August 9 ~ September 8  2014

Love U More Than Fireworks Artists

Jordan Eagles is a New York based artist who preserves blood to create works that evoke the connections between life, death, body, spirit, and the Universe…

Blood, procured from a slaughterhouse, is the primary medium in Eagles’ works. Through his experimental, invented process, he encases blood in plexi-glass and UV resin. This preservation technique permanently retains the organic material’s natural colors, patterns, and textures. The works become relics of that which was once living, embodying transformation, regeneration, and an allegory of death to life.

Eagles uses various mark-making methods, including layering the blood at different densities as well as heating, burning, and aging the material. Copper, a conductor of electricity, is sometimes mixed with the blood, imparting a unique, fiery energy. Blood-soaked gauze, stretched over the surface, creates another textural layer that serves as a map of memory and homage to ancient wrapping rituals. In some instances, blood that has decomposed for years forms dense masses that are ground into dust and tossed into the works, as a sign of passing and change.

When lit, the works become translucent, cast shadows, and project a glow, appearing as if they are illuminated from within. The materials and luminosity in these bodies of work relate to themes of corporeality, mortality, spirituality, and science—invigorating blood as sublime.

Sylvia Hommert
“Light and the reflection of light, how it interacts in an environment, is a constant thread that  flows through my work. I am captivated by the silvery light glistening off alpine icicles and the lavender iridescence of sunset on water. It’s elusive, full of movement, ever changing, and it’s this ephemeral quality that intrigues me. How the passing of time plays off the luminous surfaces of each painting–the highs and lows, the shadows and relief. The color subtly shifts too, as the light moves through a space from sunrise to sunset, or as you move through the room. An organic calendar that clocks both physical movement and the passage of time.

My technique has evolved as a way to capture the liquid and fluid nature of light, and I am drawn to materials that enhance and illuminate: pearly paua shell, metal leaf, holographic paper, crystalline mineral salts, beeswax, resin. By building up layers of materials from the opaque to translucent to transparent, then using a flame to burn away portions, I create depth and texture. Exposing elements that are underneath holds a hint of mystery that’s akin to uncovering buried treasure. Introducing dimension as a factor, I can express not only surface texture and depth, but different perspectives; the highs and lows offering yet another way to play with and capture light.” ~ SH

Lola Dupre’s work is made by hand with paper and scissors. Highly fractured and complex, her collage work highlights her minute attention to detail, and her fascination with the abnormal and the normal.
Dupré’s work is fast gaining exposure in the fine art, fashion, and editorial worlds. The past few years have seen her work featured in editorials and covers for Hi-Fructose magazine, New York Magazine, The New Republic, Marvin Magazine, Adbusters, Flaunt, D Mag, and the Gestalten book series.
“My work is about seeing the unseen – the invisible presence which exists in our minds and surrounds all objects, experiences, and memories. Working in my studio in rural Appalachia, I have developed a keen interest in being part of and observing natural systems, time and the process of life and death, and an aesthetic sensibility synthesizing the organic and the machine.”- LD

 Keith Lemley
I focus on the quiescent potential of materials and environments to be more and different than how they are currently perceived and understood; fulfilling an innate desire to explore, discover, share, and think.  Drawing attention to physiological systems of vision, thought, and memory, I am interested in making conspicuous our abbreviated and abstracted understanding of reality, time, and identity.  Initially capturing attention through formal means, the content of my work then enters the cognitive as one actively relates this experience with those already held in the mind as memory. At this juncture of feeling and thought meaning is produced. By delaying this process through reorganizing the fabric of the everyday into the unusual, a heightened sense of the present is felt. Ultimately, one walks away more self aware and delighted in everyday visual ephemera and the experience of being a living breathing being.

St. Monci’s current work explores the technical applications of abstraction all while employing certain aesthetics that could only be informed by his time spent in the street.  His geometric and architectural forms, which are often improvised, examine his interest in the pure creative process.  He proudly resides and works in Rochester . NY.

Timothy Pakron
“My work investigates the contrast and compliment between the disciplines of photography and painting. Historically, photography is reality- an accurate reference. Painting is interpretation, subjective and emotive. In regards to the figurative works, the image of the individual is manipulated in an effort to emphasize the flux of human relationships. In regards to the non-figurative work, the image is created by color and movement. Both of these series breaks with a traditional formality, and explores energy as translated by the artist’s hand. The interpretation transcends mere documentation: it is a personal and intimate impression of lives and moments that have influenced my own.” ~ TP

Iris Kufert-Rivo
“Much of my work explores questions of place as defined by my personal history. As a first generation American, I grew up immersed in the immigration and exile stories of my immediate and extended family. Having traveled extensively as a child with my parents throughout Europe and Israel, I absorbed the iconography of diverse countries. My childhood homes were always filled with paintings, rugs, china, and pottery from abroad. I spent many hours mesmerized by the patterns and decorations found on these objects. My aesthetic is informed by and infused with these experiences; they manifest in my work in the form of the designs and patterns found in the archeology, objects and textiles of my travels, my environment and my home.
My new body of work analyzes these questions of place and movement through the language of urban graffiti. I have been developing this oil and spray paint on panel series for the past 3 years. The work begins with a primary layer of oil or acrylic paint. I use spray paint to choreograph the many layers of hand-cut stencils, glazing the work with varnish between layers to develop a spatial dimension in the work. I use hand printmaking techniques, as well, whereby I spray the stencils until they are saturated and then they are pressed and sprayed again, in order to complicate and intensify the shapes. A final heavy layer of varnish resins the final product.
This work is itself a journey that transpires during the stenciling, spraying, and painting process. Worlds develop depending on the shapes and placement of the stencils. Layering them creates their own history, one that comes together when the piece gels. In the same way that street muralists can have a rogue and transient aspect to their process, I respond to the connection of travel and decoration to the landscape. My aim in using spray paint is to create a painterly and luscious surface out of this manufactured medium…to coax the feminine elements out of this material. “ ~ IKR