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Amelia Wiygul: Poetry and Other Mirrors / Valeri Clarke: Flag Day Opening Reception

June 23, 2022 @ 6:00 pm - 9:00 pm

Two images collaged next to each other. One of a colorful flag, and one with two people kissing in a red room

Open June 23 – July 24

Art Gym is excited to present, Poetry and Other Mirrors, featuring new work from artist Amelia Wiygul and Flag Day, featuring new work from artist Valeri Clarke on view in The Leyden Jar. Please join us and the artists for an opening reception on Thursday June 23 from 6-9PM.

 

Amelia Wiygul:

“I’m Amelia Wiygul, a multimedia artist from the Gulf South, now based in Denver. In the last few years I’ve been making work in response to coming of age in a slow apocalypse.

Poetry and other Mirrors is a body of work about love, sex, self-reflection, and the end of the world as we know it. The figures who live in the world of the work are ghosts, shadows, and reflections. Instead of their features, their surroundings inform them. A broken mirror, a red wall, a potted plant. The figures themselves are transient, but their effect upon each other, and the world they inhabit, will last long after they rise from their couches, exit the mirrored hallway, and fade from the rooftops.

The settings in Poetry and other Mirrors are mental rather than physical landscapes, a depiction of a place that exists in the mind, but nevertheless feels real. Often there will be text incorporated directly into the image, to reach out to you, to give you a foothold. And then, because the work is not actually happening in the real world, and most likely never will, there will be places where the scene falls apart. Mirrors reflect wrong and windows give way into unexpected rooms. Faceless figures take the place of people. There are visible underpaintings and sketchy pencil marks. Improbable juxtaposition, unlikely lighting. Impossible colors. At this point you might experience a feeling of loss. This is a picture of something that can never happen outside of your mind. Or you may feel justified in a leap of faith, to believe in the work, despite considerations of logic.

The spaces are naively hopeful, a place where love can stay and the light is always soft and beautiful. Despite the occasional intrusion of pain, loss, and brokenness, Poetry and other Mirrors is a hopeful hypothesis about the future.”

“But it delights us. Every exquisitely

misplaced moon, every torso

half-flesh, half-oak, every defeat

of gravity delights us.

[…]

Perhaps we are born for this,

to be astonished, then go on.”

Poison, Sharon Fain.

 

Valeri Clarke:

“I began this series in the summer of 2021. It’s based on the design of the U.S. Flag, which is a potent inspiration for me.

I used text and images from newspapers that I cut up and collaged. As I looked through the papers each week my eye hit on colors, textures, and images that I collected and cataloged for future projects. I sometimes included natural folds and flaws in the paper because that is the history of that page.

My collage work is often abstract. I am excited by patterns and textures that meet at lines and intersections. I am also intrigued by minimalism and I work to see how little contrast I can put between pieces. Sometimes I begin with an idea, like the rainbow, or using a single color (“Dark Matter”). At other times I simply arrange the colors and textures until I am satisfied with the result.

I live in Evergreen and have been a member at the Art Gym since 2019.”

Details

Date:
June 23, 2022
Time:
6:00 pm - 9:00 pm
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