May 1 - June 2, 2024

Opening Reception: Friday, May 3, 6-8 pm

 “Speed of Life”
Blake Brasher

“Piece by Piece”
Alexandra Sheldon

“Speed of Life”
Blake Brasher 

Inspired by David Bowie's album "Low," particularly the track "Speed of Life," which served as a comforting backdrop during the artist's early experiences of parenthood, the show revolves around personal experiences intertwined with musical influences, family dynamics, and professional background. The artwork delves into nostalgia and memory. The artist incorporates various elements from their past, including childhood artifacts and digital remnants, into abstract compositions that serve as a scaffold for navigating the future while honoring the past.

The work is a sincere exploration of vulnerability and self-discovery, reflecting on the artist's transient childhood and the desire to integrate disparate aspects of their identity, including their career as an engineer at Boston Dynamics. Despite initial hesitations about merging technology with traditional media, the artist ventures into incorporating robotics into their art, creating paintings with motors that respond to viewers' presence through basic face detection. This experimentation represents a bold step towards embracing vulnerability and exploring the potential of interactive art, symbolizing the artist's journey towards integration and self-expression.

“Piece by Piece”
Alexandra Sheldon

Collage is a process of piecing together papers. When I began with the collages in this show, I gathered painted papers for a background. Then I would hunt for shapes to go into the backgrounds. Often the work got too busy, and then I’d try to simplify it by reintroducing backgrounds. This led to shifting surfaces and a back and forth feel which felt good to me.

Collage is, for me, a metaphor for living. It is difficult to live: to figure out how to balance work with family with body with money with time with everything. In the studio I am searching for combinations of energies. I want to fit in movement, color, shape, line, texture, light, feel, everything. I want suspense, sorrow, enthusiasm, inertia, joy, fear, exploration, everything.

If in real life I can hardly figure out how to live, at least in the studio I can attempt to jam in everything and explore everything. This is how I find myself: by spending long hours in the studio listening to music and trying to put papers together. Collage leads me and frustrates me, entices me and overjoys me.

And in the end, perhaps it’s those fleeting moments of fun and play in the studio which I love most. Just like in my life.