BRIC Rotunda Gallery presents "Human Craters" a Group Exhibition

Thursday, 12 February 2009 21:06

 

Brooklyn, NY – BRIC Rotunda Gallery presents 'Human Craters', a group exhibition curated by Nina Horisaki-Christens, recipient of the Gallery’s 2008 Lori Ledis Curatorial Fellowship. The exhibition features artists Vincent Como, Robert de Saint Phalle, Alex Dodge, Jason Ferguson, Manuela Paz, Eugenie Tung, B.J. Vogt, and Hillary Wiedemann. On view through 7 March, 2009.

An oblique exploration of the human figure, the works in Human Craters hint at the human form by placing it at the edge of the frame, removing its details, or presenting only its imprints. Approaching their subjects in manners ranging from the semi-reverent to the comical, the binding factor within the exhibition is an exploration of the remnants of a human presence.

Psychological themes drive works such as Manuela Paz's Suzi photographs: formally lyrical but highlighting the figure’s emotional isolation. Looking at an image of a reflection, the viewer is two steps removed from the barely visible subject, emphasizing the distance and disappearance of the form. B.J. Vogt's compositions, based on family photographs of his mother before her brain aneurysm and prolonged death, specifically foreground the psychology of human loss. Attempting to define his mother's place within the photograph, he removes her, copies the image, replaces her, and removes her again while adding seemingly irrelevant pictorial information. This effort to alter the image continuously through multiple stages of reproduction serves to mimic the structures of human memory.

Eugenie Tung directs her psychological investigations toward the sites of memories. Working from photographs of friends and family taken in the places she has lived, Tung paints out these loved ones and her belongings, returning the location to a barren state. However, the ghostly outlines of these lives linger in the images, like her memories of the site. In several works, this disappearance of explicitly human forms is indicative of a transformation of state. Alex Dodge's Super Human Powers present us with gritty photographs of the apparent remnants of a body's spontaneous change of state, reminiscent of crime-scene documentation.

Solidifying the negative spaces of the human sinuses, Recorder, by Robert De Saint Phalle, creates a skeletal structure from the cavities of our bodies that re-imagines the human form as pure potential for sound and reverberation. Moving on to sound actualized, Hillary Wiedemann's Conversation Pieces present the crystallized form of the human voice as an extension of the body, offering us representations of the spaces between human forms. This de-materialization of the physical and solidification of the insubstantial points to the tenuousness of the corporeal form that we so often take for granted.

Nina Horisaki-Christens is the winter 2009 recipient of the Lori Ledis Curatorial Fellowship, a program that fosters emerging curatorial talent in the field of contemporary art. Semi-annually, BRIC Rotunda Gallery dedicates the Project Space and full staff support to realizing the vision of an emerging curator determined through a competitive selection process. The program is supported by family, friends, and professional associates of Lori Ledis, a pioneering Brooklyn art dealer and music producer. As an artist, Horisaki-Christens has exhibited at Socrates Sculpture Park and Flux Factory in New York and Fort Gondo in St. Louis. She currently serves as Assistant Curator at Art in General, New York. In conjunction with this exhibition, curator Nina Horisaki-Christens will lead a discussion of the Applications of Medical Imaging Technology in Contemporary Artistic Practice with participating artists Robert de Saint Phalle and B.J. Vogt on Tuesday, February 17, 7pm.

BRIC Rotunda Gallery presents contemporary art, public events, and an innovative arts education program. The Gallery’s aim is to increase the visibility and accessibility of contemporary art while bridging the gap between the art world and global culture in Brooklyn. BRIC Rotunda Gallery is the visual arts program of BRIC Arts | Media | Bklyn, a multi-disciplinary arts and media non-profit, dedicated to presenting visual, performing and media arts programs that are reflective of Brooklyn’s diverse communities, and to providing resources and platforms to support the creative process. The Gallery is open to the public free of charge from Tuesday through Saturday, 12 – 6 pm.

Contact: Johanna Taylor - 33 Clinton St, Brooklyn, NY 11201 - 718.875.4047 x11/   This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

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