Presents
Josie Morway
The Remediators
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“Bearer”
Click here
to download sample of exhibit images and in-studio shots
OPENING RECEPTION
April 6, 2019 | 7pm - 11pm
ON VIEW
April 6 – May 11, 2019
COREY HELFORD GALLERY
571 S. Anderson St. Los Angeles, CA 90033
Open Tuesday-Saturday, 12pm - 6pm
(310) 287-2340
On
Saturday, April 6,
downtown Los Angeles’
Corey Helford Gallery
is proud to present
The Remediators
, the new solo show from Boston-based painter and designer
Josie Morway
, in
Gallery 3
.
A self-taught artist,
Morway
’s extremely detailed style of oil and enamel painting on wood panels combines the influence of Dutch Masters’ techniques, religious icon paintings, and hyper-modern color and design elements, to create paintings that have been described as “votive cave paintings from the distant future.” The wildlife in
Morway
’s work is portrayed with an intense reverence that escalates to surreality, creating paintings that are both politically charged and ethereally poetic.
In creating her show
The Remediators
(featuring ten substantial pieces (ranging from 16”x20" to 36”x48") and four smaller works (8”x10"),
Morway
has been thinking with increasing urgency about threats to the natural world. “I have a deep love for wildlife,” she says, “and an acute terror about the increasing imbalances in our ecosystems and the cavalier destruction caused by human industry. I’m always seeking to address these concerns in my work, and I’ve started including more explicit references to threats in my compositions, but I find I’m constitutionally unable to portray my animals in a state of despair or diminishment. Instead, I feel compelled to give my subjects the gift of a sort of supernatural resiliency.”
Inspired by research into processes of bioremediation – by which plants, animals or microorganisms break down contamination in soil or water –
Morway
’s new paintings portray a new system by which nature might respond to crisis. This is a world in which flora and fauna are intertwined in a dance that seems by turns inspiring and disturbing, suggestive of symbiosis or entanglement, adaptation or mutation.
She adds, “I think of these paintings as somewhat talismanic, and the stranger elements are also my attempt to arrest the viewer, my plea for attention, reflection, respect. The creatures here have almost magical powers of transformation and protection, though what exactly they’re transforming into is unclear. Nature is changing, for sure, and we should never be complacent about what that change may mean.”
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The Remediators
opens
Saturday, April 6
from
7pm-11pm
in
Gallery 3
, alongside
CHG
’s
Lucky 13 Anniversary Group Show
in the
Main Gallery
and a solo show from
Ben Frost
in
Gallery 2
. The reception is open to the public and all shows will be on view through
Saturday, May 11
. Corey Helford Gallery is located at 571 S. Anderson St. Los Angeles, CA 90033 and normal hours are Tuesday – Saturday, from 12pm - 6pm.
About Josie Morway:
Born in Massachusetts, self-taught artist Josie Morway moved over 20 times in as many years before coming back to Boston to live and work in 2015. Her work has been shown in museum and galleries worldwide, from London and Australia (and streets of Juarez, Mexico) to Los Angeles, Seattle, Portland, Montana and Massachusetts, as well as at fairs like Scope at Art Basel Miami. She’s also worked as a sign painter and muralist, creating large scale works for cities, businesses and festivals including POW! WOW! Worcester.
Morway’s work explores both the fragility and the fortitude of the natural world, envisioning the sanctity of wildlife and wilderness in the face of human degradation and seeking to challenge the assumptions and projections we bring to our interactions with the wild. Says Morway of the surreal and unexpected elements to her work; “I think that too often our concern for nature includes a presumption of total understanding, which is just another element of our human tendency to be paternalistic and domineering. It’s too easy to use nature as metaphor, to mine it for our own inspiration and comfort, to fetishize the parts we find lovely and subjugate what we find strange or ‘brutal.’ I hope to avoid oversimplification, and instead try to enhance the feeling of mystery, to make images that are intricate and uncomfortable, and to remind myself that no matter how carefully I observe and portray the wild I cannot truly know it.”
About Corey Helford Gallery:
Corey Helford Gallery (CHG) was first established in 2006 by Jan Corey Helford and her husband, television producer and creator, Bruce Helford (
Anger Management
,
The Drew Carey Show
,
George Lopez
,
The Oblongs
) and has since evolved into one of the premier galleries of New Contemporary art. Its goals as an institution are the support and growth of young and emerging, to well-known and internationally established artists, the production and promotion of their artwork, and the general production of their exhibits, events and projects.
CHG represents a diverse collection of international artists, primarily influenced by today’s pop culture and collectively encompassing style genres such as New Figurative Art, Pop Surrealism, Neo Pop, Graffiti and Street Art, and Post-Graffiti.
After nine years in Culver City, CHG relocated in December 2015 to a robust 12,000 square foot building in Downtown Los Angeles, where it continues to host exhibitions within the heart of the city’s art community. The current space boasts three separate galleries, each of which house individual artist and group exhibitions, whereas the main gallery offers 4,500 square feet, providing total immersion for its attendees. New exhibitions are presented approximately every five weeks. For more info and an upcoming exhibition schedule, visit
CoreyHelfordGallery.com
and connect on
Facebook
,
Twitter
,
Instagram
, and
YouTube
.
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