CLERESTORY
Exhibition Details
Betsy Cain, Katherine Sandoz, Namwon Choi, Ben Tollefson, Trish Andersen, Abel Macias, and Hasani Sahlehe
June 18 - August 29
Reception: Thursday, August 13th from 5-9pm
Laney Contemporary is pleased to announce our Summer 2020 group exhibition entitled Clerestory . Clerestory windows, found high above eye level, at the highest level in a building, allow for brilliant color, light, and fresh air to flood in. They open up and amplify enclosed spaces. Rainbows of light enter and swirl around a previously darkened space. They can be understood as metaphors for enlightenment and truth. The word ‘story’ hidden in clerestory also connects with narrative; to tell one’s story is to bring light and color to a dark space. Color, in the form of paint, stain, brush, gouache, tincture, fiber, or luminosity – to name a few – is essential to the works gathered in Clerestory . It is often the first; the most noticeable element of any work of art. It has the capacity to initiate dialogue or to inform the entire story. In other words, color, in all forms, has narrative power. Color and light can also enhance or manipulate an existing image, transforming its relationship to truth and fiction, re-shaping perception.
This exhibition, available both in the gallery and online, gathers a chorus of visual narratives that emphasize color, light, and fresh air in a time of heavy hearts, indoor cloistering, and worldwide grief. Clerestory is hopeful. It brings together artists whose work recognizes the enlightening power of artistic experimentation with color and light. It’s a reminder that the studio is a place for the practice of new ways of thinking, on a daily and personal basis, with the power of collective affect. It’s about color’s ability to involve the artist and the viewer within the intellectual and creative process. Each of the seven artists included in Clerestory engages color for different reasons, producing formal and personal narratives that emphasize the chromatic spectrum as driver of content. Through word play, metaphor, and a meeting of creative voices, Clerestory reminds us that color and story – light and narrative – are starting points for solutions.
Clerestory also recognizes the important role that artists play in changing “a moment into a movement.” Each artist and the gallery will donate 10% of sales from this exhibition to the artist’s organization of choice.
Hasani Sahlehe, Hurry back and bring the sun , 2020, acrylic, latex, and oil stick on canvas, 58” x 45”
