FOOL’S GOLD- KATY HEINLEIN & ALIKA HERRESHOFF

FOOL’S GOLD

Opening Reception: Friday, September 5th, 2014, 6-8pm

Exhibition runs through October 18th, 2014.

 

The pairing of the work of Houston-based artists Katy Heinlein and Alika Herreshoff for Fool’s Gold highlights the rapport between two artists whose common interests play out in artworks that are formally distinct and yet startlingly kindred. While Heinlein’s sculptural works seem to acknowledge a distant but important relationship with the history of painting, they are free to explore the physical space of the room. Herreshoff’s paintings, on the other hand, insist on the graphic flatness of Pop and Color Field. Both artists employ a high-keyed palette and suggestive contours to create disorienting spatial distortions and synesthetic sensations, evidencing their common interest in the direct experience of color and shape. Despite this psychedelic sensibility for color, both Heinlein and Herreshoff exercise degrees of restraint, preferring simple forms and motifs to frenetic clutter. Perhaps one of the strongest bonds between these artists and their work is their common pursuit of formal beauty offset by and interwoven with deadpan humor. This purposefully flatfooted approach to abstract art tempers the sublime with the slapstick comedy of spoonerisms, belches, and blank expressions.

Katy Heinlein received her MFA in sculpture from Texas Tech University and her BFA from the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor. Katy’s work has been exhibited globally and locally through the Contemporary Arts Museum of Houston, Diverseworks, Lawndale Art Center, and Bryan Miller Gallery (CTRL.) She has collaborated on set and costume design for the Dominic Walsh Dance Theater for Spectre de la Rose, performed at Miller Outdoor Theatre and Zilka Hall. Katy lives and works in Houston, TX.

Alika Herreshoff received his MFA from Cornell University and his BFA from the School of Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. A former member of the artist collective Dearraindrop, his work has been exhibited at Deitch Projects (New York,) Schmidt Maczollek (Cologne, Germany,) and Loyal Gallery (Malmö, Sweden.) His work is currently on view in the group exhibition Mark Flood Resents (New York.) Alika lives and works in Houston, TX.