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ABSURDITIES CREPT IN

march through april

Jennifer Davis, Mark Nelson & Terrence Payne

  • opening reception: saturday, march 3, 7-9pm
  • exhibition dates: march 3 - april 1, 2012

Through pattern, candy colors and imagery, “Absurdities Crept In” is a show of odd tales waiting to be told. Tales about the awareness of time, stumbling through life’s fleeting experiences and one’s true character. This exhibition features three artists with meticulous drawing styles and abundant illustrational talent, including paintings from Jennifer Davis and Mark Nelson and color pencil drawings from Terrence Payne.

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Jennifer Davis

My current work is a series of whimsical and emotional narrative portraits that attempt to portray my own experiences and desires and relate them to more universal truths about the world we live in. The animals, objects, people and places depicted each have unique meaning that relates to my own life and experiences but attempt to communicate something subtly recognizable and personal for the viewer as well. Each story is played out in a dreamland that somehow feels like home. The surreal Candyland-like exteriors and unbridled playfulness hint at a darker undercurrent just below the surface. Such is the delicate balance between the subjects more bestial natures and their more humane and generous qualities.

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Mark Nelson

I fell in love with creating visual things at a very early age. I remember getting so excited about building stuff with Legos or making little drawings. At some point I began to realize the connection I could create with others through my drawings and this was just as exciting as the creation itself. So now I’m little older and I’ve replaced my drawings with paints but I’m still that little kid having fun creating and looking for that connection. I’m now starting to use the creative process to explore some bigger concepts in life like self perception, the mystery of time, mortality, spirituality and our complex relationships to other humans, other species and the always expanding world around us.

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Terrence Payne

My oil pastel and color pencil portraits combine narrative elements, refined organic forms, along with delicate and bold lines to suggest movement and evolution in his subject’s character. The earnest beauty ensuing from the clumsy actions of the subjects as they stumble through life in pursuit of their ideal existence inspires me. Whether or not they ever reach their prescribed potential is irrelevant, it is the fleeting and universal experiences that happen along the way, which truly define their humanity.

Jennifer Davis - Carousel
Jennifer Davis - Tricky
Jennifer Davis - BigBaby
Jennifer Davis - Get Up & Go
Jennifer Davis - Hightail
Jennifer Davis - Pet
Jennifer Davis - Wings
Jennifer Davis - Cordelia
Jennifer Davis - Girl
Jennifer Davis - Clowns
Jennifer Davis - Garden
Mark Nelson - Mistress of Ether
Mark Nelson - Confusion of Tongues
Mark Nelson - Midnight Swimming Pool
Mark Nelson - Structual Abstractions 1
Mark Nelson - Structual Abstractions 4
Mark Nelson - Structual Abstractions 5
Mark Nelson - Structual Abstractions 6
Terrence Payne - It’s just as important to have you behind me as well as below
Terrence Payne - Feed
Terrence Payne - You can count on me just don’t count high
Terrence Payne - Your secret is safe with me but it probably won’t
Terrence Payne - Not to spite you but in spite of you
Terrence Payne - You think you are so hot