“MADE HERE Summer 2016” Austin Thomas, Taihwa Goh, Jeffery Meris
Guttenberg Arts Gallery is pleased to present “MADE HERE Summer 2016” a group exhibition of the current Artists in Residence; Austin Thomas, Tai Hwa Goh and Jeffery Meris. On view August 3, 2016 - September 6, 2016. The works included in MADE HERE were created during the artist’s residences this past summer. The title “MADE HERE” carries not only multiple definitions, but multiple conceptual meanings ranging from location to identity, the politics of materials and the historical nature of place. All of these new works deeply considered many of these issues and are only just the beginning points for deeper reflection.
Austin Thomas’ current work for MADE HERE focuses on a show of delicate prints, exploring patterns and the possibility of an idea. Pinned to the wall, her printslike her drawings, manifest Thomas’ continued dedication both to the stenciled form and to the independent life of paper. Here various types of stationery and other papers commingle with dots, rectangles, triangles, stripes and voids. Her carefully attenuated placement asks that we look at each piece on its own terms for what it is. Thomas suggests a subtler world, rich with nuance and precision, with enough room to insert our own narratives. This new print work is for aesthetic enjoyment and intellectual contemplation.
Throughout Tai Hwa Goh’s installations, the viewer will see the prolific use of traditional printmaking techniques. These have a unique luminosity through hand-waxing that carry through Goh’s images that are installed on various architectural elements. These images get obstructed and buried under layers of delicately waxed papers transmitting the echo of the image. The process of layering images intends to reflect the accumulation of memory and experiences, and thus represents impenetrability and vulnerability of human body, but, at the same time, recoverability and powerfulness of selfness. Through this exhibition, Goh becomes the extension of nature and nature becomes the extension of her body. Her images evolve from biological forms to landscape, describing the interaction between the inner and outer mass of human body. In the process of folding, cutting, flipping and overlapping printed materials, images are gradually transformed away from identifiable objects, taking on a naturalistic guise of their own, growing into space, posing questions about our accepted definition of printed works of art, as well as the idea of passage.
Jeffrey Meris’ continues his investigation and interest with economies of migration, real estate, bodies, space and identity. Through the use of constructed, found, ready-‐made and assembled objects, Meris alludes to a certain level of geopolitical permeability. This body of work is heavily shaped by Meris’ upbringing as a migrant from Haiti -‐living in the Bahamas-‐ where ‘they coming’ was more than often a derogatory slur to both indict the peasant like status of Haitian migrants and also reinforce the sub‐humanness of that community. ‘They’ assumes an ambiguous identity fluxing between the luxury tourist, the alien or the immigration officer. Coming from where? Going to where?
Exhibition: August 3, 2016 - September 6, 2016.; Opening Reception August 3, 7-9pm.
For more information please contact studio@guttenbergarts.org or 201-868-8585.
Guttenberg Art Gallery is free and open to the public by appointment. www.guttenbergarts.org