IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Physically Practiced – May 16th – June 1st 2013
Physically Practiced will be opening at RUSH Arts Gallery in the main exhibition space curated by Charlotte Mouquin, which includes artists Samson Contompasis, Musa Hixson, John Lee, and Jonathan Villoch (Depoe). Physically Practiced draws together b-boying and martial arts with earth art, meditation, pop portraits, and street art. The opening Reception will be on Thursday May 16th from 6-8pm at Rush Arts Gallery 526 W 26th St Suite 311, New York, NY. There will be a closing reception with performance Artist MarIo [Or Am I] Platypus on Saturday, June 1st from 3-5pm.
In Physically Practiced Parsons MFA candidate John Lee incorporates B-boying and Taekwondo into his art making practice. His performance pieces are captured on video as he creates drawings and painting by moving his physical form through space. Lee’s philosophy “movement is the most profound proof of existence in time and space” is exemplified through his dances with molten glass, taekwondo destruction form of painting, and the meditation of his body as a physical moving shape creating drawings captured on video. Musa Hixson a Brooklyn based installation artist and sculptor is inspired through practiced meditation on materials. Hixson states, “I am not attempting to turn materials into some ‘thing’ I help the soul of the material reveal itself.” Installed at Rush Arts Gallery for the first time is an enlarged Soul Tablet titled Illuminated Song, which consist of wood, earth, writing and weaving connecting the viewer to space, earth, time and movement. This meditation is mirrored in the floor sculpture Vision Pod 2.
On display Samson Contompasis has large scale paintings from two series including Creating the Icon and The Art of Violence. Creating the Icon examines the way an iconic portrait is created through reducing images to bare essentials, instead of using pop icons Contompasis is creating his own through portraits of real women in his life. By commemorating the women around him Contompasis is also raising awareness of women’s rights. He is planning to create a total of 500 portraits. Some of the portraits from the Creating the Icon series overlap with another project Contompasis has developed The Art of Violence, which combines the violence of fighting with the creation of action painting abstraction. Debuting at Rush Arts Gallery will be the trailer of this intense physical project. Creating the Icon began through collaboration by breaking down a 12 x 20 foot mural at The Marketplace Gallery in Albany, NY by street painter and muralist Jonathan Villoch also know as Depoe. Villoch uses abstraction and bold colors to create a pictographic language telling stories of his surroundings to create large-scale murals. Villoch is also an avid printmaker; the murals begin with notes taken in etchings, woodcuts, and silkscreen. At Rush Arts Gallery he will be creating a wall painting, as well as showing a video documenting his practices.
For Inquiries contact Charlotte Mouquin, charlotte.mouquin@gmail.com
845-480-1258
Zoetic – May 16th – June 1st 2013
Zoetic, a solo exhibition with artist Drew Testa curated by Charlotte Mouquin, will be opening at RUSH Arts Gallery project space on Thursday, May 16th from 6-8pm at Rush Arts Gallery, 526 W 26th St Suite 311, New York, NY. There will be a closing reception with performance Artist Marious [Or Am I] Platypus on Saturday, June 1st from 3-5pm.
Testa’s tactile biomorphic sculptures are created of knitted yarn, masonite, and insulation foam which live both on and off the wall. These breathing forms swirl in the Rush Arts Gallery Project Sapce forming a living forest of textiles. Inspired by the vastness of the universe and the smallness of single organisms, these shapes warp perceptions of scale. One form seems to grow out of another as if taking on a life of it’s own, hence Zoetic. The sculptures are born out of meticulous, meditative, and obsessive knitting come to life with the addition of various types of foam.
Tessta hails from the Capital Region of New York State with a BS in Studio Art from Skidmore College and a MS in Art Education from the College of St. Rose. Testa is one of the selected artists from the Rush Arts Gallery and Corridor Gallery submission process, which is free and open to all artists.
Zoetic, the Chelsea debut for Testa, combines wall sculptures, aerial sculptures, and floor pieces, which come together to create an entire living environment. The closing reception on Saturday June 1st 3-5pm,will also feature the character performance artist Marious [Or Am I] Platypus who will be reacting conceptually to the living walls of the Rush Arts Gallery Project Space in Zoetic.
For Inquiries contact Charlotte Mouquin charlotte.mouquin@gmail.com 845-480-1258
