Ephemeral Embrace

Ephemeral Embrace, an exhibition from Artplex Gallery, will feature works from I-Chun Jenkins, Eva Larsson, Cole Altuzarra, and Mohamad Khayata in a sophisticated and discerning contemplation on the ethereal, both in art and life. Magazine pages, raku ceramics, and both explosive and delicate painting techniques come together for a nuanced love story about the ephemeral nature of life. Through practices both meticulous and expressive each artist finds nuance in the conversation between permenance and loss, freedom and control.

I-Chun Jenkins originates from a small fishing village in Taiwan. She creates meticulous objects from magazine pages. The glossy images are finely cut, sliced, woven, crocheted, and folded to create one-of-a-kind artworks. Her elevated finish amplifies images from the magazine off the paper as the same images contribute to the design she creates. Unconventional materials create entirely new objects. Jenkins brings the magazine pages, created to be impermanent, and embraces their beauty. She uses her craft to elevate them into beautiful objects which stand anew as incredible artworks.

Ephemeral moments also become permanent in Eva Larsson’s work as a product of her craft. Raku firing takes its unique color from the fleeting moment air hits the glaze as the artworks appear from the kiln. Larsson’s figures take on complex coppery hues as delicate shades of red and blue lie within their glaze. With poses such as flying or falling the artist contextualizes her figures by posing the sculptures together. Larsson aims to capture the sensitivity of human emotion and encourages the contemplation of memory and interaction.

Focusing on the actions of painting, Cole Altuzarra is also concerned with the energy of creation: pulling up something from nothing and the process therein. Creation’s performative aspect fascinates Altuzarra, and it is this energy of the moment and expression of raw emotion that is recorded on his canvas.  For Altuzarra, the push and pull of such energies manifest in his work as a microcosm of the universe. Rather than a reflection on life’s fleeting qualities, Altuzarra captures the fleeting nature of energy, of life, on his canvas.

Mohamad Khayata’s reflective and gentle process is in juxtaposition to Altuzarra’s expressionist work. Born in Damascus, Syria, Khayata was forced to flee his home country due to ongoing political conflict. He has been living in Beirut, Lebanon since 2012. Khayata’s work is a tribute to displaced people whose stories are filled with effort, hope, and serene melancholy. The backgrounds of delicately layered dry wash elicit vulnerability and emotionality. Women in Khayata’s workwear madeh, a homemade patchwork quilt made from clothing that harkens to personal history with his mother.

Ephemeral Embrace will open on February 1 and will close on March 6, 2020. 

For more information please visit www.artplexgallery.com or email artplexgallery@gmail.com