Blue Mountain Gallery Art Show!
GALLERY&STUDIO 2016 wrote a great review on our show coming up this week - we have officially hung everything on the walls and are ready for the opening this Thursday June 23rd! Check out what Studio & Gallery said about my work in their article titled " MFA Thesis Exhibition Explores Contrasts of Light and Dark":
"At the Blue Mountain Gallery, 530 West 25th Street, New York, NY 10001, is the MFA Thesis Exhibition 2016 of the Western Connecticut State University; a presentation that is a magical celebration of the natural world which is rare these days. Also it shows us the mysteries of light and dark and the power they have in our lives. The show opens June 21st and runs through July 9, 2016. We begin the journey with Lauren Elise Reeves’ art work “Lucky the Slug,” where the slug captures us with his askew grin, his curvy body outlined in light as it clings to the ground. Next to him are smaller slugs, with their backs rounded and curled, showing us that moving in the loamy sea of the earth is an undulating dance. At the far right of the composition are mushrooms shaped like parasols, or pointed rooftops. ‘Lucky’ is the kingpin slug here and he wears his name on a medal around his neck. One is drawn in by his fleshy and gentle demeanor, and the warm, cinnamon colored glow in the background. The sinuous shape of his body reminds us that the natural world has no sharp edges like the man made one. Though we might think this creature is insignificant and slow moving, Reeves tells us otherwise. She alludes that all creatures have their place in the living world and that they have value and beauty however small or unnoticed. Reeves is a poet who observes subtleties where the smallest details become the locus of her work. She shows reverence for what she depicts, imbues those images with magic. It is what we all did as children when we looked at the world with fresh wonder and respect. Her vision continues in her other work, “Forging Light,” a mixed media of a squirrel holding a blown glass ball of fire. Her images are beautifully rendered in a realistic style, surrounded in near darkness as if in a medieval, chiaroscuro painting. The squirrel has goggles on his forehead and wears a leather apron. He is a worker in some underground space. This fantastical icon implies that light is being created in unexpected places and by creatures who have no great status in the world. Reeves infers with her poetic sensibility that there is light we cannot see as well as light that is known and in places we might not think to look. In her work, she elevates these humble beings, giving them the jobs of God’s apprentices. She asks us to tear ourselves away from our iPhones and look at the world in which we live. Admirably, Lauren Reeves achieves these remarkable results by working in both graphite and digital media..."
"This show at the Blue Mountain Gallery presents us with a world of nature and moves into the world of thought–that there is contradiction in the world and it requires us to look at it. Come to this exhibit and look for the poetry in what you see." —Christine Graf
WCSU, Master of Fine Arts Thesus Exhibition 2016 Blue Mountain Gallery 530 West 25th St., 4th Floor June 21 through July 9, 2016 Review featured on the Gallery & Studio Website