TOPOGRAPHIES: JEMILA MACEWAN + KARIN WASKIEWICZ
Opening JULY 28, 6-9PM
JULY 28 - AUGUST 20, 2017
Jemila MacEwan, Fragmented Crater, 2016, Wood-fired stoneware and Icelandic volcano ash, 6 ½ x 18 ½ x 9in and Karin Waskiewicz, Running Allegheny #2, 2015, Acrylic on panel, 54 ½ x 40 in.
New York, NY (July 18, 2017) – AH Arts, in conjunction with VICTORI + MO, is pleased to announce Topographies, an exhibition of new work from Jemila MacEwan and Karin Waskiewicz located at VICTORI + MO Gallery in Bushwick. An opening reception will be held on July 28th from 6-9pm and a closing reception will be held on August 20th from 4-6pm. From open studios to performances, a broad series of events will be held every Saturday to accompany the exhibition.
Curated by Alixandra Hornyan for AH Arts, a curatorial initiative focused on the work of innovative emerging artists, Topographies will comprise of a new series of ceramic sculptures by Jemila MacEwan, and paintings by Karin Waskieicz which confront issues of transformation and displacement.
Both artists, Jemila MacEwan and Karin Waskiewicz, are deeply concerned with the natural world. They have a particular engagement with how we navigate a shifting landscape with nature’s ability to move from one state to another, always in flux. Their interests in movement stems not only from a methodical approach but also an embrace of the spontaneity inherent to their medium of choice, whether it be clay or paint.
In MacEwan’s series of volcano sculptures, she uses organic materials such as wood-fired stoneware, porcelain, Icelandic volcanic ash, wood and cement with a high temperature (in fact, the same temperature as magma) firing technique that creates the same conditions of a volcano. The cracks, colors and surface ash are the results of minerals from the clay-bodies, ash and wood burnt the kiln, which MacEwan embraces as unpredictable outcomes of the natural metamorphosis of the materials. Her fascination with volcanoes was enhanced on a recent trip to Iceland. On excursions with several specialists there, she experienced the glaciers and volcanoes’ constant subtle shifting movements of the land. The idea that in each visit to the same physical place, the landscape would be physically different, enthralled her.
Waskiewicz chips and carves the surface of her layered paintings, often resembling how the terrain is shaped through erosion through the displacement of one piece at a time. As she reworks a painting, she often incorporates pieces from the removed layers and new layers of color, adding another dimension to the surface of her canvases. By manipulating the peaks and valleys, she connects each canvas to specific memories creating an abstracted but highly personal reference to the land. Their topographical quality provides a map concerned with personal navigation, as in Running Allegheny #2, which evokes her childhood growing up in Erie, Pennsylvania and spending summers at the Allegheny River. Each mark, crevice, and rift contributes to the picture’s development, and what she calls “flashes of memories” or the final paintings moment of resolution.
With the reverberations of geological structures found in nature, their transformative properties and the landscapes they’ve created, each artist, Jemila MacEwan and Karin Waskiewicz, has developed an individual topographical language in dialogue and on view in Topographies.
On View: July 28th - August 20th, Open Thursday - Sunday, 1 - 6PM and by appointment
Opening Reception: July 28th, 6 - 9PM
HIVEWILD Dance Performance: August 5th, 6:30 - 7:30PM
STUDIO TOUR: August 12th, 11:30AM - 1:30, Visit both artists' studios and join us for a rooftop reception, Meet at VICTORI + MO, RSVP to alixandrahornyan@gmail.com
Closing Reception: August 20th, 4 - 6PM
VICTORI + MO GALLERY, 56 Bogart, Brooklyn NY 11206
