Chris Mars
Throughout history, the woods have served as a place for many fairy tale stories and legends. When the characters of Stephen Sondheim’s Into the Woods ventured into a dark wood, they went to fulfill their dreams and fantasies. What they were faced with instead was a place where nothing is what it seems and the truths of their realities. 25 artists were invited to explore just what is it about woods that are so compelling in Haven Gallery’s upcoming exhibition, “Into the Woods”: Adam Oehlers, Robert Kraiza, Mahlimae, Lara Dann, Marc Scheff, Anka Lavriv, Hannah Yata, Jean-Pierre Arboleda, Mab Graves, Brin Levinson, Gustavo Rimada, Poppy Lawman, Thomas Dodd, Chris Mars, Shane Pierce, William Basso, Nicole Palapoli, Rain, Paul Romano, Scott Radke, Christina Ridgeway, Joseph Weinreb, Brian Mashburn, Allen Williams and Vince Natale. Their collective works take inspiration from the woods’ beauty and dark secrets. Many of them illustrate the isolation and independence that the woods bring when characters go off alone, such as Thomas Dodd’s young subject whose curiosity recalls Lewis Caroll’s “Alice”, or Shane Pierce’s “Little Red”. Artist Scott Radke (featured back in Hi-Fructose Vol. 6) envisions its inhabitants as hybrid woodland creatures which he sculpts out of mixed media. Hannah Yata also portrays imaginary species but with inspiration based in our natural world; pink colored mice that have been mutated into something whimsical and equally horrifying. Her works often focus on the idea of tension between our actions in our environment and their effects. For others, like Brian Mashburn, the woods are a place where nature thrives and luxuriates, free from any control or cultivation by human hands. In the distance looms the ghostly remains of some fairy tale civilization. Take a look at these works and more below from “Into the Woods”, opening at Haven Gallery in New York on October 10th, 2015.
Chris Mars
Thomas Dodd
Scott Radke
Scott Radke
Mahlimae
Shane Pierce
Jean-Pierre Arboleda
Brin Levinson
Brian Mashburn
Hannah Yata
Mab Graves
Rain
Adam Oehlers
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