LA JOLLA, CA.- At
Quint Gallery's 7655 Girard Avenue location, Belt, Puzio, and Thorson each concentrate material into essential compositions and forms, engaging in dialogue around labor-intensive process and fabrication. Some of these sculptures activate the space through the use of shape and shadow, while others activate an awareness of the light in the space in which they are exhibited.
Adam Belt’s practice has developed around perception within the scope of scientific revelation and natural phenomena through sculpture, site-specific installation, drawing, and painting. His newest series, Phase Forms, is a distillation of material and form into an essential mass removed from symbolism. The addition of white pigment to layers of polyurethane resin becomes akin to painting in three dimensions, and produces varying degrees of opacity, translucency, and transparency. Each block responds uniquely to changing light conditions, at times appearing weightless and transitory in a given space.
Christopher Puzio’s wall sculptures reflect a shift in scale from a background of working in public sculpture and architectural intervention, but a continuation of interest in the way material and nature organizes itself into patterns. In these wall works, Puzio bead-blasts stainless steel to create a non-reflective effect which repels corrosion and absorbs light. Components of similar shape and varying size are welded together to divide space in a given form, reminiscent of mid-century modern breezeblocks which blended design with function. Shadows of repetitive patterns form on the wall, permitting the surface on which it is hung to become an extension of the sculpture.
Chris Thorson’s Projectiles and Blunt Instruments distill common consumer products into solid cast bronze sculptures that shift in potential purpose. Sunscreen bottles, mouthwash, Neosporin: commercial items which are sold to protect, may now be a threat due to their substantial weight. In these works, function is displaced and is only recognizable through form. A departure from her body of work that hinges upon verisimilitude, these surfaces are oxidized through polish and patina, recording varying levels of corrosion and distress that are unnatural to their original glass or plastic containers.
May-ling Martinez: Luminous Emergence
ONE is presenting Luminous Emergence by sculptor and mixed media artist May-ling Martinez. The center of the gallery space contains a released projector screen partly covered in methodically painted images arranged on the surface. Rock formations alongside cavern-like references to the body reveal entanglements materialized in image. Martinez weaves associations together from iconography found in How-To books designed to facilitate an understanding of our world. As an editor, Martinez uses these visual systems, as well as unoccupied space, to explore how this approach satisfies an innate need to understand and connect with our surroundings.
May-ling Martinez was born and raised in San Juan, Puerto Rico, and currently lives and works in San Diego, California. She received an MFA from San Diego State University and BA in Communications and Visual Arts from San Juan’s Sacred Heart University. She has exhibited extensively in the San Diego region and was a 2007-2008 recipient of the San Diego Art Prize in the Emerging Artist category.
