grayDUCK gallery is pleased to present work by artists Allen Brewer and Pamela Valfer who both draw their inspiration from the discarded, forgotten and the ignored.

Allen Brewer

This collection of drawings is an exercise in personal and universal perceptions of text, image, and objective spirituality. The works are loosely based on my own history. My goal is to deepen the dialogue between words and visuals by increasing the chasm of direct description.

Unique papers and objects were collected for their inherent energy, and then drawn on, using typewriter carbon paper and colored pencil. The media references early elementary school tools, while the paper's existing text and handwriting remind me of the mystery of origin and ownership. With ephemera, I'm able to connect latent energy with a context and response I feel is both suitable and satisfying. The viewer's own interpretation and newfound connection is crucial.

Pamela Valfer

In my current work the “Reclamation Project” I am interested in the notion of authenticity and the original. Transmogrification becomes a central process for this investigation through which veneration is explored.

Is there a way to achieve an existent state of being through a re-appropriation of castaway material? I utilize a 2-D and 3-D format as a way to question this possibility. Through my process of using flocked plastic animal banks, fur, and other recycled materials I am attempting a transformation from inanimate, lowbrow and kitsch to a more authentic natural state of being; a utopian and ultimately improbable endeavor that attempts to return things to what is original and real.