Representation of Imagination
December 3, 2021 - January 7, 2022
Opening: Friday 3rd of December 2021 4PM - 6PM
This month’s exhibition focuses on an artist’s ability to visually formulate a figurative image and fuse it with something not present to the senses or never before wholly perceived in reality. Although the human form is quintessentially representational, our featured artists elevate their imagery with layers and veils of pigment that draw from a multitude of artistic movements from Surrealism, Cubism, Abstract Expressionism, and more. It is the worlds that emerge from their creative minds that create the Representation of Imagination.
Erin Caswell engages the art historical subjects of the nude and the society portrait through the syntaxes of fashion sketch and abstraction. Many of her artworks are first created by writing about her characters, then transformed into sketches, and finally rendered into complete visual compositions.
Gerdine Duijsens’ work is a synthesis between figurative and abstract art. Her internationally collected paintings reflect the modern culture of consumerism, the desire to achieve status and overindulgence. In their unguarded moments, Duijsens displays her characters as their vulnerable and insecure selves, when in their seemingly unobserved moments they briefly escape from a world in which status, knowledge, protocols, and power keep them prisoner.
Mike Gough’s interest in the elusive quality of memory has always been an invariable interest in his art practice. Rooted in memories of his upbringing in Newfoundland, Gough’s paintings are autobiographical but carry universal narratives. In the absence of detail, there is an opportunity for one’s own memories to develop. An expansive solitude and sense of isolation are met with a universal feeling of what it means to belong. At its core, his practice explores how our relationship with the natural world connects and defines us.
Robert Lebsack says about his work, “It’s about new ways of thinking for the future generations. Hopefulness in young dreamers and a paradigm shift away from conventional reasoning in thoughts and actions. Some social norms can be good but they can also hold some people back, stunting our growth individually and as a society.”
In his figurative works, Alessandro Siviglia emphasizes the difference between a painting and reality, and the different ways of seeing, or perceiving, the world around us. He is drawn to observe the people, lifestyles, and stray animals, which he uses to reflect in his work the concept of relativity – accounting for both his observations from cities and his childhood memories of street art.
Michael Giliberti’s work exemplifies Modernism and in particular modern wall art. His original paintings are characterized by vivid colors and powerful compositions. He translates his photographs into a complex layering of acrylic paint on canvas to add depth with new color combinations and subtle textures. As a result, each artwork evolves and changes from the first stroke to the last.
