Dreamer, Lover, Maker, Fighter – Brian Viveros, Miles Johnston, Kari-Lise Alexander & Scott Scheidly

About

Dreamer, Lover, Maker, Fighter is an exhibition of paintings and drawings by Brian Viveros , Miles Johnston , Kari-Lise Alexander and Scott Scheidly . Viveros’s work elevates the iconography of the femme fatale as a powerful emblem of strength and retaliation. Johnston explores the deviations between our internal states of consciousness and the complex underlying reality of our life situations in his intricate illusionistic drawings. Alexander captures the unique qualities of her Scandinavian heritage in her serene figurative paintings. Scheidly blurs the boundaries between his subjects and their environments in his beautifully rendered paintings. Opening reception: Saturday, June 2, from 6pm – 9pm. Free entry. This exhibition runs from June 3 to June 24. Miles Johnston works primarily in graphite and oils, using the human form as a vehicle to attempt to process the intensity and profound strangeness of the collective human experience. The distortions and transformations his figures undergo serve to represent the experience of our internal state during crucial moments in our lives. Instead of focusing on literal representations of the world, he depicts the surreal and abstract qualities of our subjectivity with the goal of creating works with a deep emotional resonance. Internationally celebrated artist Brian M. Viveros has an unmistakably arresting hand. His highly detailed paintings of defiant doe-eyed beauties summon a raw vision of intractability. Beautiful yet barbarous, they draw from the feminine and its reconciliation of vulnerability, beauty, and power. His subjects are fighters and survivors, rendered just bloodied enough to remind us that they are formidable opponents not to be taken lightly, steel-tough victors who carry something of the sublime. Viveros’s work elevates the iconography of the femme fatale beyond seductress to a powerful emblem of strength and retaliation: insubordinate beauties undaunted by the unruliness of a messy fight. Kari-Lise Alexand