Exit Strategy
Maud Bryt, Anna Luppi, Bob Seng
Curated by Leslie Kerby
October 18th – November 19th, 2016
Project: ARTspace is pleased to present EXIT Strategy, curated by Leslie Kerby, featuring drawings, paintings, photography, sculpture and prints by artists Maud Bryt, Anna Luppi and Bob Seng. The exhibition will explore EXIT as a metaphorical, allegorical and representational concept linked to the erosion of governments, economies, of the self through social media, and safety of the urban landscape.
Influenced by her travels to Greece over the past few years, Anna Luppi has photographed and drawn the landscape evocatively portraying an individual running along the rocks of the coastline. The photographs taken with her iPhone, enlarged and printed onto aluminum and her drawings from the photographs of the landscapes, all reflect upon the process of experiencing life once removed—yearning for it more than experiencing it—and upon the migration of people into and throughout Europe as economies and governments are disrupted.
Maud Bryt’s monotype prints evoke the body and spirit of the human presence—using our common facial features—cheek, forehead, chin, nose and crown of the head—and yet by making additive and subtractive movements on the plate, an individual human presence emerges showing the strength of individual identity. Upon completing the series Bryt came upon this poem by Ezra Pound, 1913.
“In a Station of the Metro”:
The apparition of these faces in the crowd:
Petals on a wet, black bough.
The Crowns, first made in plaster and then cast into bronze, evoke the weight and rough beauty of human responsibility—their presence evocative of a prehistoric or medieval time instead of the standard bearers of rubies and velvet.
By slicing, cutting and scratching commercial EXIT signs, Bob Seng destroys the path leading to the exit. He then creates a new place, by organizing the strips according to their color and letter characteristics—collaging them back together to paint a new landscape. The spaces he discovers beyond the sign are often urban landscapes: shattered, overheated and sliding into the sea. Throughout this process he asks, “Are we witnessing apocalypse, or just matter renewing itself?”
Maud Bryt was born in New York City and grew up in New York and New Mexico in the middle of a large family. She received a BA in English Literature from Harvard University and an MFA in sculpture from the New York Studio School. She has shown sculpture at Chesterwood in Massachusetts; John Davis Gallery, Hudson, NY; Chautauqua Institution in upstate New York and most recently in a group show curated by Jason Andrew of Norte Maar at the 1285 Avenue of the Americas Gallery titled Ways and Means: A New Look at Process and Materials in Art. For more information: www.maudbryt.com
Born in Pontedera (Pisa), Anna Luppi lives and works in Florence, Italy. She has exhibited paintings and drawings in solo and group exhibitions in Italy; this will be her first exhibition in New York. Luppi currently publishes writings on Anatomy and nude drawing on Il fatto quotidiano, an online newspaper. Since 1989 she has held the position of Professor of Anatomy for Artists and Phenomenology of the Body for the MA degree in Design and Management of Artistic Exhibitsat the Academy of Fine Arts in Florence. Luppi has also worked as adjunct professor of Intermediate Drawing at S.A.C.I. Florence, professor of drawing at CDSL Fashion Design at the University of Florence and professor of Textile Drawing at Polimoda University in Florence. For more information: www.facebook.com/AnnaLuppiWorks/ and www.ilfattoquotidiano.it/blog/aluppi
Bob Seng has been shredding EXIT signs since 1997 as well as building over 40 site projects nationwide with collaborator Lisa Hein. Bob and Lisa have held joint residencies at Yaddo and McDowell colonies. He has shown the EXIT paintings at various venues in Brooklyn—currently at Art Helix—and at Jim Kemper Gallery in Manhattan. Internationally, Seng participated in the 2012 Painting Biennial in Guayaquil, Ecuador and in the 5th BRURAL exhibit which traveled to two locations in Russia. For more information:
www.bobseng.com
Artist and curator Leslie Kerby lives and works in Brooklyn, New York. This is Leslie’s sixth curatorial project at Project: ARTspace. In 2015 she was a guest curator for Brooklyn’s first biennial—BRIC Biennial: Volume 1 Downtown Edition and the BRIC Arts Short List an online exhibition of emerging artists. Kerby’s own art focusing on the life of social narrative explores the constructs of identity, communal spaces and social media. Her work is represented in the permanent collections at Columbia University, New York, New York and Arkansas State University, Arkansas and has appeared in numerous galleries and small museums across the country. She has been awarded residencies at the Virginia Center for Creative Arts, Amherst, VA and the School of Visual Arts, in New York. For more information: www.lesliekerby.com