The Echo Fields: Val Britton + Michael Meyers| Jennifer + Kevin McCoy

In the main gallery a fantastical universe of abstract mark-making, route-lines and surreal sculptures allude to the fluid territory between the knowable and the unknown. Val Britton melds a cartographer’s precision with a dreamer’s sense of abandon to create map-like constructions that chart her journeys through the blurry terrain of memory and imagination.

Layers of paint, ink and cut-outs are at once explosive and serene, echoing the paths she traces and re-traces in an effort to chart out familiar territory in a chaotic, uncertain world. Michael Meyers considers how we construct views of ourselves by receiving and expressing information. With existential humor, he sculpts tools for looking (telescopic) and tools for projecting (megaphonic). Solid wooden objects are made malleable with hinges and folds, dissolving sure geometry into ambiguous organic forms. His work suggests that communication and perception are too mutable to grasp from a single vantage point.

In the second gallery work by internationally acclaimed husband-and-wife team, Jennifer and Kevin McCoy. The McCoy’s multimedia artworks examine the genres and conventions of filmmaking, memory and language. They are best known for constructing subjective databases of existing material and teasing the viewers mind to examine reality.

The duo invite you into unsettling fantasy worlds through their elaborately constructed miniature film sets with lights, video cameras and moving sculptural elements that create live cinematic events. The McCoy’s work has been widely exhibited in the US and internationally. Recent exhibitions include the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the British Film Institute in London, The Beall Center in Irvine, CA, pkm Gallery in Beijing, the San Jose Museum of Modern Art, the Nevada Museum of Art and Artists Space in New York. Their art is held in numerous museum collections including the Metropolitan, NY MoMA, Milwaukee Art Museum and MUDAM in Luxembourg. Articles about their work have appeared in Art in America, Artforum, The New York Times, The Wire, dArt International, Wired Magazine, and The Independent.

Johansson Projects is an art gallery that functions as a curatorial laboratory, creating exhibitions that pair established and internationally-recognized artists with up-and-coming locals, often using unorthodox materials and methods. Johansson Projects was voted best gallery in 2008 and is a locus for curators, collectors and artists to connect and engage in dialogue with the larger art community both regionally and nationally.

Johansson Projects
2300 Telegraph Ave
Oakland CA 94612
Kimberly Johansson
kimberly@johanssonprojects.com

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