So Brutal It Feels Like Home

ARTISTS

Susannah Griffee works on deconstructed canvas and wood in her New York City apartment, utilizing a range of tools including oil paint, charcoal, hair dryers, make up, carving tools, and torches. Her abstract, figurative, and geometric paintings delve into topics such as lucid dreaming, inherited memory, split selves, and the relationship between our conscious and subconscious perspectives of ourselves and our world.

Vanessa Tremain’s abstract ink drawings on paper reflect the chaos and complexity of having memories, emotions, and ideas resonating at the same time, tangled together to create her experience of the world. Her personal style is her way of understanding and expressing what happens in her mind after the anxiety crises that have accompanied her since childhood. In her search to escape reality, she found refuge in creating imaginary worlds and characters where she explored pain amidst innocence and idealized happiness as something natural to the human experience.

Guerly Jean Felix is a self-taught artist believing he can do and create anything he put his mind to. Guerly went straight to oil paintings because he felt it was the most challenging. His style of abstract paintings are an expression of his spiritual elevation and understanding that we are all one, that everyone on this planet is a brush stroke in this world of canvas and the art of life. His work has been featured in several exhibitions across the country, and he continues to explore new forms of self-expression in his paintings.

Artemii Lysikov is a chemist by education. His view of life was greatly shaped by material sciences and the chemistry of the materials that surrounded him - their natural and synthetic colors and composition in constant and mysterious evolution. While working on organoboran chemistry, he uncovered some of these mysteries and it seemed as if the energetic essence of materials was revealed to him; while others remained hidden and misunderstood, like magic. In his work, he replicates fragments of Memory (Knowledge), as if putting together pieces of a mirror, trying to organize the chaos of an ongoing life. In addition to holding exhibitions in Europe, Asia, and America, his works are in the private collections of great art lovers.

Claudia uses a multidisciplinary approach, to create paintings and sculptures using mixed media, reverse gilded glass, cast resin, and found objects. Her referencing subjects include pop culture, religion, politics, class, consumerism, science, and technology. There persists a sense of hope and innocence throughout her work, which allows for darker themes to be explored in a playful, yet somber manner.

Julian Thomas’s physical work draws inspiration from abstract expressionism, often working found objects and meaningful heirlooms into his explosive compositions of color and texture. With his digital work he explores the art of décollage, layering architecture, portraits and feelings together, carving into them to unearth his vision. He has exhibited his work at several NYC galleries and his list of collaborators spans the globe.

Noah Becker features landscapes in his work that are both foreign and familiar, as well as surrealistic portraits, all done with a deliberate and studied use of color and technique. In addition to painting, he is also the founder and editor-in-chief of Whitehot Magazine of Contemporary Art. His oil paintings have been exhibited in museums, galleries, and major art fairs around the world.

Dae Law’s art is an outer body experience where he taps into his higher self, sometimes sleeping on the floor of his studio for weeks at a time. He flows with a canvas and brush from a 5x5 canvas to 10x16, from a store mural to a street mural, from photos of friends to a reel of experimental videography. He has exhibited paintings at WCC, Triangle Loft, Steel Sessions, and Soho Art Walks.

Tom MacFarland’s recent stretched string series, focuses on the deconstruction of the canvas and its framework. His process progresses sequentially; creating the stretcher bars, placing the screws, unwinding the string and weaving it into a canvas. He then applies the mix, the color and the finish. His work is energized by memories of travel, life stories, and objects glimpsed. His pieces have been named after various places in New Mexico, Utah, and New York.