NEW YORK, NY.- Nicola Vassell Gallery is presenting Uncanny Interiors, a group show examining novel and stirring interpretations of interior space, including still lifes and figures in rooms. The exhibition includes works by Anne Buckwalter, Lenz Geerk, Vera Girivi, David Hockney, Shara Hughes, Che Lovelace, Kerry James Marshall, Henri Matisse, Danielle McKinney, Kent O’Connor, Toyin Ojih Odutola, Elizabeth Schwaiger, Tschabalala Self and Paul Anthony Smith.
No matter how unsettling the uncanny, it is something we frequently encounter, and are innately conversant with. It is not an alien disturbance, but rather, a destabilization of that which is familiar. Each exhibiting artist agitates perception with a unique rendering of an interior.
Anne Buckwalter creates routine moments of domesticity embedded with faint distortions. Flattened perspectives and trusting occupants suggest we may be peering into an unsuspecting doll house. The intimate portraits of Lenz Geerk convey emotion absent overt declaration. A lyrical sweep of a prone figure captures a moment of private melancholy. The ornate abodes of Vera Girivi’s characters are far more fantastical than our own. Her kinetic pattern work, intricate architecture and sunbathed Odalisques offer a seductive invitation. Throughout David Hockney’s idyllic renderings, patterning, color and composition play the role of disruptor. A colorful artist’s workshop in a monochromatic setting, generates animation and restraint. Shara Hughes’ dazzling juxtaposition of sunlit interior and bucolic exterior are energized by a kaleidoscopic palette and conjured perspectives. A row of family portraits portends the surreal in her richly-colored, freestyle depiction. Che Lovelace’s tropical locales are assembled in narrative quadrants. Both geometry and freedom are inherent in his brushwork. These contrasting mechanisms enhance tranquil settings depicting fruit, flora and island life. Kerry James Marshall renders an occurence mid-frame, in which ambiguity is the lead actor. A lone black hand, white upholstery and phantom bouquet allude to the dichotomies of domestic life, while exploring thresholds of visibility. Henri Matisse portrays a simple room, open to sea and sailboat, capturing the simultaneity of peering
into and out upon a vista, where window, doorway and room act, each, as a discrete, alluring picture plane. The women of Danielle McKinney’s paintings are languidly undisturbed by viewership, even when captured during a solitary moment. Their images are amplified by an ethereal atmosphere and sultry intimacy. Kent O’Connor’s still lifes invite us to connect the pieces of an undecipherable puzzle. Subtle manipulations in scale, perspective, and form preserve the subliminal nuance in his scenes. Toyin Ojih Odutola creates singular, pensive figures animated by a complex patchwork of ascending and descending shades of color. Light, mood and texture feature dominantly in her compelling chronicles. Tschabalala Self’s intimate and opulent world is composed of mixed media pieces, depicting bold-bodied silhouettes and exaggerated forms. Color, collaging and household imagery embed these insouciant personas in a unique society. Elizabeth Schwaiger’s dwellings are densely populated, spectral, living spaces. Incandescent lighting enhances the panorama of these art and object filled interiors as well loved and lived in rooms. Paul Anthony Smith’s picotages often include geometric interrupters that limit our view of setting and identity. Subsequently, his paintings focus on ordinary moments that are delicately skewed through perspective, color, and gesture.
