ANIMALIA

March 18 – April 14, 2016

Curatorial statement:

The current exhibition in the Mikhail Zakin Gallery explores the role of subject matter in contemporary art. In 2014, the exhibition Lay of the Land explored landscape as subject. In Animalia, the Mikhail Zakin Gallery exhibits work by five contemporary artists that explore animals as a subject while expressing more elusive elements of our own human nature. Works on view in this exhibition evoke literal and metaphorical meaning by elucidating animal nature and bringing us closer to our own.

“Animalia” is a made-up word to describe the human impulse to represent animals in art. In the
graphic poster by The Beehive Design Collective, centuries of history are distilled into a single image that depicts indigenous species of animals and insects to portray the struggle for land rights in Mesoamerica. In mixed media paintings by Jane Dell, animals appear as if in a vision to tell a chaotic, expressive story. The dreamlike quality is evoked through watery application of pigment to Mylar.

Steel horse sculptures by Adrian Landon, including the life-size horse sculpture in welded steel on the front lawn of the Art School, recognize horses for their contribution to human culture and civilization. At the same time, their strength is far beyond human, and we are met with wonder at how humans ever managed to harness the power of these powerful creatures. In realistic oil paintings by Sarah Smith, animals are depicted in a space that is their own. In her animal portraits there is no space for a human to interact with animals depicted head on. Encaustic paintings by Kristen T. Woodward describe instances where animals illuminate myths and stories that have become part of our consciousness. The rich pigments suspended in wax create a depth to the picture plane like a portal to a world where animals reign.

Works in this show present a variety of encounters with animals. They are at times distant or close, fierce or calm, at peace or threatened. What each representation of an animal has in common in this show is that each is in a context where they are uncontrived and uncontrolled. Can we encounter successful works of animal imagery such as these without experiencing that strange alienation that divides us from the “human” and brings us closer to something more profound? The works in this show carefully construct an animal plane of existence that is unspeakably alive.

-         Mary Gagler, Curator

Floating Islands on view in the Mikhail Zakin Gallery

Ken Cro-Ken, Brief Moment in Time in foreground, Ken Cro-Ken, There in background

Floating Islands is an exhibition of works by four contemporary artists making art with an environmental edge. A variety of materials and processes come together in this group show, immersing the Mikhail Zakin Gallery in sculptures, installations, paintings and a live painting experiment with nature.

We are proud to feature the works of Riccardo Berlingeri (Middletown, NJ), Ken Cro-Ken (New York, NY), David Purcell (Baltimore, MD) and Etty Yaniv (New York, NY) in this exhibit.

Riccardo Berlingeri, Deep Down

The exhibit takes its name from the floating islands of trash that have collected in the Pacific Ocean. These islands, inadvertently formed, have held up a mirror to our culture of use. This process of realization catalyzed by a physical form led me to think of the symbolic power of art in contemplating our experience of the world.

One of the most striking aspects of the exhibit is the way art can seem exclusively expressive of the self yet evoke a vast system of interrelation. Each piece in this show is seated squarely in the artists’ respective styles, established through ongoing practice and investigation of materials. And yet, each piece has the quality of being rooted in our society and performing an act of reflection, forming a conceptual bond with nature that can be collectively shared.

The works on view recap the awe of the natural, where seemingly disparate organisms interweave to create a tapestry of living beings and ecosystems. Together the artists have formed a humbling space, starting from scratch with layers of corrugated cardboard or colored pieces of newspaper that provide entry to a new slant on the physical world.

David Purcell, Memory of a Hike Through Echo Canyon

The exhibition is equal parts an ode to Mother Nature, an apology and a pledge. This is what we have done, this is what we love about living here, and this is what we hope for: a planet that we not only avoid offending, but one that we seek to love in all the ways in our power. Through understanding every crevice, walking through the logic that creates these forms, acknowledging the beauty of juxtaposition and the details hidden in plain sight, allowing ourselves to be humbled by the simultaneous representation of a river delta and the veins of a maple leaf, or getting our hands dirty and building monuments to our great mistakes.

Most importantly, and in the context of the Art School at Old Church, the exhibition is a manifestation of the power of the artistic process to transform inanimate materials into complex comments, critiques, and calls to arms regarding human society. We can all benefit from considering our actions as paths from creative ideas to material expression. The show is on view at the Art School, a gathering place for creative development, where it is hoped that all our lives will leave a mark and that mark will be deliberate and artful.

Join us for a reception with the artists Thursday, January 29, 2015 from 5:30 - 7:30 PM.

Etty Yaniv, Parallel Topographies in foreground; Ken Cro-Ken, There, in background