Achromatic
Gallery I  Porkchop

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Porkchop (aka Michael LaVallee) is a multi-disciplinary artist from New Jersey. He has an MFA in Sculpture from VCU and a BA from University of the Arts in Philadelphia. Porkchop has established a great presence through his magnificently scaled murals, including the extensively documented scenes he composed along the Asbury Park boardwalk in conversation with the sea. Narrative is a prevalent theme in his work. Porkchop’s mixed-media paintings and sculptures combine vintage images with darker scenarios and twisted iconography. He creates these situations by combining paint, illustration and text. He has exhibited throughout the United States and Europe and is published in “The Greatest Erotic Art of Today” Volume 2, “Eye Candy” and “I Want your Skull”. 

Influenced by ancient block printing techniques, history and literature, the artist Porkchop sources out, manipulates, and casts familiar objects. He then painstakingly recreates their surfaces giving them a new existence into a dark and curious storyline. The application of paint into his intentional ritualistic designs followed by flawless coats of glossy resin is an act of pure precision and care, like the work of a surgeon or mortician. There are often unexpected but pleasant marriages of imagery and object. By stripping these pieces of his usual vibrant palette, Porkchop’s choice of black & white emphasizes the narrative in the works, which becomes difficult to ignore.

In Achromatic, the artist will be presenting new works from his ongoing body or work called “Elucidation” which is a mixed media installation that depicts a figurative realization and narrative of an imagined post apocalyptic religion called “Leviism”: giving the viewer a past, present and future view. Its deities, icons and prayer stations are relics from a distant past and a multi dimensional realm, which has its origins in ancient times. Those who channel themselves through outer body planes to connect to a polytheistic divinity, follow this esoteric religion. Only after a catastrophic event does it make it realized in this dimension. With new awareness and perception of energy fields, this new religious sect awakens and is able to make contact with the non-physical world

Dylan Egon

 In mixed-media assemblages, collages, and screen-printed works on panel, Dylan Egon addresses themes that include American values, pop culture, and issues of production and consumption, as well as referencing the history of fashion and design. Egon’s background in anthropology and archeology is evidenced in the artist’s fetishistic approach to objects and his reverence for craftsmanship. His assemblage, Modern American Tomb, is comprised of classic Coca-Cola and Jack Daniels bottles, Marlboro cigarettes, a Rolex watch, and a copy of the Bible, among other objects—all of which surround a full-scale brass skeleton. Egon also works with a vocabulary of modern graphic symbols of his own design, applying them to furniture items.

Elizabeth Waggett

 Focusing on the subject of animal, human skulls and personal artifacts, Elizabeth Waggett exposes the responsibility of the individual in owning the effects of their decisions. Adoring each piece with gold leaf and precious metal, the Gold Standard, which has been used for centuries, is a perfect representation of humanity’s obsession with vain and valueless beauty. The dichotomy of the monochromatic pallet against the gold is a visual representation of the struggle of the inner self to balance greed and purpose. This pallet simplifies the form allowing a deeper exploration of the subject matter, causing the viewer to focus first on a photographic representation of the subject, before a closer inspection reveals the true technique. This fine art technique takes hours of intense concentration before a final gilding of 24 karat gold leaf is applied. True to this fine art tradition, she only uses the highest quality materials, responsibly sourced, such as certified Saunders Waterford archival cotton paper and ethically sourced 24 karat gold.

Elizabeth is a British Artist and Designer currently residing and maintaining full time studio practice in New York City. Her work has been exhibited widely in the UK, USA and the UAE, where she began her career with her sell out solo show in the capital, Abu Dhabi. Most recently she has completed a commission for HRH The Prince of Wales and had a solo show at Soho House. Her works are held in private collections in North America, Bahrain, Europe, South Africa and the United Arab Emirates. Various publications such as Cheshire Life Magazine, Art Zealous, The Art Gorgeous, Juxtapoze, Anti Heroin Chic, AIMO and Fashion Week have all covered Elizabeth’s work. She holds an honours degree in Fashion and a postgraduate in Design from the University of Manchester.

Kit King is a Bahamian Canadian contemporary hyperrealistic painter whose recent intimate representationalism works are an examination of sexuality, ego, and worth within the social constructs. The subjects in King’s work serve to shift the status quo and question societies obsessions, while deconstructing the preconceptions of the many roles within the social stratum.

Often working in large scale, King paints intimate cropped oil portraits and figures, that force the viewer to invade the space of the subject and become part of the narrative. The achromatic palette and lack of environment within King’s works contribute to the bleak atmosphere and honest dialogue of each piece.

“I’m interested in undressing the cultural layers that determine ones worth, and examine these themes within the social constructs that are responsible for our fixed disposition. Stripping it down to something more raw and earnest. I want to create works that make the viewer question social norms, and the methods that determine how value is established in society through themes of objectification, dehumanization, and obligation.  Where does figure become object? Where do the intersections and expectations of beauty and vanity lay? What are the societal standards for femininity, masculinity, and sexuality in Western culture? And what does this all mean in terms of image traversing towards identity? How does our individual role play into society as a whole? How much of our identity is from the ‘true self’ vs. the culturally cultivated development of the superego? These are the questions I want my work to address.” ~ K. King

Rebecca Adams is an artist based out of Providence, RI. She graduated from RISD in 2006 with a BFA in photography. Her paintings focus on black and white portraiture referencing stylized and graphic photography and film. She transitioned into painting after school, utilizing her skills in photography and lighting to influence her subject matter.

Paul Russo‘s work has the ability to span the whole range of abstract painting- from the Suprematist work of the Russian painter Malevich (White on White) to the abstract drip paintings of Pollock and the minimalist black geometrics of Ad Reinhardt – in one fell swoop. What Paul brings to his paintings is so unusual, but obvious, that one wonders why it took so long for it to happen… The result is startlingly original, and both distancing and involving at the same time.

Derek Gores‘s subjects are simply figures and objects in a space, influenced by heroes Gustav Klimt, Egon Schiele, Franz Kline, Rube Goldberg, Max Ernst, and, “those great old long-exposure photos of Abraham Lincoln, where you can feel the whole minute inside each image. I love that buzzing stillness. I do reference a classic beauty, but made of raw and geometric and un-designed parts. My real subject in the figurative women is the study of ‘Fierce’. Strength, honesty, vulnerability- admired with utmost respect. I’m not interested in heavy, conscious concepts- I make something simple and let the elements combine in the head, reacting with each history the viewer brings to the table. When it goes well, I hope to create a real experience, instead of just a picture of an experience. But that sounds a little too huge… really I’m always hoping for that feeling of having the senses of a kid, where everything is new.”