MEL PREST: THE GOLDEN HOUR and SENSATE OBJECTS

Schneider Museum of Art

Exhibitions on View: October 7 – December 10, 2022
Tuesday – Saturday, 10am to 4pm
Free Admission | Suggested $5 donation

Opening Reception on Thursday, October 6th from 5 to 7pm
Wine generously sponsored by RoxyAnn Winery.
Music in the courtyard by The Brothers Reed.
Artists will be in attendance!

Exhibition catalog and essay by John Yau will be forthcoming.

ARTIST STATEMENT: The Golden Hour

The Golden Hour refers to the hour before sunset and twilight, at the end of a day. The sun’s rays stretch longer, illuminating everything with a final burst of enchanting light before sinking behind the horizon. For me, the shift from day to night feels like transition from exuberance to stillness; both vital states of being.

These paintings are inspired by nature, which is always changing. I observe the magic of fleeting color phenomena like mirages, rainbows, the movement of the sky and the ocean. Color is something I feel rather than observe and record precisely from nature. Color is important to me as it transmits sensations; I want my colors to taste like a flavor, feel like a touch or waft like a scent. My colors are often inspired by wildflowers and watching the sky.

I highlight these ephemeral moments in my paintings by using fluorescent, metallic, or phosphorescent paint and mica that flickers, glows or is shadowed in different light conditions. I paint many unruled and overlapping lines in three colors. This creates the appearance of a handwoven mesh or an undulating soft geometry of shifting space. Upon viewing, the visual effects are different, person to person. The feeling of slipping time and optical confusion remind the viewer that you are seeing something unknown reveal itself, become a painting in front of you.

SENSATE OBJECTS

…brings together the work of 13 visual artists engaged in abstract, contemporary painting and sculpture. The title reflects the accessible boundary of shape-shifting forms and materialized artworks. Using a range of historic, contemporary, and non-traditional art media such as watercolor, repurposed pipes, poured resin, papier-mâché, hand-dyed thread, gouache, digital weaving, and automotive paint, each artist charts their own personal direction. During the Renaissance, paintings were described as a frame or a window depicting nature and three-dimensionality through the use of perspective and vanishing points. The paintings in this exhibition challenge this view and set aside the Renaissance relationship of space in favor of form. Some of the paintings become very object-like themselves where the artist has taken the entirety of the work into consideration, not just the face of the painting. The sculptures reject being seen as only an object. The work appears to flatten and become floating two-dimensional images. As the viewer moves through space and the work shifts in profile, the artwork becomes depressed, planed-out and something much like a suspended drawing. These sculptural, object-works employ rich textures and materiality, ranging from hand-hewn to nearly industrial finishes. This sensuous tactility is inspired by phenomena, gesture, and the material itself. Sensate Objects requires slow and sustained viewing for optimal effect.

Exhibition Catalog with Essay by Sue Taylor

CURATOR

ESSAY BY

Sue Taylor

ARTISTS

Pat Boas
Freddy Chandra
Nicole Phungrasamee Fein
Rebekah Goldstein
Bumin Kim
Marc Mitchell
Alex Paik
James Sterling Pitt
Petra Sairanen
Kirk Stoller
Sarah Wertzberger
Nancy White
Andrew Zimmerman