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Bunnycutlet Presents 7 Artists
Group Exhibition
Curated by Liz Artinian
at Cotton Candy Machine
235 South 1st Street
Brooklyn, NY 11211
Opening reception - Friday, January 16th, 7pm - 11pm
January 16th - February 8th, 2015
BROOKLYN, NY [RELEASE January 12th, 2015] — Bunnycutlet Gallery and Cotton Candy Machine are pleased to announce Bunnycutlet Presents 7 Artists, a group exhibition curated by Bunnycutlet owner Liz Artinian, hosted by Cotton Candy Machine in Brooklyn, New York.
Bunnycutlet Presents 7 Artists is an expression of the friendship between the two galleries, kindled from 2012 to 2014, when Bunnycutlet's location on Roebling Street placed it within 3 blocks of Cotton Candy Machine. Their similarity in spirit sparked a dialogue between their openings, promoting artwork that interchangeably embraced contemporary surrealism, exuberant interior murals, and fetishistic interpretations of pop culture in art -- bending the Brooklyn aesthetic toward their own in Williamsburg. The 7 artists in this exhibit, a mix of frequent Bunnycutlet contributors alongside newcomers, were chosen by Artinian in collaboration with Cotton Candy Machine.
Among the recurring Bunnycutlet-ees are Kelly Denato, Christy Karacas, Kristen Liu-Wong and Stickymonger (Joohee Park). Denato and Karacas participated in Artinian's group exhibits for nearly a decade -- Denato's first solo at Bunnycutlet, Chasing Rainbows -- showcased a staggering 52 new pieces by the artist. Her work is known for its meticulously layered painted textures and dramatic lighting, tempering representations of exorcised emotions with delicately painted seraphs.
Karacas's large pencil drawings, by contrast, are unchecked explosions of violence and joy. Co-creator and director of the [adultswim] animated series, Superjail!, Karacas first exhibited his "cats vs. robots" series as part of the 2006 Bunnycutlet pop-up, Too Art for TV. Though his work is manic -- his lines, smudge-free and perfect -- seem to suggest a more careful, fastidious mind, pouring forth riotous glory directly from brain to paper.
Liu-Wong and Stickymonger started working with Bunnycutlet in 2013, both debuting transformative solo pop-ups at the gallery. Liu-Wong's paintings employ florescent colors, mischievous characters and blunt, angular compositions, acting as symbolic foils for twisted, surrealist stories. Painting the gallery pink and foresting it with murals, her exhibit turned white walls into candy. Quick to follow was Stickymonger's all-vinyl mural exhibit, Eye See You, You See Eye. With jaw-dropping floor-to-ceiling hand-cut characters, Stickymonger converted the 800 square foot space into a cathedral of inky, dreamlike characters.
For Bunnycutlet Presents 7 Artists, these artists are joined by Brooklyn-transplant Hydeon (Ian Ferguson), Canadian-born Ryan Heshka, and Miami based artist Jean-Paul Mallozzi, representing a look ahead for Bunnycutlet. Hydeon's ink, pencil, and acrylic drawings combine graphic illustration with kinetic "scribbles" -- a kind of rapid processing of the artist's emotions and life-events. Like Liu-Wong, his work borrows from American Folk Art, surrealism, and illustration.
Heshka's influences, apparent in his work, are comics, animation, pulp magazines, 50s B-movies, and science fiction. His gouache paintings are carefully staged, giving them a cinematic quality. By wittily incorporating typography and graphic design, Heshka summons a kind of sensual hybrid of a Wes Anderson movie, a Vargas pinup, and a Hardy Boys book cover.
Mallozzi's cinematic drama is summoned by a different visual stimulus. His figures, often life-sized, are defined by light and color -- not just in a figurative sense -- but in a thematic one as well. Opposing forces of blues, reds, and iridescence afflict, highlight, illuminate or replace parts of Mallozzi's subjects, forwarding the idea that color itself can rule a character's fate, and in so doing become personified.
CONTRIBUTING ARTISTS
Kelly Denato
Ian Ferguson
Ryan Heshka
Christy Karacas
Kristen Liu Wong
Jean-Paul Mallozzi
Stickymonger (Joohee Park)
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ARTWORK PREVIEW
email bunnycutlet(at)gmail(dot)com for availability
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Kelly Denato
We Sit in the Mud and Reach for the Stars
Acrylic on Wood Panel
16 x 20 Inches
$1,400
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Kelly Denato
I’ve Been Knitting Apologies
Acrylic on Wood Panel
11 x 14 Inches
$1,100
SOLD
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Kelly Denato
Hey. You. Get Off of My Cloud.
Acrylic on Wood Panel
8 x 10 Inches
$900
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Kelly Denato
A Fox is a Wolf Who Sends Flowers
Acrylic on Wood Panel
6 x 6 Inches
$450
SOLD
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Kelly Denato
You with the Stars in Your Eyes
Acrylic on Wood Panel
6 x 6 Inches
$450
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Kelly Denato
All Slither and Lace
Acrylic on Wood Panel
6 x 6 Inches
$450
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Kelly Denato
I’m Barely There
Acrylic on Wood Panel
8 x 10 Inches
$900
SOLD
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Kelly Denato
Out of the Red
Acrylic on Wood Panel
5 x 7 Inches
$550
SOLD
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Kelly Denato
Hope is the Thing with Feathers
Acrylic on Wood Panel
6 x 8 Inches
$550
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Ryan Heshka
Today! Today! Today!
Acrylic on Paper
3.5 x 5 Inches Framed
$525
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Ryan Heshka
Milwaukee Dreams
Acrylic on Paper
3.5 x 5 Inches Framed
$475
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Ryan Heshka
Please Examine
Gouache on Vintage Paper
8 x 6 Inches Framed
$625
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Ryan Heshka
our Heritage
Acrylic on Paper
16 x 22 Inches
in Vintage Frame
$1,925
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Ryan Heshka
Quiet Battle
Acrylic and Silver Leaf on Cradled Wood Panel
18 x 18Inches
$2,275
SOLD
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Ryan Heshka
The Plastic Age!
Acrylic on Wood Panel
8 x 8 Inches
$875
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Ryan Heshka
The Soft Return
Gouache on Vintage Paper
12 x 16.5 Inches Framed
$775
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Hydeon (Ian Ferguson)
Company Call
Mixed Media on Paper
9 x 12 Inches
$500
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Hydeon (Ian Ferguson)
Old Future Monument
Mixed Media on Paper
9 x 12 Inches
$500
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Hydeon (Ian Ferguson)
Tangled Energy
Mixed Media on Paper
22 x 28 Inches
$1,200
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Hydeon (Ian Ferguson)
Tangled Energy II
Mixed Media on Paper
22 x 28 Inches
$1,200
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Christy Karacas
Untitled
Pencil on Paper
60 x 36 Inches
$4,500
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Kristen Liu Wong
Two Bathers
Acrylic & Resin on Wood Panel
6 x 6 Inches
$300
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Kristen Liu Wong
The Neighborhood Watch
Acrylic & Resin on Wood Panel
8 x 8 Inches
$575
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Jean-Paul Mallozzi
Kitsune
Oil & Iridescence on Board
36 x 24 Inches
$4,000
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Jean-Paul Mallozzi
Purify
Oil & Iridescence on Board
8 x 10 Inches
$700
SOLD
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Stickymonger (Joohee Park)
Strawberry Jam
Vinyl on Paper, edition of 5
27.5 x 19 Inches Framed
$900 -- Framed
$800 -- UnFramed
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