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March 12, 2014
Caro

Opening Night: Erik Jones and Tran Nguyen’s “New Works” at Thinkspace

Last weekend, Thinkspace Gallery debuted "New Works" by Tran Nguyen and Erik Jones, who both treat the classic human form with abstract elements. Although separated by choice of color and medium, this exhibition seamlessly merges their illustrative styles. The new work of Brooklyn-based Erik Jones clothes his nudes in highly saturated patterns and geometrical shapes. The happy, bright colors of the foreground seem to mask a melancholy expressed by Jones’s subjects. This tension is intentional; Jones offers the idea of opposing visual relationships by merging beautifully rendered portraits with mixed media “fashions." With fashion serving as an inspiration, his “models” convey the indifference of one caught off guard or a moment in time. In some cases, the figure disappears completely. Read more after the jump.

Erik Jones with his work.

Last weekend, Thinkspace Gallery debuted “New Works” by Tran Nguyen and Erik Jones, who both treat the classic human form with abstract elements. Although separated by choice of color and medium, this exhibition seamlessly merges their illustrative styles. The new work of Brooklyn-based Erik Jones clothes his nudes in highly saturated patterns and geometrical shapes. The happy, bright colors of the foreground seem to mask a melancholy expressed by Jones’s subjects. This tension is intentional; Jones offers the idea of opposing visual relationships by merging beautifully rendered portraits with mixed media “fashions.” With fashion serving as an inspiration, his “models” convey the indifference of one caught off guard or a moment in time. In some cases, the figure disappears completely.

Where Jones’s subjects don’t know they are in front of an audience, Tran Nguyen’s look straight at the viewer with raw emotion. Her portrayal of smiling faces and anguished tears are all part of a shared realm of experience. Interested in the therapeutic possibilities of art, Nguyen explores a variety of psychological themes and symbols. Even in the most cheerful portrait, To My Deep-seated Abyss, her subject is consumed by dark, unsettling shapes. In the project room, Alex Yanes lightens the mood with his playful 3D mixed media portraits, “Better Than Yesterday.” “New Works” by Tran Nguyen and Erik Jones exhibits at Thinkspace Gallery March 1 through March 22, 2014.

Paintings by Erik Jones.

Painting by Erik Jones.

Gallery goers look at Tran Nguyen’s work.

Paintings by Tran Nguyen.

Painting by Tran Nguyen.

Paintings by Tran Nguyen.

Erik Jones and Tran Nguyen in front of Tran Nguyen’s work.

Alex Yanes’s install in the project room.

Topics

art, painting, Thinkspace

Everlast, logo, Mark Dean Veca, painting, signage, Western Project

October 7, 2014

The lines between art and product design become blurred in Mark Dean Veca's upcoming exhibition, "Everlast," at Western Project in LA. While some artists appropriate the language of advertising to critique consumer culture, Veca (featured in HF Vol. 23) enjoys looking at logos and views them as a perfect marriage between images and text. For "Everlast," which opens on October 18, he looked back on the signage that surrounded him during his 1970s upbringing in the San Francisco Bay Area. Some of the logos in the show are borrowed and some are original, but Veca transforms them with his rich, illustrative line work. Forms that would normally be flat come alive with the biomorphic textures for which he is known.

The Haunting Characters of Edward Kinsella III

drawing, Edward Kinsella III, painting

September 20, 2018

Edward Kinsella III has a knack for crafting monsters. Using just a few hues and strokes, the St. Louis artist creates haunting portraits and illustrations that are seemingly simple, yet wholly cerebral. Though young, the artist has forged his career in both gallery shows and a teaching practice.

Seamus Conley Explores New, Dreamy Landscapes in “Catch My Fade”

Andrea Schwartz Gallery, painting, Seamus Conley

April 28, 2015

Seamus Conley's paintings feature contemplative dreamers staring out into masterfully painted vistas of thick clouds and fog. We catch them at their most private moments of contemplation, alone in the night. While his past work has focused on characters of various ages and genders, the paintings in his latest solo show, "Catch My Fade," depict mostly young boys escaping into the darkness. The spaces they inhabit are far removed from civilization and more closely resemble the landscapes of dreams than any real-life locales. "Catch My Fade" opens at San Francisco's Andrea Schwartz Gallery on April 29.

John Guy Petruzzi’s Watercolors Respond to Environmental Issues

John Guy Petruzzi, painting, Watercolor

November 6, 2014

LA-based artist John Guy Petruzzi creates detailed watercolor paintings filled with illustrations of the natural world. While his figurative depictions of various bird and plant species are rendered with the precision of scientific drawings, the milieus these characters find themselves in morph into abstract shapes that reveal the cloudy, liquid characteristics of his chosen medium. Petruzzi works on a polypropylene synthetic paper to amplify his work's preoccupation with environmental issues. Lately, he has created entirely abstract works filled with dripping pigments. "My latest series, 'SPILLSTONES,' exploits the materiality of poured pigment to recall ongoing cycles of resource extraction," said the artist.

Opening Night: Erik Jones and Tran Nguyen’s “New Works” at Thinkspace

Preview: Mark Dean Veca’s “Everlast” at Western Project

The Haunting Characters of Edward Kinsella III

Seamus Conley Explores New, Dreamy Landscapes in “Catch My Fade”

John Guy Petruzzi’s Watercolors Respond to Environmental Issues

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