Ti Art Studios #39
183 Lorraine Street
Brooklyn, NY 11231
I heard a Fly buzz – when I died
Exhibition dates: April 6 & 7
Opening reception: April 6th, 6-9pm
Ti Art Studios is proud to present I heard a Fly buzz – when I died. A two day exhibition of artworks by ten artists from Brooklyn, Canada, and Chile. The artists in this exhibition – Melissa Capasso, Scott Everingham, Austin Furtak-Cole, Paul Gagner, Elsie Kagan, Re McBride, Emilia Olsen, Anna Ortiz, Libby Rosa, and Marcos Sanchez – present work that focuses on the relationship between death and humor.
The exhibition title is taken from one of Emily Dickinson’s most famous poems in which she describes an annoying mental distraction at the most crucial moment of death. The poem builds describing the subject’s struggle to focus on her loved ones as she slowly slips away. At the final moment of death, the subject gazes at her loved ones who have gathered to say farewell only to have her last view blocked by the fly landing on her eye. The work in this exhibition speaks to this idea of dark humor and hilarity at the most final of moments. The reception for I heard a Fly buzz – when I died will take place on April 6th from 6-9pm.
About the artists in the exhibition:
Melissa Capasso’s work infuses recognizable and subconscious imagery where line and form create a continuous struggle for dominance all while Melissa is along for the ride. While seemingly playful, there is always a tense sensation in the work and a feeling that something has taken place during the process of it’s creation.
Scott Everingham has an ability to put action, locomotion, feeling, personality into the simpliest of brush strokes. Upon further inspection, one see’s that there is nothing simple about them. Everingham’s narrative abstractions explore structure and a psychological connection to the viewer.
Re McBride’s paintings have an inherent nostalgia built into their bones. Cemeteries, grafiti, abandoned buildings, and Christmas decorations are recurring subjects which are painted in elevated hues of heavy watercolor and loose oil paint. Figure and ground separate and hover one over the other giving the viewer space to enter the work and to wander around within her compositions.
Paul Gagner’s satirical work turns the viewer’s eye towards himself as he uses humor to bring focus to his own uncertainty, absurdity, and anxiety over being an artist.
Austin Furtak-Cole’s work painted mainly in flashe on paper is littered with personal iconographies which teeter between morose absurdity and a calming hilarity. Pulling from personal experiences, Furtak-Cole uses the language of still life to place body parts and objects set in a surrealistic landscape.
Libby Rosa mines the socio-political dilemmas of female performativity using the vocabulary of theatrical backdrop painting and surreal landscapes. While often dealing with serious subject matter, her paintings have a playful palpability that can redirect the often-violent pressures internalized by a female body.
Elsie Kagan’s work exposes the urgent and all-encompassing twin experiences of motherhood and of loss. Always testing the line between representation and abstraction, Kagan’s pieces find a quiet calm between time rushing by and simultaneously slowing to a standstill.
Marcos Sanchez is a chilean visual artist, animator, and filmmaker. Always playful, Marcos’ paintings and sculptures reveal endless worlds of mischief hidden within forms we previously thought to be understood.
Emilia Olsen paints new life into the allegory of death’s trist with worldly desires. Pulling from historical references and her own memories, Olsen paints a palpable melancholy that stresses our uncertainties about life and what comes after.
Anna Ortiz creates landscape paintings of eerie abandonment. Despite her alluring pallet there is a stillness in her compositions that suggests a recent loss. Structures sit within earthen mounds like bones. In Ortiz’s newer work, totems have begun to appear in the landscapes. These relics are both lively but mortal at the same time.
