PAST EXHIBITION

Discipline sits within the tension of following one path at the expense of another.

The answers we seek are often draped by a mask of contradiction. Every decision and interaction is at the expense of a different choice, a new experience. We are all bound by the paradox of wanting to live freely while also adhering to what allows us to have these opportunities. In order to live a life that’s free, we must discover and participate in discipline.

Emerging artists find themselves situated even deeper in discipline: to reach the level of skill necessary to express their ideas, they must sacrifice a portion of their lives to learning, practicing, and evolving – forgoing a bed at home for a cot in the studio to create throughout the night. Put simply, artists evoke freedom because of the discipline of their practice.

We put on this show to facilitate this truth. Our wish is for it to paint your life with a new perspective on art and its makers, and that these bodies of work and the music surrounding inspire you to introduce art and discipline into your life in a greater way.

New Orleans-born, Brooklyn-based Dante Cannatella creates paintings that exist in an imaginative version of reality that is derived from his own experiences, memories and dreams. His paintings grasp the tactility of paint and illusionary light to portray the figure emotively. His compositions often hinge on the proximal relations of figures and in doing so describing relationships – between people, between workers, and between individuals or groups and their environments. His imagery is often inspired by the landscapes of South Louisiana and is driven by an intuitive, improvisational process whereby form, pattern, color and design elements both belong to the surface of an object and take on their own narratives.

Cameroon-born, NYC-based Ludovic Nkoth creates work that is heavily influenced by his roots and by the perspective he has about his country and culture since migrating to the United States. He celebrates his cultural and familial practices through his work and as such many of his pieces feature faces of family members and close friends. Those individuals are especially important given Ludovic’s belief that we inherit everything in our lives. He is the person he is today because of the tangible and intangible things he has inherited. It started with inheriting his blood line that has helped propel him to who and where he is now. Along with celebrating his family and culture, Ludovic uses his paintings as an opportunity to share the voice of those who are silenced back home. Ludovic is in the process of receiving his MFA from Hunter College.

Atlanta-born, SF based, Jay Payton is currently receiving his MFA from California College of the Arts in San Francisco.

“Through life’s complex endeavors, we experience moments when we must face the incumbent fork in the road. We are granted the opportunity to choose the path we take in most instances, which in turn shapes our individual experiences in unique ways. These are often happenings of chance leaving us very little time to prepare our reactions. We become who we are from the choices we have made. The human lifespan is one of, if not, the most interesting examples of life that exists on our planet due to its ability to vary between each individual. As we travel through life we attempt to create situations that coincide with our idea of a “good life” but there is no concrete definition to what that actually means. The only hope we have is from the faith we focus on the decisions we make. Carefully concocting a remedy for hardships with the belief that one day we will reach our full potential. In this body of work I have attempted to translate my life experiences through a plethora of paintings, drawings, and sculptures to visually convey my reality and the ideals I have come to question along this path. As life continues to move forward and seconds tick away there is just enough time to make your next choice the one that shifts your life one step closer to your destiny.”

— Jay Payton

Korean-born, NYC-based Areum Yang creates figures in her work that personify the type of emotion that pop appearingly out of nowhere, depending or regardless of the situation. Sometimes these emotions are provoked from something as simple as listening to a song while walking alone or from watching a movie with a loved one. She paints and draws these various emotions and situations with imagination. Areum is in the process of receiving her MFA from Hunter College.

Rochester, NY based, Bradd Young creates work that is a result of endless hours of watching cartoons as a child. It taught him, at a young age, to appreciate absurdity in humor and the portrayals of day to day life. He channels that state of mind in his art by taking simple premises like gardening, swimming, or companionship, and filtering them through the lens of a kid. His paintings are an outlet that allow him to reminisce, as his vivid color palette and bizarre characters make him nostalgic for those Saturday morning shows. Thematically, Bradd enjoys juxtaposing bold colors and overtly happy characters with somber and mature undertones. Having grown into his young adult life, he is fascinated by the balancing the surrealistically optimistic kid in him with the more realistic and, albeit pessimistic adult in him; and that is reflective in his approach to his art. Though at surface level, his work is warm, peaceful, and lighthearted, there is a starkness to them that stems from Bradd’s longing for a time when things actually were carefree.