Pointing To The Sun | An Exercise In Abstraction

Curated by Rod Malin

September 6 – October 27, 2018

Artists: David Brown, Zoë Charlton, Stephen Hendee, Terence Hannum, Bill Schmidt, Ariel Cavalcante Foster, Ruri Yi.

Mono Practice is excited to announce its inaugural exhibition, Pointing To The Sun | An Exercise in Abstraction, curated by Rod Malin. The exhibition features the work of David Brown,  Zoë Charlton, Ariel Cavalcante Foster, Terence Hannum, Stephen Hendee, Bill Schmidt, and Ruri Yi. 

Pointing To The Sun | An Exercise in Abstraction is a celebratory exhibition featuring the works of Baltimore-based artists that will help establish a new beginning - Mono Practice. The importance of creating public space is fundamental to the existence of the human condition. The ability to connect and participate is key to the realization of new possibilities, and new partnerships. 

The practice of abstraction is the deity of creation; as of now, one million Earths could fit inside the Sun, yet the Sun at one time will be about the size of Earth. It's in the accumulation of moments or gestures that we equivocate meaning. 

TO SEE AND TO BE SEEN

-Lawrence Weiner

The work in Pointing To The Sun | An Exercise in Abstraction looks to the specific relationship between practice and abstraction, between mind and action, the here and elsewhere. The act of examining inspirational aspirations is common practice for creative fields, putting the mind in far away places to bring back to pace. For the world Baltimore is in now, it is both weirdly close and familiar, yet also undefined; by being everywhere, it is also geographically challenged. For those who are here, it is home.

Baltimore artist David Brown was born and raised in Frederick, MD. Brown is a graduate of UMBC’s fine arts program and worked with Thomas Segal Gallery in Baltimore, a private, blue-chip gallery that specialized in modern and contemporary masterworks. David’s work can be viewed at the Craighead Green Gallery in Texas, Pierogi Gallery in New York, Goya Contemporary Gallery in Baltimore.  He has also shown in multiple national art fairs, including the Dallas Art Fair, Art Chicago, the Art Dealers show in New York, and Art Miami.

Zoë Charlton was born in Tallahassee, Florida, in 1973, and lives and works in Baltimore, Maryland. Charlton received her MFA degree from the University of Texas at Austin and her BFA from Florida State University in painting and drawing. She has participated in residencies at the Skowhegan School of Painting and at The Creative Alliance in Baltimore, MD. Her work has been included in national and international group exhibitions including the Contemporary Art Museum (Houston, TX), the Studio Museum of Harlem (NYC, NY), the Zacheta National Gallery of Art (Warsaw, Poland), Haas & Fischer Gallery (Zurich, Switzerland), Clementine Gallery (NYC, NY) and Wendy Cooper Gallery (Chicago, IL). Charlton's work has been reviewed in ARTnews and Art in America. Previous experiences range from being an animator for Flat Black Films in Austin, Texas to teaching positions at Missouri State University (MO) and Southwestern University (TX). She is an Associate Professor of Art at American University in Washington, DC. 

Ariel Cavalcante Foster is a Brazilian-American artist and community programer based in Baltimore, Md. She holds a BA from Goucher College (2016) in Studio Art and Arts Administration. Foster has exhibited work throughout the Maryland region including Strathmore, MONO Practice, The Menial Collection, Resort, Palacio del Sol and Area 405. In 2017, She participated in an artist residency at Casa na Ilha, a home for artists to create site-specific work and collaborate with the local residents and native islanders in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Her work is part of Goucher College Library and Special Collections and she is a recipient of the Rosenberg Travel scholarship.

Terence Hannum is a Baltimore based visual artist and musician who performs solo, with the avant-metal band Locrian (Relapse Records) and the dark synthpop duo The Holy Circle. He has exhibited at The Suburban (Milwaukee), TSA (Brooklyn), Guest Spot (Baltimore), Western Exhibitions (Chicago, IL), School 33 (Baltimore), Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, Gallery 400 at UIC (Chicago, IL), Allegra La Viola (NYC), City Ice Arts (Kansas City, MO) & Jonathan Ferrara Gallery (New Orleans, LA)

Stephen Hendee (California, US 1968) is a sculptor best known for producing large-scale architecturally ambitious installations. Inspired by a digital culture, he is considered a pioneering figure in the low-poly aesthetic, conveying vectorized properties to physical objects and materials, creating real world simulations of virtual reality space. The constructed works often reference film and literary sources. His work has been exhibited at PS.1 Contemporary Art Center, the New Museum, Sculpture Center LIC, and the Whitney Museum of American Art at Altria in New York. Other national exhibitions include those at the Smart Museum, Chicago; the St. Louis Art Museum; and Rice University Art Gallery, Houston.

Bill Schmidt was born in Trenton, New Jersey in 1947. He studied at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (BFA, 1969) and attended the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture in Skowhegan, Maine before moving to Baltimore in 1969. He received an MFA from the Maryland Institute College of Art’s Hoffberger School of Painting in 1971. He has received numerous grants and awards including the Bethesda Painting Award (2015), two Maryland State Arts Council Individual Artist Awards (Painting, 2008 and Sculpture, 1990), and two Cityarts Grants from the City of Baltimore (1988 and 1990). He has exhibited his paintings, drawings, and sculpture extensively in the Mid-Atlantic region and has had solo shows in Baltimore, Washington, and Philadelphia. Recent group shows include “If Not For You” at the Geoffrey Young Gallery, Great Barrington, MA; ”Variations in Paint” at the Painting Center, NY, NY; and “Interior Space – Small Scale Abstract Painting”, Salena Gallery, Long Island University, Brooklyn, NY.

Ruri Yi was born in Deagu, South Korea, raised in Seoul, and currently lives and works in Baltimore, Maryland. Yi studied painting at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in Philadelphia. Since graduating she has actively exhibited her paintings throughout the Philadelphia and Baltimore areas. Ruri Yi founded Ruriart Center for the Fine Arts (Ellicott City, Maryland), where she spent twelve years managing and operating the center, as well as teaching students at all levels. Yi’s recent works reinterpret the landscapes that people live in and observe every day. Her paintings portray static images of scenes through the use of hard-edged lines, minimalist compositions, symbolic figures, and balanced colors-- creating a simplified version of how she sees the world. Ruri Yi is a founder/director of MONO Practice in Baltimore, Maryland. A collection of her recent works can be viewed at Guest Spot at THE REINSTITUTE, Baltimore, Maryland.