Mythical Tales Flight Paths and Figures of the Sky

Posted by: BoxHeart Gallery

July 23 - August 17
Mythical Tales, Flight Paths, and Figures of the Sky
Mixed Media Works on Paper by: John Humphries
Also featuring sculpture by: Matthew Gatto

Artist John Humphries, an adopted child of first generation immigrants, strives to generate and construct a conceptual and inwardly referencing narrative. The goal is to reconcile a simultaneous search for identity and embrace a peculiar safety found within alienness through conceptual works on paper describing narratives and events.

In order to convey a more complete image of a complex shifting situation, Humphries borrows from the Beaux-Arts tradition of analytique drawings which simultaneously included perspectival, orthographic, and conceptual images at various scales within the picture frame. It is a mode which can consider intentions and attitudes, literal aspects and abstract thoughts, complexities and contradictions, fantasies and intricate relationships, along with fragmented notions. While the process of drawing can be both tangible and speculative, it is the speculative nature that can provide a significant contribution to the process of making.

Watercolour drawings form three related narratives. The first, reconciling the classical tale of Pelops, son of Tantalus, a story of transformation, rebirth, deception, lust, and a haunted progeny. By receiving a god forged arm of ivory and bronze, Pelops could be considered the first hybridization between man and machine. The second, whimsical and fluttery paths of hummingbirds fighting over nectar. The third, challenges the viewer to look upwards, pause, and consider the sky as one of the often forgotten figures and textures of our cities (in particular, Valletta, Cincinnati, Tokyo, and Rome).

Through a systematic process of industrialization, humanity has harvested natural materials and manipulated them to suit societal needs. As our society has advanced so has the manipulation and processes by which we seek to conquer nature. Matt Gatto's work serves to reclaim these industrialized materials and return them to a representation of the natural form. His sculpture also functions as lights to highlight what may be the key to industrialization, electricity, and illumination. Lighting has the capacity to affect mood and even brain waves of the audience. Through lighting, we can not only affect a change in a single person but the environment as a whole. One byproduct of our industrial age and consumer culture is waste. Gatto's use of discarded materials to create his work serves to highlight the functionality of that which we view as trash. Keeping these materials out of the landfill and returning them to a natural and useful form, highlights that the natural world we live in is circular in nature rather than lineal.

Public Reception with the Artists:
Saturday, July 27th: 5-8pm
Free and open to the public.