Tuesday, July 16, 2013

City's Six at One Art Space, Reception August 1, 2013












City's Six
City College MFA Group Show

August 1st through 22nd, 2013

One Art Space Gallery
23 Warren Street (between Church and Broadway)

Opening Reception Thursday, August 1, 6-9 pm.


One Art Space Gallery is pleased to present City’s Six, a group exhibition of New York City based artists publicly showcasing their artwork together for the first time. The artists: Sasha Cohen, Andrea Coronil, Gayla Martin, Shannon McBride, Katie Simpson Spain and Alison White are the City College of New York’s MFA Spring 2013 graduating class. Each artist relates to her materials differently, but seen as a group, the work creates a dialogue based on viewer interaction and exploration of environments.
 
Sasha Cohen, Gayla Martin and Alison White play with the idea of hanging and draping in unique ways to explore space. Cohen’s paintings become three dimensional objects with the inclusion of fabric and her manipulation of the surface, while Martin’s hanging thread sculptures act more like simple line drawings that portray an intimate attention to detail. White’s fabric sculptures are complex compositions that evoke a sense of chaotic, yet ordered beauty.
 
Shannon McBride, Katie Simpson Spain and Andrea Coronil invite viewers to examine the plays with illusion in their work. McBride's sculptures seem at first recognizable and familiar, like fruits or commonplace objects, but upon close inspection reveal subtle distortions of reality. Simpson Spain, on the other hand, develops invitingly warm spaces that remind the viewer of past experiences: camping trips, Girl Scout troops, late nights, and explorations. Coronil paints iconic images of boxers and organs, and imbues them with personal narratives of loss and transcendence that are both transparent and layered.

Together this group of artists compose varied atmospheres full of playful inquisitiveness, reminders of past experiences, and an intimate attention to detail. The curators celebrate and admire each of the artists and their work. City’s Six is curated by Blake Ruehrwein and Stephanie Crawford, respectively a graduate and a candidate from the Masters in Art History program at the City College of New York. The exhibition is a launching pad for both the artists and the curators at this stage in their careers.
Visit One Art Space at: http://www.oneartspace.com/