| This May, PUNCH presents a survey of work by six (mostly) regional artists, who individually approach the notion of abstraction in their own personal and inventive ways. And though our clever exhibition title might lead one to believe otherwise, this show has absolutely nothing to do with a 1980’s psychological romantic thriller about a lawyer and his scorned mistress. But rather, this exhibition has everything to do with the visual vocabulary of non-figurative representation, made by six female-identifying artists who excel in their own territories of butt-kicking bad-assery.
Catherine Cook approaches the canvas with no preconceived plan; for her, the act of painting determines the final outcome. Her keen eye knows what to include and what to leave out. For Cook, everything we see around us becomes part of us.
Maria Cristalli lives is the woods and forges hot metal. Her sculptural work marries function and form. Aside from her custom ironwork, she creates studio pieces as well as large-scale public art.
Jen Erickson uses watercolor and oil combined with graphite to create subtle paintings of nuanced, atmospheric layers of information. For Erickson, her infinitesimal pencil marks appear as flying and fleeting bug-like swarms and serve as stand-ins for her own feeble attempts to capture and hold onto it all.
Kathy Guss throws ceramic pieces informed by the slip-glazed terracotta pottery produced in Italy and southern Gaul during the Roman Empire. In most ordinary households, these embellished vessels were used daily for food and drink. For Guss, the textures of the stamped and raised surfaces are meant to contrast and complement the smooth finish of the colorful slip glazes.
Robin Mayberry artistic practice revolves around exploration, particularly through encaustic paintings. The combination of pigments and hot wax, with its tactile and fluid nature, invites viewers into a realm where the boundaries between the conscious and unconscious blur, guiding us into our own wild hearts.
Christina Miller chases that sweet spot where nature and architecture coalesce. By combining walnut ink, paint on paper, and plywood substrates, Miller develops new relationships between the linear and the organic, courting visual stories and the charged emotions behind them.
Please join us for the opening of Fatal Abstraction on Saturday, May 4, from noon until 4 pm with live music from Roslyn’s own Micah J from 2-4pm in the PUNCH bar. |
