RAW
Word and Image
Pictures are worth a thousand words. Paintings can be composed of boundless raw
materials, including food for thought, considerations of the flesh, and examination of
the physical locus of our being. Protein, carbohydrates, and encouragement are
what keep us going. Maps, phrases, and daily sustenance support and nourish our
daily existence. A random bullet can stop us dead and end everything in a second.
Paintings by Kate Ryan study meat: slain, drawn, and quartered chickens, entrails
and parts. Paintings of daily bread by artist Riccardo Vecchio, Michetta, form a series
of quietly intriguing unique observations. Word paintings by William Hempel,
including the Insults, painted with food-grade oils like poppy, linseed, and olive oil,
and the “Right Place at the Wrong Time,” series of paintings, made with a series of
physical constraints, remind us of the constant need for reassurance and
encouragement in our daily existence. Christopher Smith’s Underbody takes the
simple movement of paint and transforms it into a sensual meditation on perceived
reality. Piers Secunda collects bullet holes from actual sites of targeted violence, and
then molds them in paint, quietly asking big questions with small pieces of evidence
taken from random and pointless acts of aggression.
With perception, humor, and visual acuity, these artists convey a sense of daily
poetic transcendence over the quotidian lot of humanity.
Featuring paintings and video by William Hempel, Kate Ryan, Piers Secunda,
Christopher Smith, Riccardo Vecchio
Curated by Lisa A. Banner
SPACE776
229 Central Avenue, Brooklyn 11221