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Louise Kennelly
These paintings arise from a joy of color, texture and the unexpected twists and turns of the process itself.
I often paint with my hands because it allows me to stay closely connected to the material, and with the object as it develops. This approach to painting does not allow a premeditated idea to overly inform the inherent nature of the materials, whether it’s wax, or oil paints, or graphite.
Hopefully, these paintings capture a process wherein the abstractions of energy and intention and ideas meet and mingle with material world. Painting this way is a fresh, immediate, spontaneous activity and the intended result is a piece that relays this energy. I like the effect of built up layers of texture that retain a sort of light within those layers.
I use a lot of natural materials such as beeswax that feels and smells good. While I make large pieces as well as small ones, I like the idea of a powerful small piece that you can have in your apartment or office and that can remind you of the simple, strong elements of the natural world and also the complex, resilient nature of the human spirit.
As more people spend more time in front of a computer or television, there seems to be a renewed desire for the hand-made mark. The convenience of technology sometimes keeps us from a more physical existence, and these paintings are guideposts or reminders to stay present in the physical and natural world.
Michael Gessner
The works in this exhibition are sculptures created from wood. I have consistently been attracted to this medium through the years because its resonance allows me to channel into a deeper level of being.
This is my process—I habitually choose pieces from nature that have some indefinable allure. Out of this collection, elements begin speaking to me. Through arrangement, combination and modulation, sometimes minimal, sometimes radical, they transform, revealing a story about themselves which I find fascinating and mysterious, a visual representation of something I had not seen before.
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