On Friday, June 3, Second Street Gallery celebrated the opening evening of the group exhibition Subversive Media: Materiality & Power in the Main Gallery and Aaron Eichorst's Summer's Cauldron in the Dové Gallery. Several of the exhibiting artists were present throughout the evening to chat with visitors.
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Curated by independent curator Haley Clouser, Subversive Media: Materiality and Power is a group exhibition which features the work of the following artists: Sonya Clark, Jamal Cyrus, jc lenochan, Samuel Levi Jones, LaRissa Rogers, Tammie Rubin, Gail Tremblay, Luis Vasquez La Roche, Dyani White Hawk, and Sandy Williams IV. "Subversive Media" posits that the often overlooked component of our visual language - materiality - plays a critical role in the representation of power. The 10 exhibiting artists creatively reconstruct our visual language through the articulation of material, underscoring the agency that compositional elements hold in supporting and disrupting our understanding of power.
Each artist confronts images freighted with reminders of systemic injustice, ranging from the more explicit, like the American flag and Ku Klux Klan hoods, to the seemingly innocuous, such as textbooks and football gear. Not only do the artists reveal the ubiquity and various manifestations of power in our daily lives, but their critical approaches to materiality importantly underline the ways materials contribute to perceptions of power.
Aaron Eichorst’s Summer’s Cauldron showcases a series of paintings that create unexpected combinations of things which capture the artist’s attention and are meditations on, and tributes to, simple but extraordinary creatures, people, plants and experiences.
The design of these works are inspired by the ornamental style known as Grotesque—a scheme of interlaced garlands and fantastic human/animal figures which were intended to ward off evils. Unlike their ancient counterparts, each of Eichorst’s pieces features a central, hand-painted depiction of a person or animal that meets the gaze of the viewer, peering through a portal. The viewer is thus coaxed into the mind’s eye of the artist, creating a dynamic mirror.
Both exhibitions will be on view through July 22, 2022. Learn more about the exhibitions on our website (www.secondstreetgallery.org).