Painted Portraits - Corridor Gallery March 30th - May 18th 2014

 

Rush Arts is pleased to present a group exhibition of contemporary portraits on view at Corridor Gallery, 334 grand Ave, Brooklyn, NY.   Taha Clayton, Kate Fauvell, Tatyana Fazlalizadeh, Jas Knight, and Sylvia Maier are contemporary portrait painters working in Brooklyn, NY. These works are  painted portraits of people around us in our everyday lives.

The genre of portrait painting has a rich and deep history. Often portraits were commissioned by rich patrons to remember historical moments or to capture a likeness of an esteemed individual. With a bourgeois history, oil painted portraits were a classic way for artists to have careers, and for the wealthy to be commemorated through a timeless medium. 

Painted Portraits at Corridor Gallery the contemporary portrait is examined and celebrated, of every day people that are commemorated for being in the lives of the artists.

Taha Clayton is a self taught artist residing in Brooklyn raised in Toronto, ON and born in Houston, TX. His highly rendered portraits are not only detailed portraits of people in his life and community, but a statement about our community as a city. He brings together social and political issues, spiritual virtues and above all the portraits are painted with a universal love that is seen through his technical abilities and poetic compositions. The portrait of the artist’s pregnant wife titled “Womb Man” exudes his love as a husband and a father, capturing her in glorified confidence. (above image on invite)

Kate Fauvell, born and raised in Queens, NY and currently living and working in Brooklyn paints from the heart as she says “about the heart of NYC, the greatest, roughest, most caring and careless city in the world.” For the past several years Fauvell has been a mentor for an intimate group of urban youth. She has re-experienced childhood with the group feeling the “fear, challenges, loss, inequalities, racism, fun, friendships, love, hate, violence, temptations, reality, jokes, and the search for self.” Her large group portraits are of the young people she mentors. Painted with an expressionist sensibility the paintings are raw portraits of being a contemporary urban youth. (above, Kate Fauvell The Last Day of Summer)
 

Tatyana Fazlalizadeh is an African-American and Iranian artist originally from Oklahoma. She has recently been acclaimed for her project Stop Telling Women To Smile which has had a national presence. Her paintings are heartfelt portraits both of herself and people in relaxed situation in her life. The painting of “James” seems mid thought in intense conversation. Fazlalizadeh’s self portraits capture her strength as a woman which is also what sparked the Stop Telling Women to Smile project. (above, Tatyana Fazlalizadeh, James)
 

Jas Knight, from Bloomfield, CT and now also living in Brooklyn, NY, received his BFA at the Philadelphia Academy of Fine Arts. Knight strives to be as honest in his paintings as possible, which lead him to detailed rendering to be as universal as possible through the visual aesthetic language. His contemporary portrait Inbox 1 could be a window into any person checking their email, the gold gilded frame elevates the message by nodding to traditional portrait painting and saying hello from 21st C Brooklyn. (above, Jas Knight, Madonna)

Sylvia Maier, a native New Yorker who lives and paints in Brooklyn, paints life size figurative works in urban settings. Inspired by cultural identities, ceremonies, tolerance, and her bi-racial heritage Maier brings universal messages to her large group portrait paintings and intimate embraces of couples. Her inspirational models include; an urban African Priest, Afro-punk musicians, hand drummers in parks, and the many friends and family members that make Brooklyn’s unique tapestry. Her ongoing project Currency was recently highlighted at the Corridor Gallery Project Space in 2013. (above, Sylvia Maier, initiation)

Corridor Gallery is located at 334 Grand Ave, Brooklyn, NY gallery hours are Friday-Saturday 12-6pm and by appointment. For inquiries about Painted Portraits please email Charlotte Mouquin – charlotte.mouquin@gmail.com or call Corridor Gallery 718-230-5002.

Dreaming Reality at Corridor Gallery Guest Curated by Sabrina Yasmin Smith

Corridor Gallery is very pleased to have recently worked with guest Curator Sabrina Y. Smith to create the exhibition Dreaming Reality on view at Corridor Gallery January 26th - March 15th 2014.

J Swofford Thoughts, 16" x 20" fiber based hand-printed photograph on oriental paper

 Sabrina Y. Smith came to Rush Arts and Corridor Gallery through the curatorial submission process of 2013.  She is a young up and coming curator currently living a bi-coastal lifestyle between NYC and LA.  She is an incredible artist advocate and writer who has traveled through 20 countries by the age of 25.  This gives her a beautiful global perspective and the power to bring together artists from several countries.  In Dreaming Reality at Corridor Gallery we celebrate the art of Fabrice Cazenave, Ahmet Murat Karayilan, John Ransom Phillips'  J Swofford, Sebastian Wahl.  The exhibition ties together painting, collage, photography and resin constructions that take the viewer on a journey somewhere between dream and reality. 

She has also created the blog Art Gypsy Tales which is a collection of artist interviews.  She has posted over 90 artist interviews in the past year.  Please check it out http://www.artgypsytales.com/

Find her curatorial statement about Dreaming Reality below for more information.

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Sebastian Wahl, Aquatic Mandala, 48" x 48" collage on resin

Dreaming Reality

Curated by Sabrina Y.Smith

In search for their most intimate selves, and the underlining truth that ties us all, the following artists, through different outlets - meditation, psychedelic drugs, dreams, hypnosis – attempt to access the subconscious mind, and reveal the information it holds. Speaking an unknown language that we somehow understand, they weave altogether a kaleidoscopic narrative of the mind.

J Swofford's Riddle of The Echo series translates the dream-like scenes of the unconscious to the conscious. The exploration of enigmatic symbols, which are

associated with memories and dreams, spark a cascade of allusions and connections in the

mind of the viewer. The photographs, obtained with a Metol formula mix made by the artist, are printed in the darkroom (none of these compositions are digitally manipulated) on silver gelatin paper. The process further underlines the unsettling immersion into an unpredictable world guided by instinct and feeling.

Sebastian Wahl is a mind explorer who recreates its imagery into intricate psychedelic landscapes. His resin collages reveal colorful and familiar images, meticulously layered into three-dimensional narratives - offering limitless depths and reflecting the multi- layered nature of the mind. Some works contain 'glow-in-the-dark' shapes inspired by sacred geometry, revealing secret messages when the lights turn off. One may find recurring characters or symbols, acting like omens, telling a larger story together.

Ahmet Murat Karayilan 's work focuses on Heidegger's concept of Dasein, which characterizes human existence as "Being" (versus Cartesian "thinking"), where the subconscious - rather than the conscious - is the defining trait. In these works, Karayilan's figures are omnipresent by their absence: they are a part of the image, yet their environment seems to be shaped by their own mind.

John Ransom Phillips' Sleeping Presidents painting series is interested in showing how one's dreams are ultimately one's true reality. Phillips imagines the dreams of America's forty-three presidents, revealing an intimate and unexplored side to these iconic figures, and ultimately humanizing them. Echoing Walt Whitman, Phillips says of these works, “I am dreaming all the dreams of Grant, Obama, Reagan, Washington, ... And then I

become them.”

Fabrice Cazenave seeks inspiration in high awareness states by drawing blind-folded, or even under hypnosis. His work is an experience of reality throughout all the senses. In reaching a state of trance, Cazenave relives a palette of sensations and emotions that he simultaneously draws. Guided by his hearing, smell, taste, and touch - he lets the

sensations restore the most faithful image. The experience calls for an extreme concentration and a complete disconnect with time - strongly guided by his subconscious.

Dreaming Reality is an invitation to enter the subconscious mind. One can map the recurring symbols, situations and characters that thread each work. This exhibit not only shows individual realities but reveals the bonding narrative – our common truth - one that may impact the viewer's own subconscious, behavior and life.

Ahmet Murat Karayilan, The Queen Cassiopeia, 23" x 35" oil and collage on canvas

Drawn Truly at Corridor Gallery 1/26/14-3/15/14

  It is my great pleasure to be bringing this portrait exhibition to Corridor Gallery.  Drawn Truly came together over time and solidified when I re-saw the work of Al Burts in Miami at Select Art Fair exhibiting with International Visions Gallery.  I also met the artist Vernando Reuben while exhibiting the work of ruby onyinychi amanze with Rush Arts Gallery in Miami and Select Art Fair.  While reviewing the Rush Arts Gallery artist submissions I was taken with the work of Alphonso Dunn.  Alphonso comes from a chemestry background but recently aquired his MFA from the New York Academy, he is an incredible art educator and artist.  I hope to work with all of these artists again soon.  In the meantime join us at Corridor Gallery in Brooklyn to check out this group exhibition, Drawn Truly. 

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Corridor Gallery
334 Grand Ave
Brooklyn, NY 11238
718-230-5002

Drawn Truly
Curated by Charlotte Mouquin

January 26th – March 15th 2014

Corridor Gallery Project Space is pleased to present Drawn Truly, an exhibition curated by Charlotte Mouquin, that includes ruby onyinyechi amanze, Al Burts, Alphonso Dunn, and Vernando Reuben. January 26th-March 15th 2014. Located at 334 Grand Ave, Brooklyn, NY.  Drawn Truly brings together identities and tender artists’ thoughts through figurative rendering, abstraction and the imagined reflecting contemporary cultures. 

Alphonso Dunn, Itty Bitty Black Box, charcoal, Crayon, pastel, pencil, acrylic, 25" x 37" 2013

Through drawing, Alphonso Dunn, Jamaican born with a recent MFA from the New York Academy, reflects the inner workings of people and their interactions. Paraphernalia of Perception examines the contrasts between abstraction and representation, reflecting adult themes with childlike drawing punctuating the compositions. These drawings become letters asking questions about the society we have created.

Vernando Reuben, untitled, mixed media on paper, 24"x 38"

The layered mixed media drawings of Vernando Reuben examine the multiple facets of identity through the creation and destruction of mask like-forms, collage, and mark making. His portraits are metaphors for post-millennium cultural integration that combine spiritual and altruistic sensibilities.

Al Burts, Nefertiti, The Beautiful One, Ballpoint Pen on Wood, 26" x 38" 2013

Two time Bombay Sapphire Artisan Series finalist in Washington, DC Al Burts, explores identity through portraiture by combining realism and symbolism. His portraits on unprimed canvas and raw wood panels depict strong figures with intimate tribal tattoos covering their skin. The detail and softness in the mark making is done using a ballpoint pen.   

ruby onyinyechi amanze, ada, Pencil, fluorescent marker | 50 x 31.5 inches 2013

ruby onyinyechi amanze, a Brooklyn based artist of Nigerian birth and British upbringing, is influenced by her own cultural hybridity. Her portrait of Ada, an afro-futurist alter ego born in the galaxy of black-eyed peas, has her partially seated above her birthplace with ghostly eyes. The portrait shows a statuesque figure with fully rendered forms and areas of openness using the whiteness of the page.  Amanze was recently awarded a Fulbright Scholarship to study in Nigeria 2012-2013.

Each of these drawings are Drawn Truly and speaking a societal truth about the artist and community. Though intimate rendering and explicit mark making each artist is bringing a new perspective to drawing, combining the personal with the world at large.