Like the Spice Gallery is pleased to present The World We Live In, The Worlds We Create, a sculptural experience and group exhibition curated by Marisa Sage featuring the work of Langdon Graves, Patrick Jacobs, Matthew Northridge, Diana Puntar, R. Justin Stewart, and Jessica Stoller.
It can be argued that any work of art, from modest scale to gargantuan sprawl, is employed by the action and participation of the viewer. But perhaps more than any other discipline, sculpture arrests the viewers full attention. Through mere perception, sculpture can quickly affect our experiences, challenging the boundaries that we often place on the intention of an artwork. By creating a new world with new borders and conditions, each sculpture in this group exhibition embraces both the viewer and the object, using the relationship between the two to recreate the definitions of reality, invention, and representation.
With porcelain, maps, zip ties, wood, latex, and various other materials, these six artists construct nuanced universes that give us sneak peaks into post apocalyptic futures, offer new lenses and body armor to help us view scenes from imagined narratives, and visually translate information as familiar as a map and as individual as our belief in God. The new world that is created in the gallery is contextual: the information delivered not only piece by piece, but viewer by viewer. Each experience will be a co-production between the artwork and the viewer and together they will unlock both aesthetic importance and visual functionality.
Langdon Graves sculptures and drawings create multiple distinctions between reality constructed by beliefs and principles structured on actuality. Bound, sewn, laced and buttoned, these sculptures layer iconic superstitions, symbolism, and dogmatic folklore with organized religion, and modern medicine. Graves designs her faux-outfitted sculptures to be mentally worn with a placebo effect, to be believed in rather than used. Ms. Graves born in 1978, has shown at Collette Blanchard Gallery, New York, NY, LaMontagne Gallery, Boston MA, and extensively across the united states.
Patrick Jacobs sculpture comes from his series titled The Ortho Rooms. This work creates mystery and magic in the mundane by setting an overgrown rose bush and garden hose behind a small lense, hiding the construction of a foreshortened space behind a gallery wall. Mr. Jacobs born 1971, Currently is represented by Pierogi, Brooklyn, NY and has exhibited in galleries and museums world wide.
Matthew Northridge sculptures are arranged architectonic constructions composed of variable units in real space. Borrowing material from magazines, books, packaging, and maps Northridge creates counterfeit models, prototypes of monumental subjects ranging from environmental and climatic change to the precarious state of world government. Born in 1974 Matthew has exhibited with Western Exhibitions, Chicago, IL, Gorney Braven + Lee, New York, NY and has been included in group shows at the National Academy Museum, New York, NY, Brooklyn Museum of Art, Brooklyn,NY.
Diana Puntar sculptures both hang from the ceiling and spring up from the ground like cavernous monuments. Using synthetic materials and quasi natural materials such as Plywood, foam, phosphorescent paint, reflective glass beads, and aluminum, Diana creates small to large scale post “natural” word installations that steal from a design savvy aesthetic to calm its viewers into this eerie futuristic world view. Ms. Puntar has shown with Oliver Kamm Gallery, New York, NY, PS1, Long Island City, NY, White Box, New York, NY, and extensively over the United States over the last ten years.
R. Justin Stewart uses Teflon O-rings and plastic Zip Ties to create his sculpture and drawing hybrids Stewart investigates how information is translated and interpreted over space and time. Justin, born 1980, exhibits with Plus Gallery, Denver, CO, and has exhibited with Larson Gallery in St Paul, MN, New York Center for Arts and Media Studies, New York, NY, and in galleries and museums across the United States.
Jessica Stoller creates collectable scale sculptures depicting ominous fairytale scenes. Utilizing lace draping, a practice developed by Dresden decorators in the 19th century, Stoller practices a ceramist’s technique to explore themes of costume, consumption, and martyrdom, creating arresting scenes that intermingling imagined and historical narratives. Jessica has exhibited at Projects Gallery, Philadelphia, PA, Contemporary Art Institute of Detroit, Detroit, MI, Detroit Contemporary, Detroit, MI, and Paul Koyula Projects, Ferndale, MI.
