JOE BUSSELL, SARAH GROSS, DESIREE WARREN, JANE BOOTH, & FRED TREASE
AUGUST 25 - OCTOBER 27, 2018
MALLIN AND CHARNO GALLERIES – THOUGHT & FORM – ABSTRACTION. OPEN SPACES AT THE ARTISTS COALITION
“Abstraction is staggeringly radical, circumvents language, and sidesteps naming or mere description,” Jerry Saltz writes in his wonderful manifesto on abstraction. “It disenchants, re-enchants, detoxifies, destabilizes, resists closure, slows perception, and increases our grasp of the world.”
Artists Joe Bussell, Sarah Gross, Desiree Warren, Jane Booth, and Fred Trease look past the obvious seeking engagement in the treasures of mark-making, color and form.
JANE BOOTH creates monumentally scaled, color saturated dynamic paintings on raw canvas. She taps into a “felt sense of color and mark” and works in an unfettered manner, with no narrative, creating unbound visual slices of experience.
JOE BUSSELL describes painting as a balancing act. Color is a cohesive thread in his works that often utilize biological-like shapes that float in the white space of the canvas.
SARAH GROSS pushes clay to its limits in “Consumption.” This tile-based floor installation consists of over 500 red-glazed ceramic pieces, each covered with casts of my fingers, designed to resemble a red carpet from a distance. Physical barriers and paths will confront the viewer, creating spatial and visual disorientation. The viewer must question how they fit into the structure, making the act of looking more self-aware.
FRED TREASE uses photography to captures a moment and preserve for later contemplation. His images are extracted from daily life and after spending time in his head they eventually become photographs.
DESIREE WARREN paints and applies vinyl to street sign aluminum blanks. The works are designs of orzo shapes that flow across the metal. Warren received a BFA from the University of Kansas in 2005. She lives in Kansas City, Missouri, where she is the sole proprietor of Eighty Acres Art
OPEN SPACES AT THE ARTISTS COALITION
UNDERGROUND GALLERY – THOUGHT & FORM – REPRESENTATION
“There is a deep need for art that is authentic, engaged with the world and more about skill and knowledge than ego. Representation, which has been so restricted for the past decade, has vast untapped potential, and can be “progressive” in countless unexpected ways.” John Seed from his review of The Figure: Painting Drawing and Sculpture, Contemporary Perspective.
Artists Chuong Doan, Kwanza Humphrey, Angie Jennings, Melanie Johnson, and Ada Koch create narratives using images to give an insight into the world they see.
CHUONG DOAN In his portraits and street photography Chuong reveals spirited personalities in their home environment, whether rural or urban, to capture what Chuong believes is the “truth of the moment, if not the essence of the subject.”
KWANZA HUMPHREY “I’m always observing, being present in the moment and really capturing what’s there. That is what art is about for me, being able to see not only what is in front of me, but looking beyond that initial layer and capturing the emotion that is below the surface.”
ANGIE JENNINGS “I love the sociological study of the human condition by capturing the spontaneity and serendipitous moments of interaction. The Modern Relationship series is a study of the interactions within a couple, family, or friends in a public setting. The P-Street series, images made with a Polaroid camera, is an ode to the city I live in and the people who help it breathe.”
MELANIE JOHNSON examines the links between physicality and emotional identity and the role of memory in connection of the two. The result is a translation that is a tenuous yet specific recording of a relationship to one’s physicality.
ADA KOCH uses familiar icons to underscore that current economic and political issues can create significantly different perceptions of their meaning. Each painting is layered with significant articles, tickets, and maps so that more messages are revealed upon close inspection.