INFINITE CONTENT
Brainworks Gallery is proud to present
INFINITE CONTENT
INFINITE CONTENT
Exhibiting Artists:
Debby and Larry Kline, Alexsandra Papoban,
Leslie Goldenberg, Alina Hayes, Derrick Isono,
Sharif Farrag, and Kellan King
Debby and Larry Kline, Alexsandra Papoban,
Leslie Goldenberg, Alina Hayes, Derrick Isono,
Sharif Farrag, and Kellan King
Join us for the opening
December 2, 2017 from 5:00-8:00 PM
December 2, 2017 from 5:00-8:00 PM
Brainworks Gallery
5364 W Pico Bl.
Los Angeles Ca. 90019
Exhibition runs from Nov.4th thru Nov. 25th 2017
Artists talk and walk thru Saturday November 25th from 4 to 5 pm.
Artists talk and walk thru Saturday November 25th from 4 to 5 pm.
ABOUT:
Curated by ceramics artist and professor Farnaz Sabet along with gallerist Erin Adams, Infinite Content focuses on 3-dimensional, small scale works with an emphasis on ceramics as a medium. There are seven exhibiting artists: Debby and Larry Kline, Alexsandra Papoban, Leslie Goldenberg, Alina Hayes, Derrick Isono, Sharif Farrag, and Kellan King.
As co-curator, Adams stresses “We were looking for the highest quality work, both precisely and professionally constructed, with an expansive political focus. Since we are living in such highly-charged times, it was natural to find art with content along those lines.” Sabet adds “Everything is shifting, everything is transitioning. Every work of art we look at, we automatically think of politics.”
Sabet relates that he has worked with each of the artists represented in the show
previously. “With each work they’ve done, I appreciate their work more and more.
I followed their success in each step of their lives, and to me, I thought putting their work together would have a great impact on their audience.”
Having worked in ceramics for close to ten years, Sabet fell in love with the characteristics of the medium, and he says, its similarity to the human body. “It has the malleability and durability of clay. You can create anything you like with it.”
Both political and transformational, the subject matter of the show is open to an expression of the infinite nature of conflict, existence, and self-exploration, which each artist presents in a unique way.
Working in glazed ceramics, often incorporating China paint and luster, Alexsandra Papoban describes her work as revealing the “discomfort of viewing the world through the obstacles of darkness.” The artist has one eye afflicted with issues that compromise her vision, and she uses her own experience with vision to merge blurred and stretched features to shape a unique interior view of the world.
Alina Hayes creates sculptural forms grounded in traditional studio pottery technique using porcelain, lusters, decals, and glaze. Contrasting texture, color, and form, Hayes creates voluptuous, sinuous work in her “Carry Me” series, while in
other works the glaze she uses is almost opalescent, shimmering and glowing, creating the look of liquid frozen in a single breath.
Derrick Isono has worked in clay since he was a middle schooler. Using every-day objects and images as his inspiration, he creates beautifully defined works that include figurative images.
Kellan King works in a variety of materials, including wood, metal, and plastic, shifting the context of objects through his perception of place. Surfaces shift from the expected allowing a change in scale and reality. In his “Conglomerate 1,” King is working in steel, African olive wood, gold luster, porcelain; his “Ossuary for Narcissa Drive” includes gold luster, eucalyptus wood, and Lucite. Mysterious and disconcerting, these works dazzle with the visual shift they create.
Ceramic artist Leslie Goldenberg combines textures and details using the Raku firing process – she shapes meticulous works with what she terms “a spontaneous surface.” Her lush and haunting masks subtly evoke what it means to be human. “Masks represent the idea of a new identity or a hidden one,” Goldenberg notes.
Sharif Farrag constructs richly layered ceramic works that in some ways resemble gingerbread, a beautiful tangle of colors and forms that are both delicately sophisticated and whimsical.
Debby and Larry Kline work together, creating works that pose questions, shift context, and challenge preconceptions. “Humor softens the blow,” they report. With media that shifts depending upon the project they undertake, the pair have used everything from salt to Israeli mud, ceramics, foam, and cement to shape their works. “It is the process of experimentation that leads to truly amazing things in the studio,” they attest. Dealing with subjects both political, social, and humane, their witty, pointed, and above all, graceful, work is a conversation with the viewer.
The artwork in this exhibition is infused with a sense of elegy and quiet passion: in short, a kind of infinite content – as the title of the exhibition portends.