C E R A S O L I Gallery presents a selection of works by three artists working with collage as their medium, MATT PHILLIPS 'Out Through The In Door' in Gallery One, MARIO WAGNER 'Some Are Here And Some Are Missing' in Gallery Two, and SETH CURCIO 'Beyond A Shadow' in Gallery Three at Cerasoli. Opens June 13, 2009, and remains on view through July 8, 2009.
Utilizing a multi-faceted approach to painting, Matt Phillips' large-scale, oil and collage on canvas artworks reference op-art, pattern painting, mosaics and textiles. Phillips approaches his multilayered, dynamically textured, collage paintings as both object and illusion. Prismatic, lively and rhythmic, accessible cube-grids and diamond quilt-piece patterns are viewed through transparent cracks, sketchy loops and crooked squares. The artist's intentional interruption of patterned space fractures his already frenetic compositions into kaleidoscopic abstractions. Plays on shape, color and movement result in paintings that are both formal and lyrical, quirky yet familiar. Originally from Roanoke, Virginia, Phillips received his degree in visual art and art history from Hampshire College, where he has taught as a visiting professor.
In Mario Wagner's collage on canvas works, high contrast images of 1960s cool are layered onto large-scale vintage settings, tinted in lurid colors and populated by men in three piece suits and girls with shiny hair, clustered hands and disembodied eyes. Wagner draws from familiar Modernist techniques such as Dadaist collage and photomontage to create his paper collage and acrylic on canvas works. Created using ‘analog’ processes with scissor, glue and acrylic, Wagner's surreal scenes of intrigue and glamour exude an underlying false sense of nostalgia for a bygone era of an overindulged society. Wagner, a German-born artist and illustrator, has been shown in numerous international exhibitions and his illustrations and artworks have been commissioned by Esquire, Playboy, Vanity Fair, and The New York Times Magazine.
Seth Curcio implements Xerox and laser copiers, billboard pasting, enamel paints, and screen prints -- what he describes as "the accessible materials of mass commerce" -- in the construction of his mid sized collages on paper and panel. At first glance, Curcio's pictures resemble familiar contemporary landscapes, but on further inspection, a perplexing multiplicity imbues Curcio's images with hallucinogenic static. Kaleidoscopic explosions splinter a high-rise building into a shadowy house of cards. At other times, patterns multiply like mushrooms within celestial landscapes that mirror both the surface of the moon and the interior of the Mir space station. Disquieting and complex, each work encourages the viewer to decipher the authenticity, means of creation, and newly constructed narrative of its imagery. Resembling photo-real environments shredded and then pieced together from memory, an intricate mesh which captures the claustrophobic and endlessly reconstructed nature of our contemporary culture, Curcio's works blur the boundaries between artifice and reality. Curcio has served as director of Redux Contemporary Art Center and is the publisher of the art blog Dailyserving.com.
C E R A S O L I gallery is located at 8530- b Washington Blvd. Culver City, CA 90232, and is open Tuesday - Saturday 11am - 6pm. For additional information contact, Freddi Cerasoli at contact@cerasoligallery.com or (310) 954 5974 Website: http://www.cerasoligallery.com
Imaged credit: Mario Wagner, Ghost, 2009, Paper collage & acrylic on canvas, 55 x 35"
via Lucy Beer/Elemental Consulting
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