AWNY 5: Sight

We Are L.I.C: Curated exhibition by Yigal Ozeri
Through 10 March 2008
Thursday-Sunday Noon-7 P.M. & Monday by appointment
Dean Project
45-43 21st Street
Long Island City, NY 11101
(718) 706-1462
www.deanproject.com

Tucked away across the street from P.S. 1 in Long Island City is the unassuming home of the Dean Project. Through March 10th, the gallery is featuring the work of seven Long Island City artists in their mid twenties and early thirties who use more traditional figurative representations to explore the themes of today. Both the show and the space are delightful detour on a trip to the gallery’s larger neighbor across the street.

From the gallery: “Using taxidermy animals, technology imagery, and material culture references from our daily life, Bryan Drury builds fascinating narratives of beauty and deterioration. His almost scientific technique of fine and meticulous detail results in a picture of tremendous energy and feeling.

Dina Brodsky paintings are created from memory and imaginary landscapes. Brodsky invites the viewer to explore the fine detail of her work captured by the exclusivity of her memory, and therefore to question the nature of representation in her work.

Michelle Doll depicts intimate moments of her daily routine that address ideas of personal identity. The physicality and use of color in her paintings plays with notions of environmental home décor, and idealization of the female image.

Rachel Deutch has a strong background in classical portraiture that is evident in her work. These compelling portraits are exactly created and have a fresh quality of such a high intensity that emotionally connects the viewers with her subjects as if these were from a personal source.

Tun Myang’s work deals with the balance of life and the certainty of death. Myang depicts this by creating a silent dialogue between the two dead entities. This interaction creates a mystery that overshadows the simplicity of his paintings.

Out of the seven artists in this exhibition Virginia Martinsen and Caitlin Hurd are the two artists whose painting style incorporate conventional traditional figurative representation and modernist art aesthetics. Martinsen’s work, which she creates by a process of throwing and pouring paint on canvas creating a vivid comparison to the blood vessels of the human body. Caitlin Hurd employs painting techniques associated with modern painting and incorporates concealed human imagery to depict her emotional reactions to certain ideals in our society.”