ARTIST STATEMENT:
The practice of making things has held me to this world and kept me from falling into an interior mystic quest for meaning. My current series of artwork is titled “Myth, Math & Magic.” It is comprised of two and three dimensional assemblages of reclaimed lumber and vintage metal signage. The advertising tropes of the vintage signs are deconstructed and reassembled into geometric patterns that break the magic spell cast by the advertising. The artifacts are recast to transmute feelings of nostalgia for an unsustainable past while drawing forward ancient wisdom to support an abundant future. These works are magical wayfinding totems to guide our collective cultural trajectory. This artwork uses the shared familiarity of cultural artifacts and makes them strange by transforming them into totems and objects that evoke mystic traditions. The mythos currently transmitted by our culture values consumption and competition over efficiency and cooperation. This unsustainable worldview fuels my desire to transform our culture and manifests itself in my artwork through the transformation of cultural artifacts. Art is the fertile soil from which our culture grows and I want to invest my time and energy into making art that begins to move us back to “the garden.”
SELECTED PRESS:
7 Artists Reinventing the Ancient Art of Mosaics
by Ariela Gittlen
Artsy Magazine 2018
Deconstructed Myth, Reconstructed Magic
by Shana Nys Dambrot
Huffington Post 2017
Artist breaks Advertising’s spell with Sacred Geometry
by Dustin Clendenen
Elephant Journal 2017
Words and Deeds
by Shana Dambrot
Huffington Post 2016
SOLO ART EXHIBITIONS:
Morphology • November 10th, 2017
solo exhibition
M. G. Nelson Gallery
Springfield Illinois Art Association
Phoneme • October 7th, 2017
solo exhibition
Open Mind Art Space
Los Aneles, CA
curator: Patti Astor
Word • August 6th, 2016
solo exhibition
Open Mind Art Space
Los Angeles, CA
curator: Patti Astor
American Remix • July 8th, 2016
solo exhibition
Merchant House Gallery
Springfield, IL
Babel • March 4th, 2016
solo exhibition
Hoffman Lachance Gallery, St. Louis
Myth, Math and Magic • October 5th, 2013
solo exhibition
Hoffman Lachance Gallery, St. Louis
Myth, Math & Magic on the 90th Meridian
November 11th, 2013
solo exhibition
Center for Spirituality & Sustainability
GROUP ART EXHIBITIONS:
FUN Gallery Flash • June 28th, 2017
Curated by Patti Astor
including work by Jean Michel Basquiat, Kieth Haring, Kenny Scarf, DONI Futura 2000, Fred Brathwaite, Jane Dickson, Lee Quinones…
Urban Art Fair, NYC
Portals & Dimensions • June 8th, 2017
group exhibition with Apex Collective, Francesco LoCastro…
Duane Reed Gallery, St Louis
Entheosis • Dec. 2nd, 2015
group exhibition with Alex Grey, Android Jones, Chris Dyer…
Moksha Art Collective
Art Basel Miami
SUPADUTYTUFFWORK • December 5th, 2013
group exhibition with HOXXOH, Tatiana Suarez, 2 Alas…
LMNT Arts, Miami
Art Basel Miami
Aqua Art Miami • December 4th, 2013
group exhibition with Alicia LaChance, KEO, Jeremy Rabus…
Hoffman LaChance Gallery
Art Basel Miami
The practice of making things has held me to this world and kept me from falling into an interior mystic quest for meaning. My current series of artwork is titled “Myth, Math & Magic.” It is comprised of two and three dimensional assemblages of reclaimed lumber and vintage metal signage. The advertising tropes of the vintage signs are deconstructed and reassembled into geometric patterns that break the magic spell cast by the advertising. The artifacts are recast to transmute feelings of nostalgia for an unsustainable past while drawing forward ancient wisdom to support an abundant future. These works are magical wayfinding totems to guide our collective cultural trajectory. This artwork uses the shared familiarity of cultural artifacts and makes them strange by transforming them into totems and objects that evoke mystic traditions. The mythos currently transmitted by our culture values consumption and competition over efficiency and cooperation. This unsustainable worldview fuels my desire to transform our culture and manifests itself in my artwork through the transformation of cultural artifacts. Art is the fertile soil from which our culture grows and I want to invest my time and energy into making art that begins to move us back to “the garden.”
SELECTED PRESS:
7 Artists Reinventing the Ancient Art of Mosaics
by Ariela Gittlen
Artsy Magazine 2018
Deconstructed Myth, Reconstructed Magic
by Shana Nys Dambrot
Huffington Post 2017
Artist breaks Advertising’s spell with Sacred Geometry
by Dustin Clendenen
Elephant Journal 2017
Words and Deeds
by Shana Dambrot
Huffington Post 2016
SOLO ART EXHIBITIONS:
Morphology • November 10th, 2017
solo exhibition
M. G. Nelson Gallery
Springfield Illinois Art Association
Phoneme • October 7th, 2017
solo exhibition
Open Mind Art Space
Los Aneles, CA
curator: Patti Astor
Word • August 6th, 2016
solo exhibition
Open Mind Art Space
Los Angeles, CA
curator: Patti Astor
American Remix • July 8th, 2016
solo exhibition
Merchant House Gallery
Springfield, IL
Babel • March 4th, 2016
solo exhibition
Hoffman Lachance Gallery, St. Louis
Myth, Math and Magic • October 5th, 2013
solo exhibition
Hoffman Lachance Gallery, St. Louis
Myth, Math & Magic on the 90th Meridian
November 11th, 2013
solo exhibition
Center for Spirituality & Sustainability
GROUP ART EXHIBITIONS:
FUN Gallery Flash • June 28th, 2017
Curated by Patti Astor
including work by Jean Michel Basquiat, Kieth Haring, Kenny Scarf, DONI Futura 2000, Fred Brathwaite, Jane Dickson, Lee Quinones…
Urban Art Fair, NYC
Portals & Dimensions • June 8th, 2017
group exhibition with Apex Collective, Francesco LoCastro…
Duane Reed Gallery, St Louis
Entheosis • Dec. 2nd, 2015
group exhibition with Alex Grey, Android Jones, Chris Dyer…
Moksha Art Collective
Art Basel Miami
SUPADUTYTUFFWORK • December 5th, 2013
group exhibition with HOXXOH, Tatiana Suarez, 2 Alas…
LMNT Arts, Miami
Art Basel Miami
Aqua Art Miami • December 4th, 2013
group exhibition with Alicia LaChance, KEO, Jeremy Rabus…
Hoffman LaChance Gallery
Art Basel Miami