Five artists, Raynes Birkbeck, Dietmar Busse, Joe Roberts, Paul Wackers, and Faye Wei Wei are brought together at SITUATIONS, opening on Friday, Feb 4th, from 3 - 7 PM. Each artist’s distinct use of narrative and self-generated myth runs concurrent to their visual practice. The paintings, drawings, and photos are a reflection of the artist’s rich inner world. The works share a restrained depth of field, yet beneath the surface lives multi-dimensional intensity. The exhibition title, “A Plant Has Been One of My Best Friend’s for a Long Time Now,” is borrowed from a line written on a Joe Robert’s drawing. This sentiment echoes the kind of growth and expansion that stems from personal reverie. The artist’s thought process becomes a catalyst leading the viewer down the rabbit hole.
Faye Wei Wei(b. London, 1994; Lives and works in London) creates work revolving around spiritual iconography and classical myth, love rituals and the theatricality of gender. Her work suggests the themes of particular mythic narratives, and at other moments seem to depart into a more ambiguous, interior space of incongruity and uncertainty. Stateliness coincides with brute force and pastel softness; symbols seem to shake free of their moorings and float, surrealistically, on the liquid expanse of dream. The scenes might be imagined or reflected in a mirror, but the energetic, bold brushstrokes, executed in thin layers, suggest something actually witnessed, balanced on the edge of reality.
