Crest September 7, 2012

1708 Gallery is pleased to present its upcoming exhibition, Crest, on view September 7 through October 6, 2012. Curated by Emily Smith, Executive Director of 1708, Crest features work by Amy Chan, Leigh Cole, Jessica Kain, Melanie McLain, Alina Tenser, Hannah Walsh, and Naoko Wowsugi. Working across multiple mediums, these seven artists are connected by interests in surface and touch, nature and the body, and questions of the constructed versus the innate. Please join us on Friday, September 7, from 5 to 9 p.m. for the First Friday reception for Crest.

The artists in Crest seem specifically interested in touch as found in varying types of impression. We consider mimicry and impersonation to be “doing” an impression. Experiences that impact the context in which they occur “leave” or “make” an impression. When one is misled or confused, they were “under the impression.” All of these different forms of impression intertwine in the work of the seven artists in Crest.

Some works cop forms and symbols from other places, representing them in unfamiliar configurations (Chan and McLain); others explore the literal presence, absence and traces of objects (Wowsugi and Kain); pageantry, presentation and display mark the work of Cole as well as Walsh, who shares with Tenser a preoccupation with the interplay between concealment and revelation.

Fortunately, it’s also much more complicated than that, as these artists’ interests merge and diverge across different forms. Idiosyncratic yet strangely familiar, the works in Crest pose questions relating to environment, communication, memory, and embodiment. These artists sweep you off your feet and take the rug out from under you, all to remind you where you are.

All of the artists in Crest are recent MFA graduates with ties to Virginia Commonwealth University. Amongst them they have accumulated many prestigious awards, including the Pollock Krasner Foundation Grant, multiple VMFA fellowships, and residencies at Skowhegan and 7 Below Arts Initiative.