THE FOCUS

I am interested in the constant flux of the visual world. Through common distortions of light, shadow, and atmosphere the familiar becomes abstracted and unfamiliar. Thus - for a fleeting moment - the mundane transforms into the sublime. Heather Hartman, Studio Visit, December 2017 Heather Hartman, Studio Visit, December 2017 My work explores how these phenomena affect my own sense of perception and physical location through a material-driven painting process. Using reductive abstraction, I synthesize the transient elements of my surroundings into...

I am a confused person making what my friend and fellow artist Nick Stolle called "forlorn propoganda." Lots of energy but no guide. Energy free for the taking. Placeholders and stand ins. Signals. Precoded Symbols. Marking a territory, taking up space. Enter new word here. Name it ambiguity. Single it out as a locatable and symbolic, psychological space: Anxiety ridden AMBIGUITY. Flags to urge on and usher in the future. Symbols for the not yet made, a coming production. Magic...

My sculptures reflect the sensibility that an object stands as a momentary physical manifestation of an ongoing process. They provide evidence of unseen forces, and they point to the distinction between the human and the non-human. Throughout the natural world, unexpected complexity emerges from simple, persistent processes. Ben Butler, Old Growth, 2017, painted steel, 24' x 22' x 4' Ben Butler, Studio Visit, October 2017 Ben Butler, Vertebrates, 2017, OSB board and douglas fir 2x4's, 8' x 38' x 31' Ben Butler,...

Every day we make countless attempts to memorialize our experiences. We snap photographs, collect souvenirs, and spend hours re-imagining past events. Collectively, we hoard objects in museums, build altarpieces, and canonize stories in books and theater. Through various forms of representation, we create surrogates for the irretrievable histories we long to preserve. However, efforts to present complete and accurate versions of history are often romanticized abstractions. Mary Laube, Studio Visit, November 2017 Mary Laube, Studio Visit, November 2017 Mary Laube, Studio Visit,...

I pursue interaction and perception from my role as observer, occupied by the unremarkable and in the relationships that exist within our everyday exchanges. I am interested in the ordinary and the staged, the potential for theatricality within the banality of the everyday. Drawing from the quotidian and familiar, I navigate the space between seeing and describing, interpretation and invention. Christina Renfer Vogel, Studio Visit, November 2017 Christina Renfer Vogel, Studio Visit, November 2017 Reflecting direct...

Sucsy creates abstract paintings that negotiate boundaries. She investigates the exchange between fragility, balance, and duplicity. Laurel Sucsy, Studio Visit, October 2017 Laurel Sucsy, Studio Visit, October 2017 Laurel Sucsy, Studio Visit, October 2017 Using color, scale and composition, her work embodies ideas of interdependency and a process of recognition, where relationships are ever shifting. In particular, she explores the effect of time as a component of perception. Laurel Sucsy, Studio Visit, October 2017 Laurel Sucsy, Studio Visit, October 2017 Laurel Sucsy, Studio Visit, October 2017...

Häxan Grant Barbour and I are collaborating on a shadow puppet performance that reimagines myths about witch trials and religious extremism in the 16th and 17th centuries in Germany, France and colonial America. Häxan is a series of shadow vignettes that portray mythical, carnal, and absurd relationships between the devil, the accuser, and the accused. Studio Visit, Johanna Winters + Grant Barbour, October 2017 Studio Visit, Johanna Winters + Grant Barbour, October 2017 Studio Visit, Johanna Winters + Grant Barbour, October 2017 Our interest in...

I paint with fire because it is the closest way to connect with nature. I light the candle, pick up my canvas and go underneath of it. The fire falls onto the canvas while I dance with my hand, like a conductor with music. I begin to see patterns that land onto the canvas and then I stop. This moment while I stop is the most important, it’s the time where I stop to look. Tara Walters, Studio Visit, Oc...