Phantasma

Katherine Aungier, Daniel Castro, Catie Dillon, Nick Elisku, Katelyn Kopenhaver, Miles Shelton

We commonly associate the word ‘phantasma’ with the Romance-language cognate for ‘ghost’ or ‘fantasma’. However, the older word ‘phantasma’ is actually an ancient Greek noun derived from the verb ‘to bring to light’. But over the centuries, this word meaning ‘enlightenment’ took on the new meaning of ‘a vision’ or an ‘apparition’ – a ghost.

Was the transcendent concept of ‘bringing to light’ too slippery for our increasingly material minds? Throughout history we have stories of ghosts appearing to us with signs and hints – ghouls, haunting debt-collectors, unsettled relatives, and now – plumped-up rich lifestyle tik-tok apparitions. These ghosts are manifested from fear, as an attempt to visualize and render in human-form the invisible systems that constrain us, divide us, and cause us desire. In the turn from ‘phantasma’ to ‘fantasma’, we replaced enlightenment with cult capitalist conspiracy. We must turn our gaze away from apparitions, towards the actual bodies, enlightened in neighborly neon, who are sitting right next to us.

Daniel Castro (NYC) is a multi-media artist who holds a BFA from SUNY Purchase, an MFA from Columbia University, and is a current Bronx Museum AIM Fellow. Their work highlights themes of cultural identity and erasure within the urban landscape. By recontextualizing forms in space, they create imagery that wrestles with the dual complexity of both the desire to be visible, and the vulnerability of being seen.

Katelyn Kopenhaver (Miami, FL) holds a BFA from The School of Visual Arts, and is a NYFA fellow. She is currently in residence at The Bakehouse Art Complex in Miami. Her work examines mechanisms through which power circulates, and exposes what is withheld. Working with advertising language, photography, printmaking, and her own body, her work destabilizes recognition to upend authority.

Miles Shelton (NYC) was born and raised in Brooklyn and holds a BFA from SUNY Purchase. His work draws on a formative fascination with sign painting and color theory. His paintings distort and rework familiar visuals like fluorescent price tag stickers, morphing them into precisionist explorations of perception and value, asking us to question how we assign value, and why.

Katherine Aungier (Portland / NYC) is an artist working across painting, installation, performance, and collaborative projects. She employs multisensory engagement to challenge conventional hierarchies of perception and participation. Katherine holds a BFA from The School of The Museum of Fine Arts Boston, and an MFA from UC Irvine. She is a current Ford Foundation Fellow in Visual Art.

Nick Eliscu (NYC) is a singer-songwriter who creates R&B rooted in authenticity, raw emotion and a wide range of musical influences. Drawing from personal experiences, he uses music as an outlet for expression and storytelling, extending this vision into the direction and editing of his music videos, which are currently on view at Beverly’s. As part of this exhibition, Eliscu debuted his new single "More."

Catie Dillon (NYC) makes psychological, abstract paintings about interconnectedness. Her sweeping gestures of layered and scraped paint uncover accumulating spiraling lines – asking your eye to find its way to the hopefulness of the background’s light. Catie received her BFA from Penn State, and her MFA from Hunter. Recent residencies include Wassaic, Fish Factory Finland, and PADA Studios Portugal.