Let's Walk

Philip Hackworth Ashley

Todd Bienvenu

Ariel Dill

Alexander Heffesse

Andy Ralph

Since the dawn of abstraction, as the most pure and progressive art form, figurative art has been persistently classified as the antithesis of abstract art and vice-versa. Mostly labeled as conservative and/or academic, figurative art has repeatedly fallen out of favor with the avant-garde at the hands of abstraction's endless possibilities, freedom of expression, and promising sense of opportunity.

However, this is old news. Modernity's love-hate storyline of the new versus the old is still very much 'in' for some. Every now and then someone says...

"but anybody could do that . . . "

"where is the spectator supposed to fit in?"

"that is so decorative!"

"that is so literal"

"there is no room for my imagination in that!"

Etcetera, etcetera, etcetera.

Luckily, for many of us born after 1980, these kinds of soap opera dramas are nonsense. What we want to look at is art as a whole. Period.

In this line, Let's Walk, brings together a diverse group of artists to show that trying to trace a line between abstraction and figuration is not only wrong but also an obsolete move. Moreover this exhibition is neither meant to be a show highlighting figurative art's glorious comeback, or about its power of transformation and adaption. Rather, through various media and individual narratives, simply explores the many possibilities of the figure as leitmotif in contemporary art and culture.

As a person with an upright body needs to constantly make adjustments to maintain balance while walking, we would like to believe that art-making or art history is no different that walking. Let's walk, and keep the conversation moving.