SUMMER LOVIN’
Summer. The word alone is a mood. The hottest season centered the summer solstice; the days are long and filled with carefree fun, sunshine, tradition and culture. Iconic songs like LFO's "Summer Girls," Grease's "Summer Nights" and movies like "The Graduate" and "Wet Hot American Summer" are engrained in American culture. Fireworks, sunblock, hot dogs, baseball, ice cream. Summer. Summers are growing longer due to climate change. In recent years we've seen shifts in temperatures, weather patterns and the political climate. For this exhibition, we selected artists who captured this theme in a visual or conceptual way.
Exhibiting artists include Simone DiLaura, Vincent Dupont-Blackshaw, Ali Futrell, Lynsey Garfinkel, Izosceles, Erin Karp, Epiphany Knedler, Eric Matranga, Chunbum Park, Cade Pemberton, Léna Piani, Lori Pond, Susan Rosenberg Jones, Emily Sabree, Jane Szabo and Isabelle Winardi. Additional information on the artists and work can be found after the exhibition images. To acquire work: please contact us at info@treatgallery.org, or click on the link which will bring you to Artsy.
25% of sales will be donated directly to Clean Water Fund, a Washington D.C. based non-profit. Since 1974, Clean Water Fund has helped people campaign successfully for cleaner and safer water, cleaner air, and protection from toxic pollution in our homes, neighborhoods and workplaces. Organizations and coalitions formed and assisted by Clean Water Fund have worked together to improve environmental conditions, prevent or clean up health-threatening pollution in hundreds of communities and to strengthen policies locally and nationally.
Emily Sabree
“I chose to paint pool toys because they are instantly recognizable as summer objects. Inflatables have a tactile quality which may evoke nostalgia in the viewer. As an oil painter, I am interested in creating nuanced drapery studies with strong directional light. The color and light of the beach ball and rainbow unicorn float were ideal for my summer-themed painting.”
Izosceles
Izosceles is an emerging American visual artist. With a love for cartoons and fun imagery, Izosceles discovered their adoration for artistic expression at a young age. Their works are colorful in nature, however some have deeper tones underneaththe playful, digestible surface. Growing up on cartoons as a child is what inspires their bold lines and imaginative colors that pull you in, and the visual composition and subject matter are what make you stay.
Vincent Dupont-Blackshaw
“I look for moments that are quietly unique. Often an isolated thing or person in an environment that on first glance is ordinary but on second glance tells a subtle story. Light plays an essential part of how I see that story being told, creating a mood and provoking feeling in each image. As a travel photographer, I strive to catch the essence of the place I am in at that exact time. My role is to tell a story of that place for people to connect with.”
Chunbum Park
Chunbum Park's works involve the theories of gender fluidity and performativity. Gender fluidity, which means that gender is fluid and on a spectrum like a rainbow, allows Park place themselves in the middle zone of androgyny and alternation between the masculine and the feminine, like the Japanese onnagata in Kabuki theatre. Gender performativity, which is a similar idea explained by Judith Butler as a repeated set of performances that define the gender identity of the person rather than an inner core or soul of the person, validates their non-traditional aspirations of gender identity.
“Beauty Is Rocket Science" depicts a lady on summer vacation, who is wearing a hat to cover her face from the immense sunlight and is on a boat or a cruise ship. The passion, the heat, and the beauty of the moment are symbolized by the rocket launches, which are most stable near the equator, the hottest parts of Earth.
Simone DiLaura
“My work focuses on images of women and girls and the emotional territory that surrounds the female experience growing up and dealing with wide range of emotional states. I use photography as the base tool for starting my work, and work primarily with oil on canvas. My subjects are close friends/family members so there is an intimacy as well as immediacy in capturing them. The Swimmers is a series of paintings I began during the pandemic and is based on an on-going photography project I started over a decade ago, photographing female friends and family in the pool. I am drawn to how the water blurs and distorts the body, abstracts the features of the person, and amplifies the colors and light. My figures are caught in a moment of motion underwater, swimming, or floating, holding their breath, treading water. This is both visually and conceptually compelling to explore, there is a physical and emotional charge being underwater, a vulnerable moment of the figures holding their breath. Distortion blurs the body and faces of the girls, a break from the insecurities and scrutiny of their looks often put on or internalized by girls, and women, as they grow up.”
Léna Piani
“My artworks are attempts to escape. In my figurative artistic approach I am moving towards surreal and dreamlike imagery. Through installations made up of miniature figurines staged in a natural setting or indoors I link the human body to the elements by playing on the scales of proportion giving an unreality to the scene in which humor sometimes blends in with melancholy in a symbolic representation of human strength and fragility. In addition, I address the theme of dependence linked to memory, exile, consumerism through installations made up of assemblies of everyday objects. A part of my photographic and videographic production explores perceptual phenomena linked to light set in motion, through an experimental research process around an abstract de-construction of the “light matter” that I question in its space, its volume and scale. They tend to evoke the effervescence of an action in the making, the rapture of a space to conquer. My work is driven by this desire to capture of the ephemeral, the fleetingness of the momentum which in the lightness of its flight offers a metaphorical resistance to the burden of memory and family, social or political constraints.
Here also appears a story of liberation.”
Lynsey Garfinkel
“I began working with resin in 2021 with the goal to recreate the ocean that I love so much. Each piece has at least 6 layers of resin which gives lots of depth as well as the impression that the waves are breaking under the surface. In addition to resin, I use resin pigments or acrylic paint to create the ocean blues. Most of my oceanscapes are influenced by the Atlantic Ocean. Ever since I was little, I have always been mesmerized by the ocean. From growing up in South Florida to now living on the coast of North Carolina, it has given me constant inspiration.
In January of 2021, I decided to buy some resin, and try to recreate the ocean waves that I love so much. Little did I know it would lead me to my dream career. What I love about working with resin is that each piece is unique, and no two will ever be the same. When I’m not getting messy in the studio, I stick close to the coast. You can usually find me out on the beach looking for shark teeth, surfing, diving, or with my camera in hand!”
Cade Pemberton
“Summer can be hot. Summer can be cool. I love the sultry shimmer of a green summer garden in August or the dreamy blue green waters beneath the placid surface of a lake in early June. These two watercolors explore the opposites of summer to experience any way you choose.”
Cade Pemberton is a painter of colorful abstract and figurative works on canvas and paper. Her work is inspired by a number of sources ranging from nature to the subconscious to the intuitive process of painting itself. Oil, acrylic, watercolor and printmaking are her primary mediums.
Ali Futrell
“My current work involves vibrant, bold compositions and narratives by using life-size figures, random objects, performance, and dramatic color. I’m driven by color and its ability to enhance the story and seduce the viewer, through rich pigments and saturated hues; inviting them to engage with the work. I am not only fascinated by the power of color and how it can be used to create the energy of life but captivated by the rendering of light, shadow, value, and contrast that produces depth and three-dimensional illusions. All three of these pieces capture what summer means to me - Gma riding the heat wave, wearing sunnies, and witnessing in awe the beauty of SoCal sunsets.”
Epiphany Knedler
“Summer in the Midwest is spent exploring swimming holes, getting a corndog at the local Fairgrounds, being squished in a car on family roadtrips, and catching fireflies. These images show the local landscape of summer and the quiet moments between action. One of my favorite parts of summer is finding out local stories and going to the places they occurred. Many of these images are from my series, Wish You Were Here, which explores the ways we engage with history through roadside attractions. There are layers of history to each of these landscapes, and these photographs capture a small portion of these stories.”
Susan Rosenberg Jones
“With my artistic practice, I explore themes of home, family, community, identity, aging, love, and relationships. Working mostly in color I meet my subjects in the environment where they are most comfortable, often in the home, to tell their stories with authenticity and compassion. At times, I use a lighter touch, occasionally injecting humor, to express intimate feelings about the person being photographed, especially if it’s someone close to me. I am influenced by literary fiction in terms of character development and place description, and I endeavor to create images that touch on human emotions that are recognizable and familiar.”
Eric Matranga
From an early age, Art was what Eric used when troubled and needed to think things through to find equilibrium and comfort. There is more than enough strife and stress out there that an artist doesn't need to create more. Art has always been Eric's method to heal and remains so. There is no reason to change now in the face of this selfish turmoil ripping society apart. Anger and lies rule the day rather than objective Truth and pursuit of common ground. There is a lesson here for us all. Not everything can be measured, analyzed, and described in scientific terms. Art is more than science and often defies description and measurement. Eric's Art is about harmony and reaches the soul in ways that can't be quantified or pinned down. His Art seeks what is hidden in the shadows as well as exposed to the full light of day.
Eric has been drawing and painting all his life, but never full time until the last few years. He is retired on a disability and Art is now his life. He tries to infuse the energy he feels for place in each painting and many people find healing qualities in them.
Erin Karp
“These photos evoke the feeling of summer to me because of the light & the colors. "Tranquilo" is a photo made in morning light of closed umbrellas at a rooftop pool. As a kid, I spent every summer with my grandparents in Phoenix.”
Erin Karp is a fine art photographer in NJ. Her love of photography began with a Pentax Asahi in the early 1990s & grew with her education at William Paterson University & the University of Sevilla, Spain. Her passion for printing bloomed as she spent countless hours in the darkroom. Though she reluctantly transitioned to digital in 2009 while studying at ICP, she treats her DSLR the same as her Pentax: she shoots manually in natural light & still makes her own prints. Erin’s work has been included in exhibitions in NYC, CA, NJ, CT, CO, & RI, including at Denise Bibro Fine Art, The Painting Center, Salmagundi Club, Ceres Gallery, Greenwich Art Society, & Providence Art Club. Her work's collected privately throughout the USA & in corporate collections in NYC. Having grown up the daughter of an abstract oil painter & a fashion designer, Erin inevitably developed a distinct way of seeing the world. Fascinated by details in architecture and nature, she sees & shoots the world in an abstract & graphical way. Erin’s photography brings to the viewer a unique vision of her understanding of light, shadow, & shape, an abstract study of details that often go unnoticed.
Jane Szabo
“Life is messy. And hard. Sometimes we are faced with personal hardships or tragedies. Other times, we are met with collective challenges that change our world views. And yet, we persevere. Damaged is walking in the forest, escaping from the troubles of the day. It is seeking the beauty of the moment, in spite of the darkness that lingers on the edges. When facing hardship, we seek solace. We put a brave face forward, but know that just behind our reassuring smiles, our “I’m fine, thank you,” our facade is cracking and our countenance is crumbling. A walk in the forest is a spiritual experience, and magical transformations can occur as we bathe in the sunlight and feel the wind on our skin. Damaged explores our marred edges while simultaneously celebrating the beauty that brings us peace.”
Work from this series are unique, hand-printed limited edition pigment transfer prints.
Isabelle Winardi
“Captured via aerial photography, "Tides" represents the physical halfway point between high tide and low tide at a man-made pool in Laguna Beach, Orange County during a sunny California summer day, as well as the metaphorical halfway point between mankind and the natural world.”
Isabelle Winardi received her B.S. in chemistry from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) and is currently pursuing her Ph.D. in materials science & engineering at UCLA again. Although she is a scientist and engineer by trade, she is a photographer at heart, having been featured in exhibitions internationally.
Lori Pond
Lori Pond is an artist using the photographic process to explore the human condition as seen through the conflict of good vs. evil, contemporary anxiety and the impermanence of all things.