Monday, November 24, 2014

Oppositions and Parallels by Robyn LeRoy-Evans, Naomi Shersty and Ryn Wilson

A group exhibition I organized is currently showing at the Front in conjunction with PhotoNOLA. I invited my former photography instructor, Naomi Shersty, and another New Orleans photographer, Robyn LeRoy-Evans to show, and am exhibiting a new photo-installation piece of my own. Come by during gallery hours, Sat/Sun 12-5pm or for the PhotoNOLA opening on Dec. 6th from 6-9pm. We will be doing a gallery walk through with the artists on Dec. 7th from 2-5pm. There are three other great photography shows in the gallery as well! http://nolafront.org/shows/2014-11-04-74

Oppositions and Parallels
Robyn LeRoy-Evans, Naomi Shersty, and Ryn Wilson
Oppositions and Parallels presents artwork by Robyn LeRoy-Evans, Naomi Shersty and Ryn Wilson. Using photography as a unifying medium, the exhibition identifies several opposing and overlapping themes within each artist’s practice. Sharing a mutual fascination with the relationship between environment and self, each artist has depicted the female body either in full or in part, as a distorted, fractured form, via text, or through the use of symbolic objects. Having traveled the United States as well as further afield, each artist has at some point found themselves to be the outsider, the newcomer, and the stranger. They have been transplanted into new environments, forced to navigate unknown territory, and have been met with both understanding and misperception along the way. These artworks explore associated feelings of confusion, loss, anxiety, desire, and loneliness, emotions which can arise from living an itinerant and malleable existence. 

 
Robyn LeRoy-Evans, Bloom from the Forest Series, Metallic print mounted to Sintra, 8"x10", 2014

Robyn LeRoy-Evans
Born in Tulsa, Oklahoma, to a Canadian mother and Welsh father, Robyn LeRoy-Evans spent much of her early life on the move. In adulthood, travel has become something she craves. The new experiences, emotions, and challenges that unfamiliar locations hold are at the core of her photographic practice, compelling her to make physical responses to her ever changing surroundings. Her fascination with inanimate objects, particularly vessels, drapery, and furniture, could be attributed to a deep rooted desire to finally settle somewhere...to create the perfect home. Robyn currently divides herself between rural Carmarthenshire, Wales, and New Orleans, USA. In 2012 she achieved a First Class Honours Degree in Fine Art from Sheffield Hallam University. Her most recent exhibition was the group show God’s Bridge X, at The Bowes Museum, in County Durham, UK. 
http://robynleroyevans.com/home.html























Naomi Shersty, Jackfruit from the Swaddle Series, Archival inkjet print, 8" x 8", 2014  

Naomi Shersty
 Naomi Shersty has exhibited her multimedia artwork both nationally and internationally at venues such as the New Mexico Museum of Art (Santa Fe, NM), Newspace Center for Photography (Portland, OR), and Gallery 00130 (Helsinki, Finland). Her photographs have been featured in numerous publications including Frontiers: Journal of Women Studies (University of Nebraska Press), Reframing Photography: Theory and Practice (Routledge), and Learning to Love You More (Pentel Publishing). Shersty received her BFA from The University of Florida, and her MFA from The University of New Mexico. She lives and works in Milwaukee, WI.

Ryn Wilson, Oppositions and Parallels III, Archival inkjet print mounted to acrylic, mirror shelves, Dimensions Variable, 2014
Ryn Wilson
Ryn Wilson is a photography and video artist currently living and working in New Orleans. She grew up in the Mid West and received her BFA from the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee in 2006.  She spent time studying in Thailand, China and Germany and worked as a photographer and artist’s assistant in Tokyo and Shanghai. She has exhibited in Tokyo, Shanghai, Hamburg, Innsbruck, Oslo, Stavanger, San Francisco, Austin, Milwaukee and New Orleans. Ryn received her MFA from the University of New Orleans in 2013 and is a member of the New Orleans artist collective and gallery, The Front.
http://rynwilson.com/