Down the Rabbit Hole: The Influence of the Strange and the Familiar
Reception for the artist: Friday September 10, 2010 7-10 pm
EMILY AMY GALLERY is pleased to present Down the Rabbit Hole, an exhibition of new works by Georgia-based artists, Jennifer Cawley and Zuzka Vaclavik and New York-based, Cara Enteles. The exhibition features multi-media works incorporating encaustic, plexiglas and watercolor. Please join us in welcoming the artists for the opening reception of the exhibition, Friday, September 10th, from 7pm-10pm.
The title of the exhibition, Down the Rabbit Hole, alludes to the concept of the unexplained, the strange, and the fantastical all present in the work of the included artists. Working in a variety of new media, the three women explore the bizarre by utilizing jarring color, unrecognizable shapes, and non-sensical narrative. Albeit strange, the works having a striking familiarity at the same time challenging the viewer to ponder the meaning hidden underneath the imaginative facade.
Zuzka Vaclavik, "Like a Stone Only Better," 44" x 44", Mixed media on paper
Inspired by works of Lewis Carroll, Roald Dahl, Henry Darger, Hayao Miyazaki, and Max Ernst, Jennifer Cawley creates mixed media paintings about the moments when we are suddenly confronted with outside forces that we cannot comprehend or control, grappling with concepts outside of our comfort zone and our minds whirring with disparate images that we try to connect in some meaningful way. Working in a process of found-object collage and encaustic, Cawley’s work explores the unsearchable elements in our earthly experience.
Cara Enteles’ work analyzes predator/prey relationships within nature as well as the effects of man’s destructive actions on the natural world. Different bodies of work explore the various techniques animals employ for survival. The paintings are painted on aluminum panels, acrylic sheets (plexiglas) or a layering of both, allowing Enteles to merge the content with the medium on a surface that can offer something of its own, and expand the language of the paint.
In Zuzka Vaclavik’s works, the culturally familiar tags of decay combine with urban bloom in a micro/macro flip-flop which catapults the viewer through a series of inner and outer worlds. She makes post-graffiti, bio-morphic, automatic gestures, and is compelled by images that expand and contract. Lines evoke new visual phenomena and exist in a state of continuous transition and play. Household references evolve into stranger passages of science fictions. Working mainly in watercolor, Vaclavik is creating a visual language that integrates contemporary aesthetics and views with the pulse of the everyday fantastic.
Down the Rabbit Hole marks the first time these three artists have shown together in Atlanta. The show continues through October 23rd. Please join us in welcoming the exhibited artists to Emily Amy Gallery to celebrate the opening of their show. Cocktails and hors d’oeuvres will be served and the artists will be present to answer questions. I hope you can join us!