Abstraction + Space
The exhibit can be viewed online (below) or in-person:
Saturday afternoons, 12 – 5 PM — paced, small groups, no appointment necessary
OR make an appointment for Mon – Fri at info@jazzgallerycenterforarts.org
Please, review our COVID Policy before visiting, precautions in effect for all visitors.
EXHIBITION — JUNE 25TH, 2022 – JULY 30TH, 2022
Opening Reception — Saturday, July 23rd, 2022 from 6 – 8 PM
ABSTRACTION + SPACE
The Jazz Gallery Center for the Arts will feature the work of five recent gradates from the visual art programs at the University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee and the Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design.
The artworks of these fives artists focus on abstraction with three dimensional elements and other unique approaches to artmaking.
Featured Artists
Olivia Ann Tharpgeorge (UWM)
Jimmy Cobb (MIAD)
Nadia Alkhun (UWM)
Kya Harris (MIAD)
Sarah Gerbasi (MIAD)
Kya Harris, Artist Statement:
We take our shape, it is true, within and against that cage of reality bequeathed to us at birth; and yet it is precisely through our dependence on this reality that we are most endlessly betrayed.
James Baldwin, “Notes of a Native Son: Everybody’s Protest Novel” 1955
My practice as a whole, both my painting and writing, serves as a critique on contemporary life and power structures, striving to invoke the audience to question anything and everything about the way in which they walk through this life.
I paint abstract images using acrylic, mixed media, collage, and recently, some sculptural elements – which has led me to the exploration of sculptural painting. Through my imagery I explore my perceptions of the world and my understanding of the trouble in our experience as humans; when we fail to reach consciousness and are met with unspoken darkness.
The grid is a strong, conscious symbol evolving within my work. I use it as a way to express the structures we exist within, especially those we may not be able to see. The grid symbolizes order, control, and represents a type barrier. I juxtapose the grid against collage and painterly based imagery, and I enjoy leaving hints and using symbolism as a way to create conversation with the work.
Like Baldwin, I hope to expose the darkness around us with the small truths I have collected as an individual who learns through the creation of her own work and the work of others.
Kya Harris
Untitled (Enveloped in)
mixed media on canvas
4 x 3’
Kya Harris
Untitled (Superposition)
mixed media on canvas
4.5 x 5’
Kya Harris
Within and Without
mixed media on canvas
3.5 x 5’
Nadia Al-Khun, artist statement:
Biology and art have always fascinated me. As a child, I learned that the cell is the smallest unit making up life around us. Each cell relates to other cells through layers, connections, and movements. While biology might seem hard to comprehend, everything operates in harmony. Similarly, art might seem mysterious, yet a closer look reveals the creativity of the human mind.
Given my interest, I decided to pursue studies in biology. I earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Biotechnology and Genetic Engineering in 2007. I enjoyed learning about the intricacy of cellular and neural structure, and networks. Nonetheless, many years later, my passion for art led me to join art school in 2018.
I now create abstract paintings inspired by the unseen world of biology. My series is entitled “Under the Surface.” In which I aim to capture the hidden chaos in delicate details to communicate my vision of the real world through biology. My paintings take the form of imagined abstraction of new biospheres that reflect the complexity and connectivity of our lives. The artworks integrate
dots, lines, shapes, and vibrant colors into a great complex harmony.
Finally, “Under the Surface” allows the spectator to delve into the microscopic world of juxtapositions represented by flat and illusionistic elements. The visual stimulation then triggers the viewer’s curiosity and imagination. My paintings are coupled with three-dimensional representations to bring the sensory experience of the two-dimensional artwork to life.
Project Statement
These three paintings are all a part of a series titled “Grid Paintings: Within and Without”. These works showcase my exploration of the grid form and sculptural painting throughout the past year. The grid can be seen in and out of all the line work – it is abstracted and always changing. All of the writing used as imagery in the work is writing that I have produced, all in relation to the work itself. Everything informs each other.
I work through material, text, and writing, collage, and sculptural elements to sustain my conceptual thinking on what the grid means for us as people, myself, and what the grid does within the physical paintings – how the grid interacts with the rest of visual imagery I utilize. This is a line of thinking that will last far beyond this moment, and what you see in these works.
Nadia Alkhun
Under the Surface: The Scenery
Oil and acrylic on canvas
24 x 38”
Nadia Alkhun
The Scenery, Sculpture
mixed-material sculpture
8 x 18 x 16”
Nadia Alkhun
Under the Surface: The Undefined Attribution
Oil and acrylic on canvas
30 x 40”
Nadia Alkhun
The Undefined Attribution, Sculpture
Mixed-material sculpture
24 x 8 x 10”
Nadia Alkhun
Under the Surface: The Cyclone (left)
Oil and acrylic on canvas
30 x 48”
Nadia Alkhun
Under the Surface: The Transmogriphy (right)
Oil and acrylic on canvas
30 x 48”
Nadia Alkhun
Under the Surface: The Cleaving, Sculpture
Mixed-material sculpture
27 x 22 x 14”
Sarah Gerbasi, artist statement:
I act as an artist both observing and being observed. Who is looking? Why are they looking? My work explores the concepts of transparency, layers, and deception. Focusing on multidimensional meanings and moments. The comforting objects are tricking you into a false sense of safety. As my work often holds both love and anger simultaneously. Within my work I aim to evoke a sense of animism, as if
each piece has a soul. Guilt and the past are transformed and reframed through imagery and subtitle poetry, treading a web of time through careful reflection. I am an artist who explores painting and sculpture. Absurdity through mishandled objects and balancing the line between comfortability and discomfort. I was born, raised, and work in Milwaukee WI, but hope to leave one day. I don't believe in coincidences.
Sarah Gerbasi
Snowman
Found objects/spraypaint/foam
24 x 20”
Sarah Gerbasi
Girlhood Evolved Into Binge Drinking
Spraypaint on wood/plaster paper
18 x 20”
$200
Sarah Gerbasi
The Glowworm Was My Best Friend
Oil and foam on canvas
48 x 24”
Jimmy Cobb, artist statement:
Jimmy Cobb is a painter and sculptor living and working in Milwaukee, third coastal Wisconsin. Cobb’s current conceptual work delves into the idea of interaction between subject and space. His undergraduate practice has produced a large body of work with the intention of depicting new age reactions to various environments. Cobb, also an accomplished muralist is informed greatly by the surrounding environment and utilizes a mix of these two in his practice. Within Cobb’s work, there is an adherence to painterly motifs, while often sculptural attempts to ‘build’ new space challenge each work. The three-dimensional forms and the two-dimensional images allow a field of play for the painter to better understand the value of modern figuration. Cobb’s large-scale public
work can be found on walls in Muskegon, Michigan, ranging to his current harbor of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Cobb is also the lead designer of Oshki, a West Michigan-based renewable clothing company, where the work depicts lake imagery in response to the critical need for environmental support.
Jimmy Cobb
Breezy Tree
Oil on muslin over form
50 x 45 x 8”
Jimmy Cobb
Diving In
Oil on muslin over form
24 x 32 x 8”
Jimmy Cobb
The Bike Crash
Oil on muslin over form
40 x 52 x 6”
Olivia Tharpgeorge, artist statement:
Meditations In Neon
As a painter I enjoy creating organic abstract shapes and patterns. My work functions as a meditative practice where I respond to previous marks with formal design elements. I layer these elements onto amorphous, shaped wood panels with a variety of painting and drawing mediums. Throughout the process of creating, I use the patterns of the wood grain to inspire colorful lines, marks, and patterns I produce. My use of bright colors becomes a dialogue between what is perceived as natural or organic, and what is known to be manufactured.
Conceptually, my use of varying patterns, rhythms, symmetries, and colors reflects the similarities that can be observed between all things. Look at the way rivers and streams flow through the earth, and one might see the veins in our body and roots of a tree. Observe clay cracks, and it conjures in the mind the way sunlight shines between leaves, and even similarities to the delicate wrinkles in skin.
These similarities between different yet ever connected parallels in nature repeat and morph in response to each other. What is known to be natural and organic can also be considered "manufactured" by nature, while manufactured things can at their most basic levels be broken down to elements which occur naturally.
Ultimately, I am interested in the viewer being given similar opportunities to meditate on these ideas and consider how interconnected we are with nature and each other, no matter how manufactured and separate our lives may seem.
Olivia Tharpgeorge
Meditations in Neon
Acrylic on wood panel
approx. 8 x 6’ installed