Groves: di_#108

February's Acrylic Palettes

Insidious Raft at Adjacent to Life

Adjacent To Life, presents Insidious Raft by Lars van Dooren.

Insidious Raft is on view through March 21, 2025 at the Adjacent To Life gallery housed in Ninth Street Espresso (341 E. 10th Street at Ave B, New York City). Artist's reception: Saturday, February 22, 7:00 - 9:00 pm.

Groves: maestro_#107

Groves: millionaire_#106

Groves: bald_#105

Pop Stoppage: easy_#424

Pop Stoppages 2014-25

Pop Stoppage: sconce_#423

Analog Augmented Reality, 2013 - 25

My exploration of Augmented Reality generated an analog series of collages that utilize similar principles in terms of formal composition. Employing an image of a sculpture as if it were an AR marker, I cut out the shape and slid in its place an alternate image – generally an inkjet proof of a painting or some other piece of 2D studio ephemera. (All of these materials are studio detritus, so there is an element of aesthetic upcycling, as well.)

The visual result is a masked painting that sits in a sculptural space. The painting element of the collage achieves pictorial depth by appearing to exist in the round.

Considered in the vernacular of Augmented Reality, this particular collage strategy represents a bit of conjecture about the functioning of perception. The image that is inserted into an Augmented Reality context exists only in the viewer’s device – their cell phone or tablet.

Metaphorically, I see this device as akin to consciousness or the perceptual apparatus through which one makes sense of the world. In this analogy, the AR overlay might be a scrim of prior experience/expectation that modifies perception. This idea of acknowledging pre-loaded content into image-making also finds expression in my use of magazine pages as a support for painting. Instead of using fresh white paper or canvas – which might imply perfection, or that the image arises out of the void – I frequently use a ground that already supports an image – a populated tabula rasa – to make the point that an image and the perception of an image are conditional and cumulative.

Tumbleweeds, 2017 - 25

Tumbleweeds 2013 - 2017 viewable here.

Groves: knocking_#104

January's Acrylic Palettes

Groves: adds_#226

Groves: visible_#225

Groves: modality_#224

Groves: ineluctable_#223

Goodbye Stranger at Adjacent to Life

Adjacent To Life, presents Goodbye Stanger by dayaboti.

Artist's Statement:

The Goodbye Stranger series explores the anonymity and stories of people living in big cities.

Using black and white photography, I strip away the city’s noise, allowing us to focus on silhouettes and shadows, highlighting the timeless nature of solitude in the city.

The inspiration for this project came from my podcast, Goodbye Stranger, where I engage in conversations with people I meet around the city. What is it that they’ve learned through their experiences?

These discussions often reveal feelings of loneliness and isolation common in urban environments, inspiring me to visually explore these themes.

The nine photographs in this series are captured digitally and presented as 11” x 14” prints.

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Goodbye Stranger is on view through February 21, 2025 at the Adjacent To Life gallery housed in Ninth Street Espresso (341 E. 10th Street at Ave B, New York City). Artist's reception: Saturday, January 25, 7:00 - 9:00 pm.

Tumbleweeds: diaphane_#312

Tumbleweeds: limits_#311

Tumbleweeds: coloured_#310

Tumbleweeds: rust_#309

Tumbleweeds: bluesilver_#308

Tumbleweeds: rusty_#307

Analog AR: nearing

Analog AR: seawrack

Analog AR: seaspawn

Analog AR: least

Analog AR: spangles

Analog AR: leaves

Analog AR: checkerwork

Analog AR: wise

Pop Stoppage: waving_#422

Groves: stamped_#222

groves: coughing_#221

Groves: phlegm_#220

Groves: chain_#219

Groves: dragging_#218

Groves: leaped_#217

Groves: coughball_#216

Groves: persecuted_#215

Strings Attached at Adjacent to Life

Adjacent To Life, presents Strings Attached by Christine Wilcox Ackerman.

Artist's statement:

Is crochet art? A male friend of mine asked me that recently when I was showing him my current textile piece. His question made me wonder is crochet associated with feminism and domesticity and is that why he can’t see it as art? For me personally, I think art can be made out of any materials: cheap markers, cardboard, oil paint, found objects and art can even be a concept. A big part of art is the meaning and intention behind it as well as the process of making it.

Over and over again, people have asked me about the functionality of what I make. What is it? What is it for? Is it a skirt, a blanket, a dress? Why do people think and want the textile to be utilitarian?

My paternal grandma Eula taught me how to crochet when I was 5. She was visiting us in San Bernardino, California from her home in Tillamook, Oregon. I used to make squares for my cat to sit on. I sometimes would unravel what I’d made. My mother would give me a hard time about my unraveling and say I never finished anything. Crocheting for me was more about the process; doing the repetitive hand motions and actions and creating something tangible to hold. I enjoyed working with different types of yarns, choosing ones for their color and their feel.

I later learned that a lot of the white square crochet pieces my mom would drape on our couches were made by my maternal aunts who lived in the Philippines. They were similar to American “granny squares”, but usually were made out of ecru or white thread into floral and pineapple motifs.

In my mid 30’s, I started crocheting again after my daughter was born. I would breastfeed her and I’d get antsy wanting to get up and work on my art. I found using a tiny crochet needle with thin thread was something I could do while holding her and feeding her.

Prior to this I was painting a lot of miniature paintings. The intimacy of a small piece has always been appealing to me. It is a private interaction and almost like a one-on-one situation with another person. I like the thought of undivided attention. Smaller works draw a viewer (human or cat - hehe) in to look at them closely.

Ultimately, care, attention, focus and patience are motivators behind what I create. Particularly with crochet, the meditative aspects of the creation stage is very important to me.

- Christine Wilcox Ackerman

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Strings Attached is on view through January 23, 2025 at the Adjacent To Life gallery housed in Ninth Street Espresso (341 E. 10th Street at Ave B, New York City). Artist's reception: Saturday, December 14, 7:00 - 9:00 pm.

Groves: swallowing_#103

Groves: breathing_#102

Groves: gate_#101

Groves: bullockbefriending_#100

Groves: dub_#99