Duly Noted Painters Before the Dream,Charcoal and Latex Paint on Canvas, 46h x 62w, 2015. Courtesy of Off-Rhode Gallery..
Opening Receptions: Saturday, August 13 from 1pm to 4pm
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Art Enables presents two new exhibitions opening on August 13th, 2016. Ward 5 Wonders includes work by six local artists who either live or work in Ward 5 in Washington, DC. Adam Bradley and Sarah Wegner both work in bronze, creating humanoid figures that struggle through issues of identity, aging, fear, and pain. Duly Noted Painters and Shawn Lindsay also represent humanity in their artwork, using dramatic, vivid, and unnatural colors of paint to elevate the mundane. Kim Bursic seeks to capture fleeting moments in her abstracted landscapes, painting images of destruction and chaos to symbolize moments of great change in her personal life. Shani C. Hernandez creates abstract paintings that visually represent her personal experiences, often using found objects and discarded electronics to criticize the disconnect found within human nature.
New Works features original work made within the past six months by Art Enables’ resident artists. As artists with disabilities, their themes can range from loss, love, past trauma, travel, and family to favorite TV characters and pop culture references, but they all have one commonality – a desire to share their story and unique perspective with the world.
Guests can meet the artists at the Second Saturday opening on August 13th, 1 – 4pm.
Adam Bradley
Sculptor Adam Bradley’s current body of work is based on themes of fear, anxiety and loss of control. The figures struggle to maintain a sense of self. They have the heads of birds and fish to symbolize their loss of humanity. They are becoming creatures of instinct more than that of logic. In their isolation, they have forgotten how to comfort one another with human contact and their arms have become vestigial appendages. The figures struggle with loss of physical ability and dementia but cling to ritual to maintain a sense of purpose.
Bradley received his MFA in Sculpture at Maryland Institute College of Art and has been exhibiting throughout the DMV area in galleries like Hillyer Art Space and the Target Gallery since 2006, most recently participating in East City Art’s Emulsion 2016. He is a professor at George Mason and is an artist at Off The Beaten Track warehouse. www.adambradleyart.com
Duly Noted Painters
Duly Noted Painters are the Washington, DC based duo consisting of Matthew Malone and Kurtis Ceppetelli, who work in collaboration on individual pieces simultaneously. In 2009, the two painters met working at The Phillips Collection in Washington DC. What they soon discovered was a way to explore something new artistically. This resulted in a working partnership that to this day has produced more than 120 large works over the course of three years.
In general, each piece starts with an exploratory idea or goal in mind. They pull from multiple sources of information which come together and guide them to an ultimate conclusion. Some things are left as is, re-positioned, altered, or removed entirely. Unlike traditional collaborations, their process does not adhere to a set formula dictating who does what. This allows for dramatic changes in mood, color, and feeling within each piece and leads to surprising and often unexpected results.
Malone received his BFA in Painting and Printmaking from Virginia Commonwealth University, and Ceppetelli received his B.A. in Fine Arts from Nova Scotia College of Art and Design. They are very involved in the DC arts scene, participating in events like Nuit Blanche/Art All Night and East City Art’s Emulsion while exhibiting in DC Arts Center, Brookland Arts Lofts Selman Gallery, and Hillyer Art Space, among others. https://www.dulynotedpainters.com/
Kim Bursic
Painter Kim Bursic is a painter, printmaker, collage and book artist who constructs her art through personal stories and experiences. Her focus within each painting is to depict a landscape: be it real, imaged or perceived, in an abstract format. The landscape is caught in a moment of great change: sinking, floating away, exploding or burning. The house symbol is often seen in the landscape – it is either caught in or the cause of the great changes to the landscape. The house represents Bursic and the “great changes” of the landscape capture what is happening in her life at that moment: Life altering moments, worries about the future, remembering the past.
Bursic received her MFA in Printmaking from the Washington State University and a BFA in Printmaking/Book Arts from the University of the Arts in Philadelphia. She has enjoyed solo exhibitions throughout the nation since 1993, and has been included in multiple group shows at local establishments like Arlington Arts Center, Capitol Hill Art League, and the Hill Center. Her work is permanently on display in private and public collections internationally as well as collected locally.
Sarah Wegner
Wegner’s work addresses issues such as body image, identity, ageing, and pain. The figures are a combination of cast, fabricated, and assembled parts. Steel is hand formed on an anvil, then cast elements and found objects are incorporated. She uses bronze and steel specifically because they change over time: patinas on bronze deepen and both metals, if left untreated, will oxidize. Many pieces have spent time buried outside as part of the finishing process. The changes that take place in the metal in response to people and environment insure that each work continues to evolve, like a living thing, after it leaves her studio.
Wegner received her MFA in Painting from Maryland Institute, College of Art and a BFA in painting from the University of Arizona. Along with teaching art at Prince George’s Community College, she has served as a panelist for Prince George’s Country while also exhibiting throughout the DMV and NYC area. She is an artist at Off the Beaten Track warehouse. https://www.sarahwegner-art.com/
Shani C. Hernandez
Hernandez is a self-taught artist living in Washington DC. Her abstract paintings are visual representations of deeply personal emotions, inspirations and experiences. Her work features a high degree of texture and techniques that create multiple layers of color. A central theme to her works is the re-purposing of found objects, in particular discarded wood products. She also often incorporates used electronic components within her work, usually to convey how human nature is ‘hardwired’ or to distill the meaning of the work down to one keyboard word. Her works can be found in many private collections internationally. Most recently, she exhibited her art at the Artomatic Arts Festival in December 2015. https://www.schfinearts.com/
Shawn Lindsay
Lindsay is a figurative and portrait painter inspired by images he sees everyday on social media, and in particular, the “selfie.” Lindsay sees “selfies” as monuments to female strength, empowerment, and beauty, defining pop-culture even in a culture historically steeped in sexism and inequality. As Lindsay scrolls through Instagram or Tumblr feeds, selfies and different self-love posts urge him to add to the adoration women may or may not already have for themselves, so he paints them – either painting the flesh in monochrome colors or in his expressive wildstyle. By abstracting the colors, adding adornments to their bodies, and focusing on the mystery that is the woman, Lindsay attempts to push the male gaze towards adoration rather than objectification.
Lindsay received his BFA in Painting from the Art Academy of Cincinnati. He lives in Maryland and works as a Creative Enabler at Art Jamz in Brookland, D.C. https://www.longlivepainta.com/
Off-Rhode Gallery is located 2204 Rhode Island Ave NE. For more information, visit www.art-enables.org.
