Wendy Fulenwider Liszt
Critical Mass
crit·i·cal mass. /ˈˌkridəkəl ˈmas/
noun 1. physics - the minimum amount of fissile material needed to maintain a nuclear chain reaction. 2. the minimum size or amount of something required to start or maintain a venture.
Wendy Fulenwider Liszt’s, Critical Mass, is a collection of paintings and works on paper which are anything but quiet. They have a kinetic energy which visually refers to the multi-tasking needed to find balance in one’s life. Life can be hectic yet these paintings, while layered with information, are positive and upbeat.
In my paintings, drawings and sculpture, I investigate the moment a scattered array of elements tip into a body with momentum. The work is made with layers of spray paint, construction materials, sharpie marker, string, acrylic and oil paint. The indexical application of the materials as they are poured, pressed, scraped, applied with stencils, yarn, brayers, and brushes, signals the presence of touch. Layers of indexical marks, abrasive sanding and sensitive drawing are juxtaposed until they reach their critical mass. -Wendy Fulenwider Liszt
Wendy Fulenwider Liszt received her MFA in Painting from Hunter College in New York City in 2017, where she was also granted the Kossak Painting Fellowship. Recent exhibitions include Critical Mass at Gallery Kayafas in Boston and Sanctity at Thomas Hunter Projects in New York City. Wendy lives in Massachusetts with studios in both Somerville, MA and Brooklyn, NY, working in painting, sculpture and drawing.
Louise Marshall
New Work
We are pleased to be exhibiting Louise Marshall’s New Work produced in 2019-2020. Marshall weaves with paint – complex and rhythmic the weavings appear to move and fold in on each other. Often the weaving is pulling apart, fraying, leaving breaks and holes.
In this series of paintings on paper I use brush strokes that mimic woven fabric. While a personal narrative often guides me, the lines in these paintings are more intuitive. Mistakes that inevitably happen become an opportunity to mend the image and take the piece someplace unexpected.
These works are meditations on the beauty and complexity of familial relationships, as well as the unresolved questions in those relationships. -Louise Marshall
In addition to her paintings, Marshall presents us with an extraordinary and poignant installation, Unsung, created in 2020. Time and loss are personal challenges and defined differently by each of us. All of us in the past nine months can identify with redefining the concept of time. By sharing her personal and intimate loss, Marshall demonstrates we are not alone.
The origin for this installation of covered pocket watches was an attempt to express the need to control time by embracing it. My sister had taught me how to crochet and the repeating movement of the hook and yarn became a contemplative process of holding on and letting go after her death.
Themes of remembrance and loss animate this work, yet are balanced by the desire and urgency to carry on and to make things whole again. These watches are all in disrepair and can no longer keep time. Each is sealed in its own crocheted cocoon, preserving its personal history. -Louise Marshall
Azita Moradkhani
The Creator
Azita Moradkhani continues to explore the female body social norms, injustice towards women, and cultural differences as they exist in the world of yesterday and throughout time to the present. Her detailed drawings and body casts reference the vulnerability of women in various cultures and the inequality influenced by politics and taboos which continue to limit a woman’s abilities.
The female body, and its exposure to differing social norms, is central to my work. Through my drawings and body casts, I examine the experience of finding ourselves insecure in our own bodies. In my drawings, unexpected images incorporated in intimate apparel intend to bring humor and a shock of recognition. Two worlds–my birthplace and my current home–live alongside each other, joining intimately at a single point.
The colored pencil drawings of intimate lingerie explore interconnected narratives of pain and pleasure through images based on photojournalism, art photography, and historical symbolism. I use an aesthetic of pleasure to seduce the viewer, who finds, past the details of lace and filigree, disruptive iconography narrating inherited histories of nation and belief.
In the sculptural work, through the process of casting my nude body, I place myself in a vulnerable situation that challenges the beliefs I grew up with. I mix imagery–tattoos of memory and history–to emphasize inter- and dis-connections between sexual representation and national identity, public and private. -Azita Moradkhani
Alcove Gallery: Nicole Buchanan
Strange Fruit
Nicole Buchanan is a documentary photographer based in Atlanta, GA and a graduate of the Rhode Island School of Design where she received a BFA in photography. She utilizes her skills and experiences to explore innovative ways to invoke emotional insight into cultural and political events that shape our world. She believes that art can bring light to hot topics in a way that inspires real change in the world. She uses her photography as a weapon to influence, trick, and even change the minds of others.
This exhibit, Strange Fruit, is images made during the Atlanta protests in 2020. Not as an observer but as a participant, Nicole captures the energy and diversity of the crowd…children to older adults, multiple races…all together making their voices heard trying to bring about change.