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Interrupting a Beam of LightPost an Event »

David Cunningham Projects

October 1 - November 1, 2009

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1928 Folsom Street San Francisco, CA 94103
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Interrupting a Beam of Light Untitled (Shale Falls) - © John Opera, Courtesy Andrew Rafacz Gallery
A group show curated by Rachel Adams FACUNDO ARGAÑARAZ DAVID BAYUS MICHELLE BLADE RYAN FENCHEL GIGI GATEWOOD JAPETH MENNES ALIZA MORELL JOHN OPERA ADÉLA SVOBODOVÁ October 1 - October 31, 2009 | Opening Reception Thursday October 1, 7-10 pm DCP Project Space - 1928 Folsom Street, San Francisco, CA 94103 | Open Thurs - Sat Noon - 6pm (and by appointment) David Cunningham Projects (DCP) is pleased to announce INTERRUPTING A BEAM OF LIGHT a group exhibition curated by Rachel Adams featuring recent work by Facundo Argañaraz, David Bayus, Michelle Blade, Ryan Fenchel, Gigi Gatewood, Japeth Mennes, Aliza Morell, John Opera and Adéla Svobodová. Interrupting a Beam of Light is an exhibition that focuses on contemporary works that deal with the wonder of natural and man-made phenomena, the nuances of magic, and the importance of retaining lore and myth in our everyday lives. Myths are formed through the prolonging of stories, histories and images. Through time, the imagined becomes real and the real becomes imagined. Artists utilize folklore, natural occurrences, and other esoteric studies to comment on our contemporary understanding of the world. This exhibition documents phenomena, classifies objects, expands on basic symbols, perpetuates myths, and magnifies alternate realities. The artists in this show work both with the natural as well as the constructed, borrowing from the past and project their ideas on the future. They look to fantasies that cross into reality, and to revealing secrets. Either by happening upon the phenomenal, researching symbolic objects, or creating their own lore, each artist perpetuates their myth, and creates a sense of spirituality within their practice. Romantic notions are apparent in the works, whether through the idea of natural transcendence, innocent imaginations, or through the study of symbols and signs. Facundo Argañaraz studies the magnetism of monolithic subjects and their role as mediators of dualism and consciousness. Using collage to create psychic spaces, David Bayus works with childhood mythologies. Each work involves the individual desire reinterpreted with appropriation and the visual language of adolescence. Michelle Blade’s interests lie in the uniting of the natural world and the human condition. Her work is both influenced and filled with the imagery of history, anthropology, nature, spirituality, and phenomena. She is represented by Triple Base Gallery in San Francisco. Ryan Fenchel’s practice involves subjects such as alchemy, and freemasonry, the world of codes and rituals. In Gigi Gatewood’s work, she continues a search for answers about the unknown, photographing and examining everything from scientific to spiritual. By focusing on the world of the uncanny, Japeth Mennes directs the ideas of repetition, query, and inconsistency into his work. Using laborious techniques, his work seems simple and jarring at the same time. With Aliza Morell’s explorations of light and landscape, she uses geometrical forms as ways of creating a new language. John Opera’s photographs embody the spirit of transcendentalism and emphasize an idea of self-knowledge that comes from connecting through nature. By exploring the power of the landscape as well as through abstraction, links between emotion, intellect, and perception are forged. He is represented by Andrew Rafacz Gallery in Chicago. Adela Svobodová introduces her viewers to her own curiosities about the world. Playful and intimate, her work very much expresses her intricacies and views on art making.