Prisms & Paradigms

Fowler-Kellogg Art Center, Chautauqua Institution

June 25 - August 2, 2023

This exhibition brings together sculpture, photography, and textiles that focus on the use of iridescence and color gradients. Filling the gallery with rainbows, these works collectively speak of change and transformation and the magic of existing in more than one state at the same time. Connected by the spectrum of color, these artists tackle subject matter ranging from gender and sexuality to the ethereal experience of prismatic impermanent moments. Sponsored by the Kay Hardesty Logan Foundation.

ARTISTS: Venancio Aragon, Guillermo Castaneda, Katherine Gray, Julia Kunin, Kazue Taguchi, Jon Verney & Masaya Ozaki.

Take a Video Tour

Photos: Kathryn Boyer and Erika Diamond

Curatorial Statement:

Like a whisper video for your eyes, this exhibition offers a collection of visual ASMR (autonomous sensory meridian response). Connected by shifting spectrums of color, these artists tackle subject matter ranging from gender and sexuality to the ethereal experience of prismatic impermanent moments. Each artist challenges the paradigm of the fields or materials in which they work, using innovative ways of manipulating surface, light, color, and form.

Jon Verney’s polaroid photos un-become (or become un-photos?), as his compositions are really decompositions of former photographs caught in a state of dissolution. Much like our own memories, they are no longer documentation of something in the world, but visual landscapes and atlases of their own changes. Much like Verney, Katherine Gray’s works are inspired by the chemical changes that occur to buried glass artifacts over time. Her mysterious surfaces are achieved through the use of a “space age technique,” giving the sleek forms a timeless quality.

Merging Art Nouveau and Baroque styles, Julia Kunin creates iridescent ceramic sculptures informed by fossils, architecture, and lesbian sexuality. These objects have a hefty presence despite their slippery surfaces and oil slick coloration. Guillermo Castaneda’s pâte de verre glass sculptures are both container and contained, built of many fragile layers of glass powder. The form and surface are one in the same, and their display on mirrored surfaces suggests their potential for existence in infinite space.

Venancio Aragon’s weaving practice is rooted in Navajo traditions of handwoven tapestry while marked by his signature “polychromatic saturation.” Driven by a reverence for water, the rainbows we see in these woven works are meant to represent natural phenomena like light refractions on water or cloud iridescence. Kazue Taguchi’s chosen material is reflection itself, formed by the interplay between light and ribbons of mirrored surfaces. By harnessing the phenomenon of light, she creates a sublime immersive experience for the viewer.

Filling the gallery with rainbows, these works focus on the use of iridescence and color gradients to collectively speak of change and transformation. They illustrate the magic of existing in more than one state at the same time. They create worlds that shimmer in a sublime state of unknowing.

Special thanks to exhibition installation team: Colin Shaffer, Rheanne Bouchard, Sarah Heink, and Grace Bukowski.

PRESS:

Read Julia Weber’s article, Chautauquan Daily, July 31, 2023.