On the Fringe of Nature Amy Chan, Siobhan McBride and John Slaby
November 6th - December 5th, 2009 Opening Reception, Friday, November 6th, 6 - 9 PM
Gallery is open by appointment, arranging weekend visits is encouraged.
Mount Airy Contemporary Artists Space is pleased to present On the Fringe of Nature, an exhibition of the works of Amy Chan, Siobhan McBride and John Slaby, opening November 6th 2009.
All three artists engage in work that inhabits the region where human habitation intermingles with the natural environment - a porous, permeable border where neither civilization nor nature remains pristine, and cross-pollination can create surprises.
Amy Chan's paintings are pastoral landscapes in which the scale, color or gravity of objects is set askew, creating a sense of unease. The carefully observed foreground is set against an acidic sky that can act as either a deep atmosphere or a painted billboard. The painting style mimics screen-printing and wallpaper, with simplified plant forms and flat colors.
In Siobhan McBride's work, solitary warehouses and vaguely habitable structures squat under darkened skies that hang low over the landscape; weeds and bracken push up through the margins between concrete, brick and debris. McBride is influenced by urban domestic living and the industrial debris of Red Hook, Brooklyn. She draws from various source material for her content - photographs (both taken and scavenged), and her own filtered impressions of everyday experiences moving within the urban landscape.
John Slaby's work invites the viewer to witness the world of technology converging with the natural world. Knowledge hungry humans leave their mark throughout the landscapes while the creatures of the earth instinctively go about their daily rituals.
View photos from opening reception posted on flickr.
Amy Chan, Fiskars Rinne, 48" x 48", gouache on paper, 2009Siobhan McBride, Moody House, 14" x 20", gouache on paper, 2009
John Slaby, Brave New World, 18" x 26", acrylic on paper, 2009