Los Ojos is proud to present a three-person exhibition of works informed and inspired by the practice of drawing and sketching.
Rene Gortat’s paintings, built upon layers of acrylic and ink, borrow geometric and cartographic imagery to call attention to our relationship to travel, migration and movement. Their uniform scale but varying shapes tease out the many iterations possible in the medium. The three dimensionality of the custom frames he constructs brings to mind the geographic formations referenced by the maps and markings. Gortat received his BA in Painting from Lycoming College in Williamsport, PA. He lives and works in Ridgewood, Queens.
Brian Matthew Blair’s latest drawings represent otherworldy objects against deep charcoal landscapes. A satellite drifts in what is undoubtedly deafeningly silent space, lit dramatically from below, its intricately engineered hardware on display. A roughly hewn, asteroid-like shape appears ominously above a curved landscape, perhaps moments before decimating it or harmlessly orbiting by. Blair received his MFA from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago. He lives and works in New York.
James Vanderberg has created a voluminous series of black ink and oil stick drawings on paper, a selection of which is displayed in a grid in the gallery. The drawings bring attention to the seemingly endless variations possible on the themes of gesture and the stark differentiation between figure and ground made apparent in the absence of color. Vanderberg received his MFA from CUNY Hunter College and currently lives and works in Greenpoint, Brooklyn.