Processing Time
Opening Reception August 17th, 2019 4pm-7pm
Artist talk Wednesday, August 28th, 2019 6pm-8pm
Closing Reception September 21st, 2019 4pm-7pm
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Show runs from -
August 17th, 2019 - September 21st, 2019
Artists - Michaela Flatley & Kristin Panousos
Statement
Patience. The time and effort involved with unlocking the puzzle that is the final product. Listening to the medium and being guided by the process and the work. Music is often used to create a cadence and construct a format to express the energy that needs to be translated.
Michaela FlatleyI have always been interested in systems, math, and technology, which have never felt completely separate from my artmaking. My paintings represent different states of order using both methodical and intuitive systems. I am particularly concerned with how gridded systems can embody complex notions of time, space, and reason. I am finding ways to approach painting as a geometric or technological puzzle, while accentuating the materiality of the paint and the human qualities of its application. The systems I create serve both as an analog for computers and as a reminder of the virtues of a non-digital shared experience.
Computers have become ubiquitous; yet, as we grow more dependent on them, we are also collectively oppressed by a culture overdetermined by digital technology. In an effort to reclaim the space that computers have come to occupy, I make paintings that are as complex as a mechanically or digitally rendered image, but in a different way. These paintings are slow to make and do not allow for instant gratification. They require a level of patience I rarely exercise elsewhere in the age of smartphones, Instagram filters, and unlimited access to digital imagery. While considering the art historical context of mosaics, textiles, and modernism, I am also interested in the way grids relate to pixels, with which computer technology assigns a system to a picture. Through counting, cropping, recoloring, pixels make images quantifiable. My paintings reference this idea, while the materiality of the watercolor on the paper prohibits them from being read as digital images. They do not feel machine-made because of the attention paid to the surface and the nuances within the mark making. As I continue with this series of paintings, I hope to further my research regarding how we relate to digital imagery versus how we relate to paintings. I will continue to explore the merits of systems while highlighting the nature of non-digital materials. |
Kristin PanousosMy work is inspired by graffiti art. I'm not trying to replicate the look of graffiti, but rather capture to life of a wall of graffiti. Images come and go. Layer upon layer covers that which came before. The wall has a history. Its life is a process. It's not orderly or pretty. It echoes life. I'm drawn to its impermanence.
My dark paintings describe emotional turmoil and rebirth. Most of them are created from previously painted canvases. These pre-painted canvases are destroyed to create new paintings. Collaged; canvas on canvas. Through darkness comes the light. I chose to paint them in dark colors to express my sorrow; my sorrow for the destruction of the original painting and sadness in my personal life. These paintings, however, are not meant to convey sorrow alone. My intention is that these paintings also give hope and spur curiosity. Through the darkness comes light. Destroying the pre-painted surface creates possibilities. When a canvas is stripped from its stretcher, it no longer carries its original identification. It ceases to exist in its original form and intention. “No Regrets”, a painting from 2016, was sacrificed for most of these new dark paintings. “No Regrets” had bright colors, thick paint, and expressive brush strokes. Using this, already highly textured surface, presented me with a challenge and opened up possibilities for new compositions. The edges and areas where the canvases come together resemble scars or wounds. Their construction is crude. The edges and sides of the paintings reveal the old painting underneath and gives a glimpse into the history of the canvas; its previous life as a colorful, energetic painting. Many of the strips of canvas are stapled to the sides of the new canvas. This allows the process to be exposed. Each old painting is an active participant in the rebuilding of a new piece of work, from the destruction. These paintings are given new purpose and new life. |
Biography
Michaela Flatley
Michaela Flatley is an abstract painter living and working in Baltimore. Originally from Boston, she received her Bachelors of Arts in Visual Art and Art History from Fordham University in New York City. In 2019, Flatley graduated with her Masters of Fine Arts from the LeRoy E. Hoffberger School of Painting at the Maryland Institute College of Art.
Flatley has exhibited her work in both group and solo exhibitions, including shows in Boston, New York City, and Baltimore, and her work is included in private collections throughout the United States. www.michaelaflatley.com |
Kristin Panousos
Kristin Panousos was born in Kansas City, Missouri in 1971. When she was young, her family moved east to the Mid-Atlantic region, where she spent much of her childhood in the Washington, DC suburb of Bowie, Maryland. At an early age, Kristin struggled with academics. As a dyslexic/LD student, she turned to the arts.
Kristin graduated from Penn Manor High School, in Millersville, Pa. in 1990 while living with her mother, step-father and older sister. From there, she attended Penn State University, Berks Campus. In 1992, after spending a semester at PSU (State College) she transferred to Kutztown University, in Kutztown, Pa. She studied painting, photography, printmaking, sculpture, drawing, wood design, and animation. Kristin currently works as a long term art substitute for Baltimore County Public Schools and works in her downtown studio, located in the Cardinal Gallery, in Bolton Hill. |