mixed medias with oil on canvas. One such oil painting is in the permanent collection of the Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art. From 2002 until 2015 Erik owned Fuse Gallery in the Lower East Side where his first exhibition was a solo show by H.R. Giger. His own artistic inspirations are many. They include Cy Twombly, Kiki Smith, Richard Serra, Aghat Snow, Ryan McGinley, Kara Walker, Mark Gonzales, Bast, Terence Koh, Yayoi Kusama, R. Crumb, Nan Golden and Maurizio Catalan among others..

Greg Haberny is an American filmmaker and artist based in New York. Known for his wild, radical and controversial style, Haberny’s work is highly political and created using unconventional means. Utilizing the medium of installation, Greg Haberny integrates his multi-faceted artistic vision with his knowledge of filmmaking and creates what might be considered film sets and like a storyboard, the strategic decisions and quiet psychologies steer the viewer to take notice of his intentions individually and, as a whole. Greg shows his work throughout the United States and internationally. He is affiliated with Catinca Tabacaru gallery, Pictures On Walls (POW) U.K., and Woolf Gallery in London. He currently sells in the auction house Phillips de Pury and sold at Christie’s last fall. His work is part of many prestigious private and public collections. Haberny’s works were exhibited in the Düsseldorf Quadrennial and included in exhibitions at the Katonah Art Museum (New York), Phillips De Pury auctions and numerous shows in cities including New York, Miami, San Francisco, Chicago, Toronto, Berlin, London and Tokyo. His work has been reviewed by Artforum, artnet, Nylon, Juxtapoz, the Miami New Times and additional publications.

Gerald Mocarsky is a fine art photographer living and working in New York City. His work has been exhibited in the USA and abroad, has been placed in several major collections and has been honored competitively. Gerald’s subjects range from traditional photo documentary to highly-stylized portraiture. The common thread throughout his work is the deep desire to understand the human condition. Gerald is a hands-on photographer and enjoys traditional hand-printing, creating sets and even making costumes and props. Although he realizes there are expert craftsmen in all of these areas, he values the authenticity of the whole artistic journey.

John O’Brien was born in Sagamihara, Japan; he currently lives and works in Los Angeles, California and Umbria, Italy . His work has appeared in group and solo exhibitions throughout the USA and Italy at such locales as the Pasadena Museum of Contemporary Art, The Santa Monica Museum of Art, Laguna Museum of Art, theFresno Art Museum, the Cheney Cowles Museum in Spokane, WA, The San Diego Art Institute, LMU, Los Angeles,Arkansas State University, The Print Club, Philadelphia PA Les Atelier Nadar , Marseille France, Museo Archeologico di amelia, Italy, Museo d’Arte Moderna e dell’Informzione, Senigallia, Italy;Museo Del Municipio, Val Topino, Italy, the Palazzo DuCale , Gubbio, Italy, Chateau Chropyne Kromeriz, Czech Republic, Academia Raffaello, Urbino, Italy; and the Istituto Nazionale per la Grafica, Rome, Italy. Additionally, he has curated some 40 exhibitions in California, Italy and the Netherlands. John has created public works for the Warner Center, The Westwood Branch Library, The Sepulveda Park West, The Mr Vista Branch Library, The MTA at Balboa Station in Los Angeles, Habitat 825 Residence in West Hollywood, The Judge John Aiso Plaza in Lost Angeles, and The Caltech Analemmatic Sun Dial. As well as being a working artist, John finds time to work as a critic and writer for Artillery Magazine, Sculpture Magazine, Tema Celeste, ArtScene, World Art, and Art in America among other publications.