T E N S I O N
& R E L E A S E
On View May 14th- July 10th, 2021
The conflict of tension and release is at the heart of the creative process; the interplay of these opposing elements adds intrigue and energy to the works of art. The six artist’s techniques in TENSION & RELEASE vary in medium and style, but synonymously address this idea of tension through natural, digital, mental and emotional realms. In their execution of finding balance between contrasting forces, we are presented with fragmented, collage-like compositions, inspired by the repetition of form and multiplicity of iterations.
This group exhibition features the work of Jonathan Hils, Barbara Sorensen, Blair Vaughn-Gruler, Lee Heekin, Brigan Gresh, and Melana Bontrager
Press Release (pdf)
Price List (pdf)
Jonathan Hils
Using a variety of found and digitally altered images, JONATHAN HILS’ works collage disparate data and augmented visuals into densely abstracted and painterly objects. This series speaks to the fractured, yet repetitive nature of our current digitally reliant existence, where augmentation and repetitive manipulation is at the heart of “reality”. Hils is interested in the visual influence that digital augmentation and associated technologies have on our psyche.
Artist Statement (pdf)
Resume (pdf)
“My starting point for each work is not predetermined much of the time—I have no set boundary. What does occur, however, is a constant physical interaction that plays with material, time, and space by combining many digital elements and assets together is a mostly manual fashion.”
“The works represented in the exhibition are tapestries or collages of scientific, biological, and geometric data found and collected from various websites and online databases. I refer to my working method as digital archeology, where I utilize simple design software techniques to translate visual images and data representations into revisions of their original content.”
“My primary interest lies in how all data is filtered, represented, and augmented throughout the entirety of our current technological existence. Faceted and fragmented forms, using acrylics and 3D printed plastic, are the basis for exploring these relationships through color, the digital residue of specific CNC processes, and how software code manipulates our reality into a cacophony of visual data.”
Jonathan Hils
"All That Glitters”, “Terra #1”, “Protein”, “Presentiment” and “Terra #2” installed
laser augmented acrylic, 3D printed plastic, paint, hardware
Barbara Sorensen
BARBARA SORENSON’S latest series “Ionian Ripples” mimics the sculpted curvature of Grecian cave systems. This work emphasizes the elegantly draped individual ripples as a single form, rather than a monochromatic cluster. The iridescent metal’s naturalistic curves mirror the waves that eroded the cave walls over time.
Artist Statement (pdf)
Resume (pdf)
“My work has long been inspired by nature, geological formations, the classical elements of art, and the diverse materiality of our ever-changing environment.”
“My current work utilizes metal to capture the movement of nature in water, wind, and sound. I am interested in the shifting relationships between human and landscape. I instinctively respond to the form, surface and texture of the Earth, echoing them in my work. I look at the landscape, interpret and reinterpret it, process it within, and give it back, transformed.”
Blair Vaughn- Gruler
BLAIR VAUGHN-GRULER is increasingly compelled by the repetitive mark. Each hand-drawn mark in her work must live as uniquely itself, while also aspiring to replicate its neighbor. This notion, combined with Vaughn-Gruler’s expression of her relationship with the geometry of physical reality expressed through proportions, shapes, spaces and edges define her current series.
Artist Statement (pdf)
Resume (pdf)
“Whenever I scratch the ever-present and compulsive itch to organize things into a row (or a bunch of rows), it doesn’t take long before I also want to find a way to mess it up.
This especially applies to mark making in my painting practice, and the fun of disrupting my own well laid plans never gets old.”
“My current work foregrounds the tension between layers, chaos below and the web of containment on top, or structure below and random lines, marks, drips and pours defining the top surface. Whether it is readily visible or subsumed in more paint, my main job is to undertake the steps and procedures that work to harmonize and mediate inherent opposition.
The end result, however it gets there, is a physical object rather than an illusion. It’s a record of a process, reflecting an ongoing journey towards wholeness, reconciliation and perseverance.”
Lee Heekin
LEE HEEKIN’s work is an exploration of the grid and its relationship to life’s constant struggle between chaos and order, confinement and flux. Combining various materials with repetition of form to create fragmented landscapes, Heekin raises inquiries surrounding separation and connection as our world shifts and changes with human natures’ opposing forces of autonomy vs. connection. Her resin-casted collages address preservation and the tension between staying inside organized boundaries and resisting those constraints.
Artist Statement (pdf)
Resume (pdf)
“Confining myself to the grid has allowed me to slow down enough to immerse myself in my work. I continue to explore the tension between accepting and defying boundaries in a variety of different mediums. The grid has been a constant in my work and is the structure in which my creativity comes to life. My work has evolved from photography where I explored the negative realms of confinement using the grid as representation for rigidity and control. Now I find my artmaking focused more on the attempts to suggest pushing against those confinements. I use the grid now as a structure to help make sense and order the chaos.”
“I am intrigued by how a simple form such as a box can accumulate to create something that is no longer a rigid form but an organic undulating form. My fragmented shapes turn into rhythmic patterns born from my compulsive cutting and reconstruction.”
Melana Bontrager
MELANA BONTRAGER has always been intrigued by layers in the soil, patterns in rock, and the visual interaction between natural objects. Similarly to the human response to life circumstances, these natural visuals represent a response to forces outside of them. The landscapes Bontrager creates are life metaphors, embodying tension in shape and line, just as the human experience often embodies the co-existence of many conflicting emotions.
Artist Statement (pdf)
Resume (pdf)
“I find landscape a beautiful metaphor for the human experience. While we are broken, uneven beings--battered by life, shaped by our individual experiences—together we make up a complicated but amazing network. Individual experiences can sometimes feel useless or random at best. And yet, these experiences can miraculously be the path to connection with others who have suffered similarly. And there is often a captivating beauty that grows from these fragmented places: what once felt pointless, can begin to hold meaning. “
“My work is not intended to negate hardship, nor to glamorize suffering, but rather to point to the redemptive beauty of transformation in the face of that hardship and struggle. I believe we have been created with an innate need for each other: to respond to each other, to flourish beside one another. As we listen to each other’s stories, we discover connections, hope, and a reminder that we don’t traverse this life alone. It is my goal to represent these beautiful discoveries through my painting. “
Brigan Gresh
BRIGAN GRESH’s work in this exhibition speaks simultaneously to gathering & departure. Drawing from personal experience influenced by historical context and current global conditions, Gresh depicts, through abstract representation, the physical, mental and spiritual feelings of assembly & exile. This series represents the energies of the perpetual cycle that is living; it’s an expression of the feelings inside of movement that eventually emerge and sustain our worlds.
Artist Statement (pdf)
Resume (pdf)
“In [Entrusted to Wales], I am drawing from my own personal and familial experiences as well as from historical reference and current global conditions to depict, through abstract representation, the moment of any beings’ forced expulsion from their home, family, community, and country. As if, somehow, we could be present at that very moment to witness and perceive what they will be forced to abandon, what harrowing struggles they will have to endure and how unyielding, stalwart, and magnificent their spirits will have to be to continue onward.”
“Driving down route 62 in several feet of snow I saw out of my window, in the middle of a huge field, under an old, bare oak, a grouping of buggies, black and horseless, abandoned to the snow for a gathering of men, now walking to the barn. I was instantly moved by their monochromatic figures traveling slowly to the safe haven of their meeting place. It started a sensation in my body that spoke of congregations, flocks…assemblies. I thought about what reasons had sparked this gathering. I saw these reasons as molecules rubbing together to inspire the men’s departure, journey, and forum. I thought about the energies in the room when they would begin discussing, analyzing, planning, and praying…
This series is a representation of the perpetual cycle that is living. It’s an expression of the feelings inside of movement that eventually emerge and sustain our worlds.”
