Falling Flat
ANDREW HOFFMAN
MAX KAUFFMAN
BUNNIE REISS
DOUG SPENCER
MICHAEL STRESCINO
june 5 - august 3, 2020
PRESS RELEASE
“Even if you fall flat on your face, you're still moving forward” - Victor Kiam
Skye Gallery Aspen and curator Max Kauffman are proud to present Falling Flat, a group show featuring Andrew Hoffman, Max Kauffman, Bunnie Reiss, Doug Spencer, and Michael Strescino. Falling Flat will virtually open Friday June 5, 2020 at 7pm on www.skyegalleryaspen.com and will be on view at Skye Gallery Aspen until August 3, 2020.
Falling Flat examines flat applications of paint. Far off landscapes, dissonant fields, and ghosts of vintage signage are reduced down to their core elements. Mountains become flat purple triangles. A sunrise is reduced to lines of light coming down from the heavens. Travels are distilled into magical vistas, complex and yet wide open. Folk art influences shine through in these applications, connecting each artist in the show back to mark-makers of the past.
This show celebrates risk. Each artist veers towards experimental and thrives in unexpected situations. Joy is apparent in all of the work. Failures and victories are celebrated as equals and as a way to move forward, to explore new ground.
Versatility is this group of artists' way of life. Life experience across different mediums echoes through their work. For instance, Spencer's previous creative career as a stunt guitar man comes through in the hard contrasting pink and gold forms of his series. Hoffman, who's day job is graphic design, breaks old advertising down to minimal shapes.
Each maker in this show walks a fine line of loss and gain, the surrender to which often evokes a feeling akin to euphoria. In some circles, “flat” is another word for the drug Ecstasy. So Falling Flat could be a stumble, but it could be a hell of a ride.
“Just popped a flat, I'm beamin' right now” - Chief Keef
Andrew Hoffman is a Denver based artist and designer. These twin roles inform each other on both sides of his work. Echoes of traditional sign painting and regional imagery pay homage to a golden era of advertising and design. By stripping these elements to their core the spatial relationships in his composition take center stage and allow for emotion to dictate things, transcending the objects he's created.
Max Kauffman is an artist living and working in Denver, CO. Architecture factors heavily into his work. As a way to tell a story but also as the basis of things - the walls we form in our minds, the memory of a magic place from childhood, and recently to look at heritage. Using a mental and emotional map of places, people, and sometimes events he creates images to the best of his recollection. They appear more as patterns than a concrete thing.
Bunnie Reiss is a muralist and fine artist whose work is heavily influenced by her Eastern European background, with its tradition of folk art, saturated colors, animals, nature, and community engagement. Her extensive travels add an extra layer of conversation, which make her creations extremely unique. Her murals and larger installation work are looked upon as spell, an offering, and a place for people to gather. She has exhibited in galleries and created brightly colored murals through the US and around the world. She currently splits her time between Los Angeles and Joshua Tree.
Doug Spencer is an interdisciplinary artist living and working in Denver, CO. For this series he focused on the uncomplimentary relationship between the lines and shapes he creates. He wanted them to compete, to fight for space and prominence. With that concept in mind, he chose a bright pink Plexi-glass to clash with the smoke and gold leaf. The Venn-diagram moments do show commonality but they also show how we are often on opposing sides of ourselves. Contradictions, he supposes.
Michael Strescino is an artist originally from Tacoma, WA, currently residing in Denver, CO. His creative practice revolves around painting, specifically moving quickly and coexisting harmoniously with the medium. His current work is focused on capturing the blur of memory through multiscape paintings that layer moments of his past experiences, like striated cliff sides. Much of this current work is based on recent travels to South Asia, using photographs he captured along the way as a springboard to attempt to capture past emotion. His goal is to end up somewhere between sound observational painting and a pureness of emotion that evokes something more than recognition. Mike received his BFA in sculpture from Colorado State University.
