July 20- August 4, 2019

Opening reception Saturday July 20th, 6-10pm (Due to flooding/incredible rain, opening will be postponed to 7/20)

Room 1:

Sophia Belkin
Fossil Bloom

Fossil water describes a phenomenon occurring in ancient aquifers confined by an impermeable geologic shell. Without leaks or rain replenishment, the water in these underground caverns remains isolated for thousands of years. As temperatures rise, permafrost melts, and subterranean aquifers are mined for fresh water, previously unknown organisms are resuscitated and reintroduced into the world. Fossil Bloom imagines the rebirth of these ancient life forms as they thaw, twist, and float into the light. 

Sophia Belkin’s current work explores the balance between chance and pattern within the natural world. She earned her degree in drawing and printmaking from the Maryland Institute College of Art in 2012 and has participated in residency programs in Vermont, Norway, Russia, and Estonia. Recent shows include Á Condition at Calaboose in Montreal, Aurelia at Resort in Baltimore and In Styx Silt at Gern en Regalia in New York. 

Sophiabelkin.com 
Sophia.belkin@gmail.com

Room 2:

John Orth, The Orangerie (#1), Photograph, 18" x 24", 2019
The Orangerie (#2), Photograph, 16" x 20", 2019

John Orth
The Orangerie

The Orangerie is a series of self-portraits taken by John Orth over the last year. Historically, an orangerie was a structure built for tender things — citrus trees, snowbound aristocrats — allowing them to thrive in less hospitable terrain. A studio too can be an orangerie. These works bring together the artist’s sculptural and photographic practices, merging a body and an object and an image.

John Orth is a photographer, artist and musician living and working in New York City. He recently received an MFA in sculpture at Virginia Commonwealth University. He was a fellow at Mildred’s Lane (PA), Wayfarers (NY), Tempus Projects (FL) and SOMA (CDMX). He is a recent recipient of the Dedalus Foundation Master of Fine Art Fellowship. John is a founding member of the band Holopaw who released two recordings on Sub Pop Records. His artistic pursuits have included collaborations with experimental filmmakers Roger Beebe, Alan Calpe, and Adam Baran. His photographic work was recently acquired by the Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library.

http://johnorth.co

Room 3:

Max Seckel
Early Summer

Max Seckel is an artist and printmaker living and working in New Orleans, Louisiana. Max graduated from the University of Delaware in the Spring of 2009 and moved to Philadelphia the following fall. Volunteered briefly at Second State Press(2010-2011) before shortly thereafter joining and keeping a studio at artist collective Space 1026 (2011-2014). Then moved south to New Orleans in the fall of 2014 where he began to volunteer at the New Orleans Community Printshop and Darkroom (2014-2018) and also maintain a personal studio where he paints and also produces small book and print editions via his Risograph machine.

Working in a variety of media (gouache, acrylic, latex, silkscreen), I echo in my work some of the complexity and uncertainty I perceive in the world. Simple objects and everyday occurrences are thrust into absurd and sometimes contradictory circumstances. More information than can be processed with a simple glance is presented all at once, as a landscape viewed from a shifting and uncertain perspective. I aim to create paintings that are difficult to describe, like a dream or memory that has become hazy and difficult to recall through time but still seems certain and familiar. A lingering impression of clarity and specific purpose that readily becomes mired in its own details.

@maxseckel
http://www.maxseckel.com

Room 4:

C+J (Cecelia+Jose Fernandes)
Retro Active

Retro Active is presented as an installation of works of C+J

C+J’s compositions explore parallels and contradictions in a dialog focused on social, political, racial and economic mechanisms and their intersection with people and culture. Here, the ambiguous line of joinery dissects societal norms as the fixed order that governs space and narrative, violently pressing against the chaotic, autogenic nature of marginalized communities, creating a visual representation of regeneration of space, the dialectic of creation and deconstruction.

Cecelia Fernandes is a cross disciplinary visual artist, born in New Orleans,  graduate of The New School in NYC and recipient of a Joan Mitchel Foundation Artist In Residency in 2018.  

Jose Fernandes is a Portuguese photographer and long term resident of New Orleans.

https://www.facebook.com/cplusjworks/
https://www.gallery818photography.com