vacuum paradoxicon: new work by stewart losee & amanda gehin, october 16-november 12 at urban culture project space

Vacuum Paradoxicon, opening Friday October 16 at Urban Culture Project Space, 21 East 12th Street,  with artist remarks at 6:30pm, extends and distills an ongoing dialogue between Kansas City based artists Stewart Losee and Amanda Gehin. The two-and three-dimensional artworks featured may be described as fantasy architectures, reflecting the artists’ shared interests in exploring ideas of imaginative, internal/mental spaces.

Gehin’s work is specifically focused on articulating impossible, or paradoxical, shapes – those whose combination of properties are constructible only in a theoretical, mental landscape. Included are labyrinthine wall pieces, composed of many small paintings that relate to one another like pieces of a puzzle and are characterized by intensive patterning and rich colors, as well as a series of sculptures on pedestals that incorporate living plant life as well as constructed objects. Losee draws from forms of ancient art to explore the origins of images; the idea of image as a function of an evolved psychology rather than culture. Included will be a series of several large, baroque light boxes displaying digital renderings –“deep abstractions”- produced as polystyrene color prints, as well as a “wooden solar boombox temple.”  In addition will be various scale architectural maquettes, created collaboratively, which quietly consider new age metaphysics as applied to urban planning. Read the full press release.