August 13- September 4, 2016
Opening reception Saturday August 13th, 6-10pm
Room 1:
Kelly A. Mueller
PULL
“Ocean, n. A body of water occupying about two-thirds of a world made for man — who has no gills.”
― Ambrose Bierce
Pull was inspired by canoe trips at Hopedale, Shell Beach, the Bonnet Carre Spillway, and Bayou Bienvenue, where the cottage-lined streets of New Orleans are substituted with the muscular rush of the MRGO pushing hitchhikers out to the Gulf. Behemoth iron and steel structures stand by, offering quiet creaks and moans. The waterways heave towards the moon and away again in weighty breaths, carrying with it everything on its surface. The edge of the world moves with the slow physics of giants.
Originally from Chicago, Kelly moved to Jackson, MS after receiving her MFA at Northern Illinois University and on to Baton Rouge, LA only two weeks before Katrina. She is currently a member of The Front Gallery in New Orleans and Baton Rouge Gallery, LA, and has also exhibited with New Context/Kasia Kay Gallery in Chicago, in Scope Miami and New York. Her work has been published in New American Paintings and Studio Visit Magazine. Outside of teaching art at Lusher Charter School, she has attended residencies at Hambidge, GA; Stone House, CA; Wilson College, PA; Philadelphia Art Hotel, Dorland Mountain Arts Colony, CA; and a Surdna Fellowship in Brazil’s Amazon Rainforest.
www.kellyamueller.com
Room 2:
Kathleen Saunders
A Quietness Distilled
I photograph quiet moments and rare beauties experienced both in the varying landscapes of my travels and in my interactions with loved ones. In A Quietness Distilled, I find comfort in life's pauses... the stillness between breaths, the commas between phrases. And in a world inundated by loud imagery, social media pressures, and physical violence, I hope my work can make others feel less alone in the often-isolating search for balance and satisfaction.
Kathleen Saunders is an interdisciplinary artist working mainly in photography, drawing, and installation. She earned her BA in studio art with a concentration in photography at College of Charleston and will graduate with her MFA at Florida State University in 2017.
www.kathleensaunders.com
Rooms 3 & 4:
Ryn Wilson, Michael Arcos
HEKS/SMUK
Ryn Wilson is a multi-media artist living and working in New Orleans. She works in photography and video, often incorporating other techniques such as collage, sewing, painting, drawing and installation. Her work explores human/nature in conflict with social constructs. She received her BFA from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and her MFA from the University of New Orleans. Ryn works as a costume designer and has been a member of The Front since 2014.
Michael Arcos, raised in Miami, FL, began his film career editing on VHS and has been working in film and video for over a decade. His films have screened at: Calgary Underground Film Festival, New Orleans Film Festival, Cucalorus Film Festival, Maryland Film Festival, Glasgow Short Film Festival, Gasparilla Film Festival, Borscht Film Festival and others. Arcos most recently wrote, directed, edited and created the sound design for his narrative short Dream Throat. He was commissioned to create live performance installations for site-specific screenings of this film at Prospect 3 New Orleans at The Hotel Monteleone 2014, The Cucalorus Film Festival 2015 and The Standard Hotel in New York City 2016. Arcos currently lives and works in New Orleans where he formed Dream Throat Productions and S.L.I. Films LLC. He continues to focus on creating new work through film, sound design and animation.
HEKS/SMUK is a two-part show with the connecting element being a sound collaboration between Michael Arcos and Ryn Wilson titled Gentle Touch.
“Gentle Touch, a limited edition of 13 cassette tapes, which accompanies the exhibition. A subdued explosion of synth, drum machine, and sampling, Michael and Ryn create an atmospheric, auditory experience to complement the works on view. In a handsome, ethereal, 32 minute special bundle of repurposed white plastic church cassette tapes, Gentle Touch will reach you in unexpected ways.” -PH
HEKS/Ryn:
HEKS is a meditation on invented myth, magic and ritual through photography, video and sound collage. This work considers both a conflicted human reverence and persecution towards that which is not understood.
HEKS was born out of an observation of the way that the term “witch” has evolved in recent popular culture. A word, which in the past was used to accuse women of dissent and evil that would send them towards horrific fates, has become something that describes feminine power now in a positive light.
These works utilize a cinematic style combining landscape, geometry and symbolism to evoke a sense of mysticism and the supernatural with a strong, female protagonist at the helm.
SMUK/Michael:
The first of the "Instagram Doom Wave" genre. SMUK is a video triptych viewed through photon rejuvenation masks. The installation gives the viewer a chance to act as voyeur to the humor, sadness, fear, pain, love, lust, obsession, addiction and confusion expressed through one man's Instagram account.
https://vimeo.com/michaelarcos/myartiststatement
rynwilson.com