A Group exhibition
Exhibition: June 17 - July 31, 2015
For gallery nine5’s summer exhibition, we invite you to experience WILD, a semi-conceptual art garden that features works by contemporary artists influenced by flora, fauna, and everything beyond and in between. Through literal and less-literal interpretations of botany and nature, participating artists in gallery nine5’s group exhibition create a transformative experience intent on engaging all senses, mimicking the stimuli of the outside world. WILD features Jessica Lichtenstein, Katherine Tzu-Lan Mann, Peter Gerakaris, Seungmo Park, Tatyana Murray, Kirsten Kay Thoen, Lina Puerta, LeRone Wilson, and Ivan Stojakovic. Each artist exemplifies a novel approach to the relationship between constructed and organic realities. As the title piece of the show, WILD by Jessica Lichtenstein encapsulates the playfulness inherent in naturally occurring gardens. Female forms frolic in a wooded scene, inviting those outside their world to join them within it. In opposition, Peter Gerakaris’s Rappacini series, which depicts the old Italian fairy-tale of the tragic story of a young man and his literally poisonous love, uses blaring neons and mysterious faces to lure viewers in. Kirsten Kay Thoen unveils one of her hanging structures for the first time in WILD, showing her deft handling of industrial materials, particularly when juxtaposed against her photographs of far-off natural landscapes and forms. Her work hangs in the middle of the back room. Tatyana Murray utilizes a similar mutli-layered approach to her haunting glass works. Handetching each glass pane, Murray creates literal and figurative depth in her Ghost Tree, using LED lighting to highlight the individuality of each leaf and each branch; only by stepping back does the intricacy lend itself to a great organic form.
It is LeRone Wilson’s encaustic sculpture-paintings that grasp viewers’ attentions through their exploration of texture. Melted encaustic finds itself molded, pressed, formed, and handled into lush, naturally-occurring forms that call to the imagination fresh blades of grass or underwater plant life. Katherine Tzu-Lan Mann’s long Untitled work accomplishes this sensation as well: thick vellum overlays her traditional paper, inviting one to engage multiple senses when viewing her work. The abstracted forms in the piece shape and swirl, protrude and hollow out, simultaneously wild and precise in their many manifestations. Ivan Stojakovic’s geographical gardens of succulents investigate the tension between architectural and natural landscaping. Composed of live plants, the shapes of Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx, Staten Island, and other cityscapes lend themselves to simultaneous nostalgia and fear. The tension inherent in the battle between a growing garden and a developed urban center are visualized with Stojakovic’s works.
Throughout the gallery, Lina Puerta’s installations hang, caress, hug corners, and sprout within the architecture of the space. Her works resonate as bodily forms, organs that live and breathe, organisms that threaten to overtake the space, yet somehow live harmoniously within it. gallery nine5 invites you to fully explore WILD; to live, breathe, play, touch, feel, experience a fully-formed art garden that seeks to engage every single sense you possess. See colors and forms expanding around you and imagine the concepts they inspire or are inspired by. WILD provides an opportunity to escape the drudgery of daily life. Settle in. Explore. Maureen Chung Exhibitions Manager
Jessica Lichtenstein WILD Editions of 3 + 2 Artist Proofs C- print on acrylic 29 x 85 1/2 x 2 in | 73.7 x 217.2 x 5.1 cm
Jessica Lichtenstein BLISS Editions of 3 + 2 Artist Proofs C- print on acrylic 35 x 80 x 2 in | 89 x 203 x 5 cm
Katherine Tzu-Lan Mann Palimpsest Acrylic, wood cut and sumi ink on paper 118 x 50 in | 299.7 x 127 cm
Katherine Tzu-Lan Mann Untitled IV Acrylic, woodcut and sumi ink on mylar 40 x 175 3/4 in | 101.6 x 446.4 cm
Kirsten Kay Thoen Geothermal Prism Editions of 6 Brushed bronze, duratrans, plexiglass, LEDs 24 x 24 x 36 1/2 in | 61 x 61 x 92.7 cm
Lina Puerta Lacelimb Polyurethane, polystyrene, concrete, paint, fabric, lace, fiberfill, artificial plant and moss; beads, trims, sequins and acrylic rods 23 x 18 1/2 x 23 in | 58.4 x 47 x 58.4 cm (dimensions variable)
Lina Puerta Round Polyurethane, polystyrene, concrete, paint, fabric, lace, artificial plants and moss; beads, acrylic sheeting and found wood 137 x 23 x 15 in | 348 x 58.4 x 38.1 cm (including stand)
Image courtesy of Bill Orcutt/Jack Geary Contemporary
Lina Puerta Untitled (Rose) Wood, polyurethane, concrete, wire, acrylicsheeting, paint, fabric, lace, artificial moss, beads, trims, swarovski crystals and flock 20 x 18 3/4 x 1 1/4 in | 58.8 x 47.6 x 3.2 cm
Lina Puerta Untitled (Purple) Concrete, polyurethane foam, wood, reed mesh, fabric, lace, acrylic sheeting, artificial moss, swarovski crystals and flocking 41 x 40 1/2 x 2 in | 104.1 x 102.9 x 5.1 cm
Image courtesy of Bill Orcutt/Jack Geary Contemporary
Lina Puerta Untitled (Tree and Frame) Concrete, polyurethane foam, reed mesh, wire, paint, fabric, lace, leather, faux fur, artificial moss and plant, frame, chains, broken jewelry, feathers, flocking, swarovski crystals and beads 57 x 37 x 5 in | 144.8 x 99.1 x 12.7 cm
Image courtesy of Bill Orcutt/Jack Geary Contemporary
LeRone Wilson Rest Finds Grace #3 Encaustic on panel 28 1/2 x 46 1/2 x 5 in | 72.4 x 118.1 x 12.7 cm
LeRone Wilson Eternal Passage Encaustic on panel 24 x 24 x 2 1/2 in | 61 x 61 x 6.3 cm
LeRone Wilson Resting in Green Pastures Encaustic on panel 22 x 22 x 2 1/2 in | 55.9 x 55.9 x 6.4 cm
LeRone Wilson Crown Gathering Encaustic on panel 13 x 13 x 3 1/4 in | 33 x 33 x 8.3 cm
Ivan Stojakovic NYC, Five Boroughs Succulent plants,paint, wood panel, plexiglass, synthetic felt, corrugated plastic, and honeycomb core 66 x 98 x 8 in | 167.6 x 248.9 x 20.3 cm (dimensions variable)
Ivan Stojakovic Battery Park Live succulent plants, paint, wood panel, plexiglass, synthetic felt, corrugated plastic, honeycomb core 38 x 32 in | 96.5 x 81.3 cm
Ivan Stojakovic Atlantis (Modular Sculpture) Succulent plants, soil, stainless steel, brushed steel frame, plexiglass, corrugated plastic, and honeycomb core 21 x 48 x 24 1/2 in | 53.3 x 121.9 x 62.2 cm
Peter Gerakaris Rappacini Chartreuse Muse Tondo Oil, acrylic, polymer, and mirror on round canvas Diameter: 41 in | 104.1 cm
Peter Gerakaris Rappacini Terrarium Girl Tondo I and II Oil on canvas over panel Diameter: 24 in | 61 cm (each)
Peter Gerakaris Kalanchoe by Starlight (aka Kalanchoe Cosmos) Gouache, acrylic, pen and ink on paper 18 x 18 in | 45.7 x 45.7 cm (framed)
Little Umbrellas Gouache, acrylic, pen and ink on paper 18 x 18 in | 45.7 x 45.7 cm (framed)
Tatyana Murray Ghost Tree I Glass, LED lights, plexiglass, wooden frame 48 1/2 x 30 x 7 in | 123.2 x 76.2 x 17.8 cm
Tatyana Murray Ghost Tree II Glass, LED lights, plexiglass, wooden frame 37 1/2 x 22 1/2 x 6 in | 92.3 x 57.1 x 15.2 cm
24 spring street new york, ny, 10012 | 212.965.9995 | info@gallerynine5.com