January 3 - 28, 2024

Opening Reception: Friday, January 5, 6-8 pm

SOLO 2024 WINNERS

The SOLO 2024 competition awards two debut exhibitions in a commercial gallery.
Juried by Ben Sloat, director of the MFA in Visual Arts program at Lesley University in Cambridge, MA

Maris Van Vlack
”The Blue of Distance”

Fu’una
”Måhålang (Longing)”

Maris Van Vlack
”The Blue of Distance”

The Blue of Distance features a series of textile objects that combine weaving, knitting, and paint to create layered and dimensional images referencing architecture, family history, and abandoned landscapes.

The imagery is drawn from an archive of family photographs, using layering of material as a process through which to explore the way that landscapes evolve overtime through geological and historical events. Each of these pieces function as a window through which to see layers of time and memory, and depict spaces that exist between the past and the present.  

Fu’una
”Måhålang (Longing)”

There are few things more consistent in my life than a sense of longing. To be Pacific Islander on the east coast is to feel like a part of you is always missing. In my trips to Guåhan, I’ve learned to make the most of my time. I gather images and ideas that feed my creative practice. This practice has helped me connect to wherever I am living.

In an era where we spend 90% of our lives in artificial environments, I find joy in the flora and fauna that indicate where you are. But biodiversity continues to shrink as land is eaten up by condos and shopping centers. For years I would draw dead animals not just for the poetry of their corpses but for the simple fact that we are an invasive species that has disrupted once thriving habitats. I seek out what I can find and compose them in my paintings into bouquets of animals, florals, and text.

The antidote to måhålang is presence and connection. My large scale paintings hint at memories of immersion and claim physical space where my subjects can live in perpetuity.