Even gravity has its ups and downs

ARENA 1
A project of Santa Monica Art Studios
3026 Airport Avenue
Santa Monica, CA 90405
www.santamonicaartstudios.com
Even
gravity
has
its
ups
and
downs
Daphne Arthur, Eben Goff, Sharon Lawless, Ali Naschke-Messing, Pascual Sisto,
Cody VanderKaay, Darren Waterston, Susan York
curated by Mark Carter
left to right: Eben Goff, Cody VanderKaay,
Sharon Lawless, Daphne Arthur
left to right: Susan York, Pascual Sisto,
Ali Naschke-Messing, Darren Waterston
EXHIBITION:
OPENING RECEPTION:
October 13 – November 10, 2012
Saturday, October, 13th from 6 to 9pm
ARENA 1 Gallery is pleased to announce the opening of Even gravity has its ups and downs
organized by returning curator Mark Carter. The exhibition opens Saturday, October 13th in conjunction
with the 8th Anniversary celebration of Santa Monica Art Studios and continues through November 10th.
A reception for the artists runs from 6-9 pm.
Even gravity has its ups and downs includes works that range from lighter than air to massively
dense, from seriously grounded to ephemeral. The artists wrestle with powers that control the universe
and allow them to drip, tug, mash, float and expand materials in unexpected ways. The laws of science
set the physical boundaries, but these eight artists grapple with and challenge them. They take risks
and skirt rules in pursuit of exemptions that fit their imaginations. Physics may dictate but sometimes it
might be a wonderful collaborator.
Daphne Arthur faces the force of unpredictability in smoke drawing portraits that force construction to
emerge from deconstruction. She begins with layers of smoke on paper, masking some, erasing others
to create images that appear both soft and hard. Sharon Lawless brings gravity into play by combining
three or four colors of nail enamel onto primed paper then allowing them a short time to flow and
interact. Both the action of the paint’s movement and their chemical compatibilities form unpredictable
shapes and surfaces, dazzling and vivid colors of curious and biomorphic shapes.
Video artist Pascual Sisto‘s event mashups play with time by cleverly interpreting events, altering,
combining and synchronizing non-simultaneous happenings. His works traverse the ‘If a tree falls’
question to perhaps petting Schrödinger's cat. Cody VanderKaay plays with optics in his meticulous
linear drawings that appear to bend on a plane surface while his “Mailbox” series, drawings made by
shipping suspended pencils in a custom container, touch both randomness and limitations.
Ali Naschke-Messing’s two site-specific works involve light, reflection, the barely visible and the
reinterpretation of the gallery space. Venturing further into the cosmos, Darren Waterston’s oils and
watercolors express extreme depth, landscapes of the universe, inventing nature where it may not
exist.
Susan York and Eben Goff deal with extreme mass and force of potentially frightening intensity while
underlying their sculptures with touches of whimsy. York’s dense graphite pieces are simultaneously
grounded geometric masses that, once inspected, float with a gentle and quiet grace. Goff places
simple geometric “cages” into Ballona Creek to be pounded and enmeshed with a winter’s worth of
organic and man-made detritus creating a demi-earthwork, part trash, part Sasquatch.
ARENA
1
is
an
exhibition
space
founded
by
Santa
Monica
Art
Studios
directors
Yossi
Govrin
and
Sherry
Frumkin.
Based
in
an
historic
hangar
at
the
Santa
Monica
Airport,
ARENA
1
invites
internationally
known
as
well
as
newly
established
curators
to
develop
innovative
and
compelling
exhibitions.