The NEON Gallery today announces the forthcoming launch of 'KINESIS', their highly anticipated inaugural show in London, on 24 September 2020. The 7-day exhibition is a curation of selected works by established and emerging contemporary artists who share a desire to change perceptions of artistic expression and mediums while also delivering potent critiques of the status quo through their works. 'KINESIS' is designed to be as much a cultural experience as an artistic one and in an innovative twist sure to excite fans of contemporary art, the exhibition will move between three separate venues in London for its duration.
In creating the show, the duo at the helm of NEON, Dr. Dimitrios Tsivrikos and Christopher Shake, drew inspiration from the dynamic between motion and stimulus inherent in the very idea of kinesis. The show sets out to explore the concept of "a movement" - literal, figurative and metaphorical - as reflected in artworks that variously engage socially poignant concepts. Kinesis will include a number of highly regarded works by Gary Komarin; a prolific risk taker in contemporary painterly abstraction. Komarin's stalwart images have an epic quality that grip the viewer with the idea that he or she is looking at a contemporary description of something timeless. His status in this regard is based on the authenticity of his work, its deep connection to the tradition of modern painting as well as its sustained individuality as an utterly personal voice. Komarin prefers non-art industrial canvas tarps and drop cloths as opposed to traditional painting media and materials. He builds layered surfaces with latex house paint mixed with spackle and water. Kenneth Baker, wrote,"Komarin gets paintings that vibrate with historical memory, echoing such things such as Matisse's driest most empty pictures, Robert Motherwell's spare abstractions of the 1970's, or the early New Mexico and Berkeley paintings of Richard Diebenkorn."
This inaugural show will feature works by the multi-disciplinary Rachel Libeskind who has created a body of work that intelligently marries historical and contemporary notions of identity, gender, re-appropriation and reproduction, creating a dynamic where social commentary and materiality exist side-by-side. The show also includes Svetlana Bogatcheva, whose intricate abstract sculptures and canvases are made with post post-consumer and post-industrial materials. With repeating unfolds and contours, they are soothing and hypnotic expressions of her environmental activism. We are privileged to show works by the emerging British artists Piers Alsop and Aubrey Higgin masterfully incorporate allusions to art history as well as striking works by Josh Rowell with their none-too-subtle commentary on politics and social media. Rounding out the "KINESIS" cohort with a bold new performance work about Kinesis, Simona Sharafudinov, whose works combine video, performance, drawing, painting, sculpture - will present her new performance work on the opening night as she continues her devotion to trace the sentience of being through performance and image-making. Their courageous embrace of materiality and literal motion through various media brings the concept of kinesis full circle while adding a multisensory dimension to the exhibition. With paintings, sculptures, and performative works set to feature, Tsivrikos and Shake have curated a show which, highlights the vitality and diversity in contemporary art.
The exhibition also has an aspirational outlook outlined by the dynamic of kinesis. As NEON Director, Christopher Shake, articulates, "This exhibition is also about hope and fortitude. It reflects our hope that collectively, we can embrace the core principle of 'KINESIS', the idea of a movement, for us a forward-seeking movement, in response to external and internal influences, by drawing upon these uncertain times as a catalyst to launch innovative ways of experiencing and interacting with the arts and our community as a whole."
The Neon Gallery show titled 'KINESIS' will run from 24 - 30 September at Koppel Projects, Soho, London. We are offering private press previews 12 – 3pm 24 September, and our launch night commences at 6pm until 9pm. To ensure compliance with government's Covid-19 guidelines, press previews are by appointment and guest attendance is strictly by RSVP. Please contact info@neonartgallery.com to make your appointment / reservation today.
