Benders

Brian DeGraw, John Newman, Stacy Fisher, Jon DeCola, Pinkney Herbert, Matias Arganaraz, Virginia Wagner, Lisa Corinne Davis

Real Estate Fine Art is pleased to present Benders, a group exhibition featuring painting, photography and sculpture. There is a great diversity to the work here in terms of media and subject matter; what connects these artists are threads of the psychedelic and dystopian, and an analog revulsion to our digitized information cycle.

All of the works in this show warp the expectations of perception. Forms are layered, twisted, and stretched in unexpected directions. Jon DeCola applies his unique 3-dimensional scanning technique to the unconventional detritus of everyday life. Lisa Corinne Davis’ work assaults the type of grid-based layering typically associated with map-making and computer simulations, creating a dizzying effect through the lens of painting. Matias Arganaraz’ paintings explore the tensions presented to a painter in an age of ever shortening attention spans. The results are visually unsettling in their disorienting sensuality.

Pinkney Herbert, Virginia Wagner, and Brian DeGraw tackle painting and drawing through methods that embody ecstatic criticality. Each artist approaches the two-dimensional as an open field that allows for both dialogue and abandon. In Pinkney Herbert’s paintings, the fractured landscapes of the city create a jumping off point for painterly exploration. The same could be said for Wagner’s unique approach to exploring the post industrial landscape. Brian DeGraw’s layered forms are playful, but there is an underlying sense of psychedelic unease that is as unnerving as it delightful.

Stacy Fisher’s three-dimensional work also engages childlike wonder but with an encroaching sense of unease generated by her off kilter formal decisions. John Newman’s sculptures approach the spiritual totem with a warped sense of humor and an inventive sense of form, creating a transcendent cognitive dissonance.

By detaching from any legible relationship to the timely, they manage to strike a poignant primordial chord. These artists take the all-too-real fears of our moment and bend them into something that is, if not joyful, fully engaged.