Katherine Mann + Michael Enn Sirvet + Christian Benefiel

Hamiltonian Gallery is pleased to announce an exhibition of new works by Hamiltonian Fellows Katherine Mann, Michael Enn Sirvet and Christian Benefiel.  In moments both subtle and cacophonous, each artist reflects on often-overlooked nuances in their environments in which they live and environments created through their work. 

Katherine Mann’s paintings take the viewer into wildly vivid landscapes that teeter between recognizable matter and abstraction.  Mann initiates her paintings with pours of ink and paint and creates a colorful base of blobby stains bleeding into one another.  On top sit carefully rendered shapes, outlined drips and structures that form interlocking systems.  Mann elegantly overflows her paintings with ambiguous forms, which recall elements found in the sea, in the sky, and under the microscope, yet remain unidentifiable. Katherine Mann relates this poetic smash-up of incongruous pieces to her own life of heterogeneity.

Shingled cherry-wood plates umbrella out into an imposing conical shape, which gracefully hangs from the gallery ceiling.  Nature is the source of wonderment and inspiration for Michael Enn Sirvet’s abstracted, archetypal sculptures.  In his newest work, Sirvet creates structures on a scale relatable to one’s own body through forms that suggest a human-sized cocoon, a gigantic seedpod, or represent the feeling of wind enveloping the body.  Sirvet observes and restructures nature in his work to relay to the viewer his sense of reverence for nature.

Christian Benefiel literally draws from his environment by implementing reclaimed and recycled materials and parts made from disassembled, mass-produced, low quality construction debris.  By recontextualizing machine-made products, Benefiel imbues them with the essence of specialized labor and craft of building.  Benefiel’s assemblages physically engage the viewer to be more hands-on, which reflects his sincere nostalgia for a more authentic, handcrafted, production industry.

 

click here to download a copy of the press release

March 27 – May 1, 2010

Opening Reception:
Saturday, March 27
7–9 pm