June 2019: Ricochet

Friday, June 7 from 6 to 9pm, the Harrison Gallery presents Ricochet, new work by Benny Sanders. Sanders explains how this worked has developed saying, "With this new body of work I am consistently pushing myself to work in an inconsistent manner. It’s not important for me to develop a recognizable style, but to utilize one idea to influence the next. In my third year of painting, the most important thing is for me to ask myself “What do I want to paint and why do I want to paint it?

The subjects are somewhat traditional to representational painting but in each piece I attempt to imbue contemporary elements. My current subject matter is influenced by my recent travels to the Western US, painting portraits with friends in basements, Indiana’s farming landscape and utilizing paint as an iconographic tool to describe myself in an abstract manner."

The City Gallery features place-based work that celebrates urban Indianapolis. Award winning artist David M. Seward brings a new series of paintings titled “Urban Edge" to the gallery in June. The lighting in his compositions is imperative, as it reveals the scene to the audience. It brings life, energy and beauty to a normally dull, mundane subject.

The Gallery Annex features Joseph Arens’s Panel Work. Arens, an Indianapolis based artist, has a Bachelor in Fine Arts where he focused on contemporary sculpture and installation. Panel Work is a series of paintings and mixed media created with the mind of a sculptor. He begins as a painter producing multiple works and then divides them into slats. At this point in the process, the mode of production shifts to sculpture. Slats are combined with other paintings to create unique compositions and unexpected pairings. During the painting phase the process is direct; the work is coming straight from the mind of the artist. Once the work is divided into slats, the process shifts toward editing and selection. The final composition becomes, in essence, a two-dimensional sculpture called Panel Work.

The Art in Carter hangs in the Speck Gallery with work by Derrick Carter, a visual contemporary artist specializing in mixed media painting. "Through creative expression I use sand, glue and acrylics to communicate my beliefs and understanding of life’s contrast between the world and myself. Sand is my primary medium in defining that meaning...Being able to use a substance as simple as sand in the place of more traditional mediums helps to distinguish my work from other artists. It is what helps set my work apart."

Continuing in the Underground Gallery in June is EthereaLand, with the surreal landscapes of painter Benaiah Cusack and a handblown glass installation by Matt Kenyon. 

The Railyard Marksmen Quintet will playing in the gym. Matt Koher is on violin, John Fell on guitar, PJ Heebner on piano, Ben Phelps on drums, and Aaron Ransdell on upright bass. Join Naptown Stomp as they lead the way for swing dancing!
June exhibits hang through June 28.

With support from the Arts Council of Indianapolis, Indiana Arts Commission, Christel DeHaan Family Foundation, Allen Whitehill Clowes Foundation, the Indianapolis Foundation, Sun King Brewery, and Matinee Creative.