Catch As Catch Can

Catch As Catch Can

August 9 - 29, 2018

Opening Reception: August 9, 6:30 - 9pm      

Paige Beeber, Melissa Capasso, Madeline Donahue and Estefania Velez Rodriguez   

We are all drawn to story and, for better for for worse, the reflection of our own image. Moving beyond the current fads of social media and the prevalence of the “selfie” we have always been fascinated by the human - both our own unique experience and the lives of others. As humans we have an innate need to understand and to be understood. Stories allow us to both connect to our shared humanity, and conversely, to walk around in another person’s shoes - to step outside of our own perspective. Artists working in narrative tap into this urge, and employing the human form or even just a hint of it - a leg, an eye - are able to speak volumes. 

The artists of “Catch As Catch Can” reflect a sort of gritty honestly in their unique story-telling as well as a sometimes dark sense of humor; life is after all a beautiful, messy, comical and at times a tragic enterprise. There is a certain fearlessness in presenting the human experience and form as raw and flawed. This is particularly true as it applies to the female, which has historically been filtered through the male ideal of “perfect mother” or “sex goddess.” Moving beyond this sanitized and limited view, Beeber, Capasso, Donahue and Velez Rodriguez all weave vivacious and thought-provoking stories out of seemingly banal situations and everyday occurrences. 

Beeber’s paintings, direct and cheeky, explore and respond to the daily indignities of the modern day woman. These snippets unfold in comical, and at times uncomfortable scenes. Dissected limbs precariously dance around everyday objects and symbols of daily peril like dull razors, tampons, and the ever present and leering male gaze.  

Capasso allows mercurial notions of motherhood, femininity, gender, sex, and politics to spill onto the paper. Each work is a sounding board where thoughts and feelings are wrestled with, and at times set free like an exorcism. Honest and irreverent, human forms fuse with symbolism to create knotted, self-contained novels that need to be unbound. 

Donahue’s paintings and sculptures act as unabashed tableaus of motherhood and the female experience. Although personal and at times tender, these are not picturesque. Rather, her work presents comical scenes of everyday life rarely addressed in art - the postpartum body, a mother awkwardly contorting to breastfeed her baby, and the strange balancing act of life with a toddler.

Velez Rodriguez’s paintings read like a singular scene from an unfolding novel or perhaps a film still. The heavy brushstrokes and vibrating neon colors hint to the musings of an artist, who grapples with identity as well as a yearning for connectedness with the cultures, people and places that both inhabit her past and define her present. 

Gallery Hours are August 10, 5-7pm, August 11-12, 1-3:30pm, August 28-29, 1-3:30pm, and by appointment. For inquiries please contact brozynaprojects@gmail.com. 

Location:

Spaceworks

540 President Street, Lower Level

Brooklyn, NY 11215