In The Gallery
TEETH
Nola Avienne, Christopher Buening,
Alan Bur Johnson, Jennifer Zwick
October 3 – 27, 2012
Opening reception:
Thursday, October 4
6–8pm
Teeth are essential yet disturbing and sometimes painful. Four artists gnawed over their personal experience and response to the subject of teeth. The result is a crowning achievement and a biting commentary, filling all cavities of the gallery.
Through sculpture, Nola Avienne continues to explore and manifest her fear of all things related to teeth. An array of plaster dental molds inspired disturbing works with sensual surfaces, evoking tension and seduction, humor and repulsion.
Christopher Buening uses the topic of teeth as a portal for his history with medical mishaps, dreams and tooth-related events, retelling his stories with an emphasis on the painful, the strange, and the amusing, employing familiar materials and visual puns.
Alan Bur Johnson creates transparent photographic sculptures that explore the beauty and frailty of natural structures and organisms. In his Murmur series, images of sun-bleached and weather-beaten elk and deer teeth appear sensual, anatomical, and flesh-like. Referencing traditional poetic structures, each layered image in his wall-mount compositions functions as a syllable, creating a visual voice that echoes in shadows cast upon the wall.
Trained in photography, Jennifer Zwick works in a variety of media. For this show, she creates portraits that obscure all but the most iconic elements of celebrities.
