Menu
The New Contemporary Art Magazine

On View: Mel Kadel and Andrew Hem at Merry Karnowsky Gallery

Andrew Hem and Mel Kadel currently have solo exhibitions on view side-by-side at LA's Merry Karnowsky Gallery, with an opening reception slated for the evening of March 8. Hem's "Dream but Don't Sleep" presents a series of new paintings filled with cool-hued shadows and prismatic shapes. Though focused on figuration, Hem paints with an expressionistic looseness. His figures reveal his brushstrokes and nuanced color palettes without much blending. Yet, his work retains a sense of precision, lending it an illustrative quality that complements his Impressionist-influenced painting style. Read more after the jump.

Andrew Hem and Mel Kadel currently have solo exhibitions on view side-by-side at LA’s Merry Karnowsky Gallery, with an opening reception slated for the evening of March 8. Hem’s “Dream but Don’t Sleep” presents a series of new paintings filled with cool-hued shadows and prismatic shapes. Though focused on figuration, Hem paints with an expressionistic looseness. His figures reveal his brushstrokes and nuanced color palettes without much blending. Yet, his work retains a sense of precision, lending it an illustrative quality that complements his Impressionist-influenced painting style.

Mel Kadel’s “Tied Up” includes a series of ink drawings on hand-stained paper. The artist primarily focuses on female characters in her work, though they depart greatly from those depicted by many of her contemporaries. Slightly androgynous, Kadel’s multitudinous characters are an industrious and persevering bunch, rowing and climbing their way through a terrain of abstract shapes that appear to represent the inner workings of the mind. The identical characters evoke homunculi carrying out the dreams and thoughts inside the imagination of a larger being.

Mel Kadel and Andrew Hem exhibit at Merry Karnowsky Gallery March 1 through March 22.

Meta
Topics
Share
Facebook
Reddit
Pinterest
Email
Related Articles
We live in strange times and artists Michael Kerbow and Mike Davis both have something in common: they use surrealism and time travel to address modern and existential issues. Click above to read the Hi-Fructose exclusive interviews with painters Mike Davis and Michael Kerbow about their respective solo showings.
Artist and animation director Joe Vaux paints what he likes. His personal work is teeming with impish demons. His cheerful hellscapes are populated with lost souls, sharp toothed monstrosities, and swarms of wrong-doers. And yet, there’s an innocence to all of this. Click to read the Hi-Fructose exclusive interview with Joe Vaux.
Vibrant and bold, Oscar Joyo’s latest body of work which was exhibited at Thinkspace Projects in Los Angeles, vibrates the retina; while delving into his childhood memories childhood in Malawi and themes of Afrofuturism.
Something interesting happens when when artists like Alan and Carolynda Macdonald, who have the painting fundamentals mastered, decide to subvert expectations and perplex a viewers expectations conceptually. Click to read the Hi-Fructose exclusive interview.

Subscribe to the Hi-Fructose Mailing List