Post by thinkspace on Apr 12, 2010 21:28:49 GMT -8
Get ready! This is going to be one hell of a show!!!
"Schlaraffenland"
new work by Allison Sommers
+
"III"
new work by Joao Ruas
Opening Reception: Fri, May 7th 7-11PM
May 7th -June 4th, 2010
Both artists will be in attendance.
Allison's sneak peek set:
www.flickr.com/photos/thinkspace/sets/72157623393138819/
Joao's sneak peek set:
www.flickr.com/photos/thinkspace/sets/72157623517671516/
Expect a new print from each as well opening night.
Allison Sommers bio:
Abandoning deference for playful irreverence, Allison Sommers draws on her interests in renaissance and baroque art, toying with staid motifs and trading solemnity for nose-thumbing whimsy. She delights in deconstructing the seriousness of historical tropes of art, and tempers sweetness with subtle touches of dark foreboding and sexual deviance.
Allison Sommers studied early modern history at the University of Virginia, where she was able to legitimize a lifelong love of the historical narratives and themes of the Old World, much of which continue to inform her work. She currently works as an art director for a newsweekly in Charlottesville, Virginia, where she lives with her partner Gerrit and their hedgehog, Ludwig. She has previously exhibited work at Thinkspace (Los Angeles), Ad Hoc (NYC), Gallery1988 (Los Angeles and San Francisco), Distinction Gallery (Escondido), DvA Gallery (Chicago), and at the Gen Art Vanguard New Contemporary Art Fair at Art Basel Miami.
Allison's Statement for 'Schlaraffenland':
In these works, I want to engage with the metaphor of Schlaraffenland, the world of plenty, to explore the facets of gross abundance and to complicate what it means to take pleasure in the flesh. In Schlaraffenland, everything and everyone is part of a grotesque banquet of plenty, and consumption of others is not a transgressive act but rather a necessary engagement of the world around them.
There is an eroticism-- consumption is, after all, the taking-in of the external-- that charges Schlaraffenland with excitement and danger; while some creatures give themselves freely for consumption, others are trapped, tricked, or cajoled into giving bits of themselves up to the feast. I'm fascinated by the uncertainty this creates in the relationships between my creatures, who are at once both so cheerful and dangerous. It's the tension created by this ambiguity that invigorates the world of these creatures: seductive, dangerous, peculiar Schlaraffenland.
Allison's main site:
allisonsommers.typepad.com/
Joao Ruas bio:
Born in Brazil, 28-year old artist João Paulo Alvares Ruas was still a young child when his interest for visual art started to grow. Comic books were his first bridge to lines and colors, during high school much of his time was devoted to creative thinking due to the almost alternative education institution he studied under. Later, he took Design as his choice in University.
After a three year stint in London, João went back to his home town, São Paulo, where he works and lives.
Joao's Statement for 'III':
What divides the sacred from the mundane? Is that an universal or a personal matter? Can a moment, a place, a person in your life ever be sacred? These questions were the starting point of obsessive and transforming thoughts and drawings which resulted in this series of works. Iconography obviously plays a big part in the aesthetic being explored but so does everyday life, everyday dreams and everyday fears.
Sacred can give you hope and happiness. Sacred can bring you disillusionment and tears.
Joao's website
feral-kid.com/
Taking place at our NEW location:
Thinkspace
6009 Washington Blvd.
Culver City, CA 90232
Wed-Sat 1-6PM
#310.558.3375
www.thinkspacegallery.com