THE WEEKEND EXPERIENCE - ART+CULTURE: Black Maria Presents: Muses

Opening Reception - Saturday, February 7th @ 7pm-10:30pm: Los Angeles

The Black Maria Gallery looks to be throwing a pretty wicked show this weekend. "Muses" features new works by Tin, Kendra Binney and Jeremiah Ketner. The artists are exploring the notion of the muse in contemporary visual art. Their works are quite distinctive from one another and reference varying art movements. What brings them together is that they all explore the notion of the muse, investigating how and why a muse inspires.

Jeremiah Ketner paints a world to which fairytales long to belong. With candy-floss landscapes and vivid imaginary images, his work enraptures and transports one into the world ethereal and the life celestial. He has the inimitable ability to transform the natural into the sublime, terra firma into terra ephemera, the defined figure into the delicate, exquisite figurative. Renowned throughout the US and internationally, Ketner attributes his influence to Art Nouveau, Japanese Aesthetics and Magna. He resides and creates from his home and studio in Chicago, IL, USA.

Tin, based in Maine, has exploded onto the art scene. He works in pastels and oil. Tin’s work is beautifully rendered and elicits a sensual quality that is truly unique. The figures in his work are damaged, both physically and emotionally. Though damaged, Tin’s work combines eroticism with steampunk detailing. This is Tin’s second exhibition at Black Maria.

Alice wrote a post about Kendra Binney's work not too long ago. Through scenes of dripping landscapes and insecure, vulnerable characters, she illustrates a world draped in memories, remorse, and fragile realities. Seen through pastel washes and shiny candy coatings of resins, her works evoke both nostalgia and contempt. They are at once gentle and cruel, sweet and unsettling. Kendra currently lives in Portland Oregon. She spends her days alone in a small studio with no windows. Here she paints, daydreams, and paints some more.

Dates and hours:
Tue-Sat: 12pm-6pm
Show runs from February 7th through February 28th, 2009
Opening Reception - Saturday, February 7th @ 7pm-10:30pm

Cost:
Free

Black Maria Gallery Website
3137 Glendale Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90039
323.660.9393