Kevin Peterson/Jacuba Gagnon
dal 2/11/2012 al 23/11/2012
Segnalato da
2/11/2012
Kevin Peterson/Jacuba Gagnon
Thinkspace, Culver City
Amended/More Human Than Human. Peterson's work is motivated by the tension of unexpected juxtapositions; a device the artist uses to evoke psychic states, and affective associations. The Gagnon's paintings are composed of dramatic expanses of pitch black negative space, populated by colorful hyper-realist renderings of wildlife in whimsical situations.
Thinkspace is pleased to present Amended, the gallery’s first solo exhibition of new work by Houston
based painter Kevin Peterson. Concurrently on display in the project room is More Human Than Human, featuring new
work by Canadian artist Jacub Gagnon.
Kevin Peterson’s work is fundamentally motivated by the tension of unexpected juxtapositions; a device the artist uses to
evoke psychic states, and affective associations. As an artist with a psychologically driven interest in his subject matter,
his understated portrayals of isolation speak of subtle emotional estrangement and social alienation.
Peterson extracts, with sensitive acuity, a shared state of human fissure and disconnect, a theme saliently represented
within the imperfect context of the urban landscape. The dirty grittiness of urbanity is often the bereft backdrop for lonely
portraits of innocent children, or for symbols of innocence degraded by the unrelenting havoc of their surroundings.
The juxtaposition of these polarities forces us to reconsider subjectivity in context, and quite literally situates the subject as an
enigmatic and contentious force within its environment; as something independent of, and yet intrinsically affected by, the
conditions of its world. His empathetic depictions of these scenes betray the insights of someone who has perhaps
suffered in kind. Despite the haunting sense of absence and loss that pervades these paintings, the possibility of
innocence and beauty remains intact against desolate landscapes. In the face of decay and squalor something
nonetheless exceeds its confines, and a sort of beautiful destitution prevails.
The artist’s studies in psychology, and his subsequent struggle with addiction, have informed a very human depiction of
dysfunction, loss, and estrangement. His paintings depict a contemporary reality defined by contradiction, irresolution, and
imperfection, and yet they also remind us of the possibility of change. The realistically rendered figurative elements of the
work are set against great expanses of surrounding negative space, effectively isolating the subject within the charged
absence of the city. The artist plays with contradiction and expectation, and allows the concept of “self” to emerge as a
complex and unresolved entity in a constant state of becoming.
ON VIEW IN OUR PROJECT ROOM:
Jacuba Gagnon ‘More Human Than Human’
Jacub Gagnon is one of Toronto’s emerging contemporary talents. The artist’s paintings are composed of dramatic
expanses of pitch black negative space, populated by colorful hyper-realist renderings of wildlife in whimsical situations.
The little creatures of Gagnon’s imaginings surrealistically activate human objects with both absurd and adorable end
results. Meticulously detailed and rendered, with the application of delicate layers, Gagnon’s colors and textures are jewel
like. The artist’s scenarios are those of fantasy, summoned by an unfettered imagination and uninhibited by the restrictive
logic of reality. Gagnon probes the fine line between the innocuous and the sinister, effortlessly subverting the order of the
natural world.
The work combines the preciousness of miniaturization with the whimsy of fantastical narrative. At times uncanny and
dark in their unlikely combinations, the pieces activate unprecedented relationships between the animal and human
worlds, and transfigure wild animals into anthropomorphic guises; like eerie little impostors of the human. We are seduced
by a detailed and luminous surface, and fascinated by its circus of creatures. The paintings are almost Baroque in their
drama and intensity, but undeniably contemporary in their aesthetic. Humor abounds in this land of carnival and inversion:
scale is subverted, and natural relationships are defied. It is a world of disproportion and excess, as anything is possible,
and nothing too perverse, in the descent down the rabbit hole. Gagnon deploys a trove of visual pleasures for the viewer,
and creates a threshold into a world of boundless fantasy.
Press and Media Inquiries:
Andrew Hosner
contact(at)thinkspacegallery(dot)com
T: 310.403.8549
Reception with the artists:
3rd Sat., November 3 6-9PM
Thinkspace
6009 Washington Blvd, Culver City
Hours: Wednesday - Friday 1:00PM – 6:00PM and Saturday 1:00PM – 8:00PM
Free Admission