Post by thinkspace on Jun 19, 2012 9:14:00 GMT -8
Andy Kehoe
'Into The Depths'
Plus in our project room:
Kelly Allen
'Hidden Seeking'
Reception with the artists:
Sat., July 7th 5-9PM
Exhibitions Run: July 7th – July 28th
Andy Kehoe’s new body of work Into the Depths continues the artist’s very personally inflected exploration of memory and the personal imaginary. The work is thematically akin to fairytale, as Kehoe delves into an iconography that speaks of childhood fantasies and adult nightmares; of fears and of wants translated disproportionately into the adult’s psychic realm. The end result is an uneasy pairing of whimsy and ominousness. Kehoe uses the suggestion of narrative to imply a trajectory beyond the image plane. The viewer is left feeling as though they have had a glimpse into a much longer, and more significant vignette. Just as all effective suggestions of narrative leave one feeling the absence of its absolute resolution, we feel a mesmerizing pull to Kehoe’s narrative fragments, and wonder what else lies beneath the surface.
The setting of the work is primarily arboreal: the fairytale’s stomping ground par excellence, and its characters vary from faceless amorphous specters, to giant seemingly sympathetic animals. A perfect combination of anthropomorphic creatures, and fantastical substitutions for the human, the fairy tale speaks of reality in the realm of shadow. Visually, Kehoe uses the dramatic devices of light and contrast to expound upon the emotional and atmospheric tensions the work seems to convey. Stark whites, and strategic areas of luminous color, are drawn out in contrast to pitch blacks, and obscure earth tones. Fine lines exist against solid blocks of color and areas of textured surface. The work is graphically compelling and visually seductive; combining an economy of line with a simplicity of palette.
Materially, this new body of work marks a departure for Kehoe. Using a poured resin technique, in conjunction with his accustomed paint and ink application, the artist creates further accretions of depth. This use of layering suspends the imagery spatially and contributes to the work’s mystery, visual seduction, and complexity. As though we are looking into an ominously reflective surface that might just show us more of ourselves than we had thought, the added dimensional illusion of resin suspends our gaze. Andy Kehoe’s work is compelling, haunting, and magnetic. Into the Depths reminds us of the presence of shadows always lurking just beneath the surface.
About Andy Kehoe:
Andy Kehoe was born and raised in the city of steel, Pittsburgh, PA. The artist spends his days painting away in his attic in Portland, OR. He was bred on comics from an early age, finding an escape of sorts in the over stylized violence found within. Now longing for the days of his youth, the artist remembers the endless hours he spent absorbing all the storybooks and cartoons he could get his hands on, all the while doodling away on any scrap of paper available. His paintings are rich with a childlike innocence that recall a time when magic and monsters existed and all the untold mysteries of the world still seemed possible.
Shortly after graduating from high school, Kehoe explored a number of different art schools before settling in to the illustration course at Parsons School of Design in NY. After dabbling in commercial illustration for a short time, Kehoe decided it was time to focus on his personal work, and he's never looked back since.
Artist Website: www.andykehoe.net
Sneak peek at new works in 'Into The Depths':
www.flickr.com/photos/thinkspace/sets/72157629978536854/
Have a look below at Andy Kehoe's new process involving multiple layers of resin that creates a 3D-like effect in his work. Each piece takes months to complete. Local flora is also being incorporated into the works which sees his characters peeking out from behind real cattails and interacting with branches, leaves and more. This exhibit is a major step forward in many ways for Kehoe and we're honored to be hosting it.
ALSO ON VIEW IN PROJECT ROOM:
Kelly Allen 'Hidden Seeking'
Kelly Allen’s new body of work 'Hidden Seeking' continues the artist’s investigation of graphic symbolism and popular cultural imagery, in collision with the natural world. Deriving her inspiration from variegated sources, her work is both illustrative and symbolically elusive. The artist’s selective use, and omission, of imagery is in keeping with her highly refined and recognizable aesthetic. A thematic undercurrent of contemporary mysticism seems to imbue the tone and composition of her work, as it borders on the magical. Everything from tigers and birds, to deer and foxes, to botanicals and bees, co- exist with graphics and decorative patterning. Allen takes representational fragments from nature and life, and constructs elaborate and stylized compositions, as reliant on her selective use of negative space as they are on their dizzying compendium of visual information. The work is dynamic, kinetic, dense and chromatically vibrant: an unparalleled visual syncopation of graphic and natural intrigues.
As the title of this show suggests, Allen’s work is more about the intuitive process of aesthetic seeking, and the adventure of unlikely combinations of images and references, rather than the resolution of full disclosures. The work is dialogic in that meaning is derived from the collision and collusion of polarities, and resides in suggestion rather than in imperatives. By transplanting and juxtaposing seemingly unrelated images and content, her work becomes entirely fantastical and “other”. Allen has created a symbolic cosmology that exists entirely unto itself, and in its own realm, and yet uses the material of the recognizable world to weave elaborate dreamscapes. Her revelations are subtle and discrete, and embedded in complex assemblies of visual languages. Her synthesis of illustration, graphic design, and painterly realism, combined with her collage like compositions and graphic designations of space, speaks to an eclectic metabolization of visual vocabularies and influences. The end result is one of beautiful interrogation and exploration, as the fabric and patchwork of Allen’s juxtapositions compel us to embark on a journey of aesthetic mysticism with possibilities that resist the confines of the finite.
About Kelly Allen:
Kelly Allen's tightly rendered paintings can most succinctly be described as symbolic portraits of wild animals inspired by her deep love for nature, and informed by art history, design, fashion, and discarded books and magazines.
Allen lives and works in the San Francisco Bay Area. She currently holds gallery representation at Thinkspace, StolenSpace Gallery in London, and Bold Hype Gallery in New York. She is a regular participant in 111 Minna's Sketch Tuesday events in San Francisco, and exhibits her work all over the Bay Area. She recently sold a painting through Christie's Auction House, and was featured in Hi-Fructose Vol. 19 in 2011. This year, she is booked solid with solo and group exhibitions in New York, London, and California, and will be working on several projects with Flaunt Magazine, in addition to releasing limited edition prints through Poster Child Prints, Hi-Fructose, and Spoke Art. In addition to creating original paintings and commissions, she works as a freelance illustrator, having worked for New York Magazine and The Sunday Times UK Edition, among others. She holds an MFA in drawing from Kendall College of Art and Design and her B.A. in painting from Humboldt State University in Northern California.
Artist Website: kellyallen.com
Sneak peek at new works in 'Hidden Seeking' here:
www.flickr.com/photos/thinkspace/sets/72157629978546324/
