Soft Trap + Withershins

exhibition

SEPTEMBER 4 to OCTOBER 10, 2009

opening reception
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 4. 7 PM - 10 PM

Atlanta painter, Sarah Emerson, is inspired by the tragic romanticism of a decaying environment and civilization. Her paintings express a precarious balance between the innate splendor of nature, and the mysterious fear and violence that lurks beneath the surface as natural landscapes are encroached upon and exploited. Emerson’s newest body of work is a nostalgic projection of a “future Eden” filled with fear and awe. These paintings are uniquely haunting in their whimsy and playfulness, effectively blurring the line between fairy tale and horror story.

In addition to the paintings, a collection of drawings titled “The Final Girl” is on display. The collection emerges from a concept explored by author Carol Clover on the last surviving girl in horror films. The drawings are intimately connected to the paintings as Emerson’s paintings place the viewer in the position of “the final girl”, or last survivor. She paints strange, yet familiar scenes, using common images (such as deer, beehives, fruit, locusts, bubbles, and bullet holes) to evoke a landscape of intuitive impressions. Ultimately, Emerson presents a new environment that we are left to contemplate in our own human solitude.

Work by artist, Jeff Grant will also be integrated into the exhibition. Similar to Emerson, Grant explores themes of urban encroachment into our natural environment. He works in a variety of media (drawings in ink, wood and yarn sculptures, lighting installations), to create classic forms that resonate with the viewer. Together, Emerson and Grant’s exhibition, titled Soft Trap, encourage imaginative exploration into their work by creating a landscape of memory and ambiguous symbolism.

Sarah Emerson holds a BFA from Atlanta College of Art, while Jeff Grant holds a BFA from The Rhode Island School of Design. Both artists received their MFA from Goldsmiths College in London, England. Their exhibition will be displayed in the main Whitespace gallery.

NOW OPEN

Summer FALLS

'beautiful things grow out of shit... '
'things evolve out of nothing,'
and 'everything disappears.'

Thank you all for coming!

Memorable evening at the summer's end

SUMMER FALLS

AUGUST 19 - 29, 2009
opening WEDNESDAY AUGUST 19 | 7 - 10 PM

Whitespace is pleased to present, SUMMER FALLS, a two week only intermission in between regularly scheduled exhibitions featuring new work as well as collaborative multi-media works by John Otte, including artists: Fereydoon Family, Richard Sudden, Karen Tauches, and Mark Wentzel.

John Otte, is well known in Atlanta as an artist, DJ, and curator. His multi-disciplinary work is primarily abstract, containing numerous references to the body, music, architecture, and landscape.

SUMMER FALLS is set to take place in just a couple of weeks when Summer slowly begins the process of giving way to Fall. In this temporary "hit & run" installation, John Otte seeks to meditate on the ongoing collapse and erosion of many previously considered "stable" systems, both locally and globally, thus making way for other arrangements and different forms. In an ongoing exploration of creative destruction, Otte employs photography, text, collage, sculpture, and film sources creating porous abstractions where systems collide, contaminate, and overlap one another, forming strange new hybrids and mutations - an uncertain world where fact and fiction are inextricably bound, "beautiful things grow out of shit . . . things evolve out of nothing," and "everything disappears."

+ 2 FILM SCREENINGS
* Selected films for screening will be announced shortly. Check back with us soon!