Exhibition: Summer Soiree: Richard Ahnert, Shane Pierce, Tin, Rachael Bridge, Ego

SUMMER SOIREE AUGUST 2024; RICHARD AHNERT, SHANE PIERCE, TIN, RACHAEL BRIDGE, EGO: For the month of August we celebrate with a summer soiree for artists Richard Ahnert, Shane Pierce, TIN, Rachael Bridge & EGO. August was originally named Sextilis in Latin because it was the 6th month in the original ten-month Roman calendar, In 8 BC, the month was renamed in honor of the first Roman Emperor Augustus. According to a Senatus consultum quoted by Macrobius, he chose this month because it was the time of several of his great triumphs, including the conquest of Egypt which was brought under the authority of the Roman people following his defeat of Marc Antony and Cleopatra in the battle at Actium..

Richard Ahnert: "The View From Here" is a whimsical collection capturing animals in unexpected, out-of-context situations. With a voyeuristic quality and understated humor, each painting blends the familiar with the surreal.

BIO - Richard graduated with honors from the Arts York Program at Unionville HS with a Major in Visual Arts and went on to study Technical Illustration and Graphic Design at York University and Seneca College, graduating with the Presidents Honor Roll for Highest Academic Achievement. With a drive to explore and evolve as an artist, He continues studies and workshops ongoing to help define his style and practice.Richard began exhibiting his work in 2010 and has shown in exhibitions and galleries in both Canada and the States. His work has won awards and can be found in private collections and businesses around the world.

Shane Pierce: 'Eerie Musings' will continue the narrative theme of Shane's dark travelers, night watchers and passengers. Evan Senn - "Traveling all over the United States, carrying with him his own personal baggage of memories and experiences, he paints a different world into existence. Dark and ominous creatures, emotional weight, honesty and experience ring loudly throughout his paintings. Dark traveling characters bombard his imagination and his artwork, angels and grim reapers haunt his creations in subtle ways, while the rough and raw American landscape keep his nomads company on their seemingly lonesome and aimless journeys. His artwork is as unique and haunting as he is. A storyteller at his core, his creations are hypnotic, drawing the viewer in and plaguing them with interest and intrigue. A cloaked man, with determination and fury across his brow, often paired with a suitcase and a pipe, ventures to the dark and unknown places of his imagination. Constantly followed by the shadows, Pierce’s nomads travel with fervor, unafraid of what lies ahead, or behind them.

TIN 'XOXO' Tin's earliest influences in childhood were comic books and fantasy cartoons like "Star blazers". Says Tin "I sketched from time to time and did ok in high school art class then I decided to became a fisherman. The dangerous kind like out of the movie "Perfect Storm". I almost died three times and should have lost my drawing hand at least a dozen times. After my last close call with death I decided to become an artist. I didn't look at art as a career though until I was 22".Tin began doing commercial work and soon burnt out on it. "I was just going through the motions and creating things that didn't challenge me anymore. One day I was finishing a pin-up girl and I remember saying out loud to myself "If I only had a heart" which reminded me of the Tin Man in "Wizard of Oz". That moment I decided to do more interesting works and call myself Tin.His main influences are Steam punk, a sub genre of fantasy and speculative fiction that came into prominence in the 1980s. The term denotes works set in an era or world where steam power is still widely used—usually the 19th century, and often set in Victorian era England—but with prominent elements of either science fiction or fantasy, such as fictional technological inventions like those found in the works of H. G. Wells and Jules Verne.

Rachael Bridge 'Wallflowers' explores the idea of wanting to be invisible all the time - working more as an observer than an actor day to day. Each piece depicts figures caught in a strange void in their dreamlike and nightmarish surroundings, capturing both vulnerable and content feelings.Rachael has a unique take on traditional portraiture. She can be considered a master of the macabre, an artist who's portraits embody the terrors of the human mind drawing on the viewers's proclivity for fear, and masterfully using her style to pull us into her dark and symbolic world. At first glance, Rachael Bridge’s work feels almost sinister. Her depictions of women are corpse-like and otherworldly. She uses horror to depict complexities of the human psyche with themes of anxiety, isolation, seduction, and despair. Rachael obtained her BFA in 2010 from Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, NY and now lives and works in New Jersey. Rachael will be present at the opening!

EGO 'NonEntity' is EGO's latest series of small works. He continues to investigate transitional states of being that border on the edges of this reality. The figures in these paintings are seemingly solitary outsiders, representing ghostly apparitions that may not exist, or barely glimpsed visions of the dead. Yet seen another way, these works may highlight those who are considered unimportant and/or overlooked by society.Using classical painting techniques to conjure intricately crafted portraits of macabre yet whimsical solitary outsiders, Ego feels a kind of kinship with these characters, as a socially-awkward extroverted introvert himself. The seemingly melancholy, yet somehow also charming figures he dreams up appear to dwell in the spaces somewhere between the natural and metaphysical worlds. In his work there is often a juxtaposition between the grim and endearing, the modern and classical, the real and the surreal.

BIO - A self-taught painter, Ego's distinctive style is informed by a lifelong fascination with popular culture (movies, music, comics, skateboarding, etc.), as well as a profound appreciation for the work of classical masters. From the masters he's adapted the nuanced rendering of light and shadow, as well as the study of anatomy which he bends to fit the uniquely distorted nature of the denizens of his imaginary world. Living in the Pacific Northwest also influences the tone of his work. For a large portion of the year it’s dark and rainy. While many find this depressing, Ego feels the gloom contributes to a lush and hazy landscape that seeps into the colors and subjects of his paintings. Through experimenting with different mediums, the technique which ultimately developed emulates the smoothness, depth and richness of oil paintings, using acrylic paint. Ego has shared these specialized techniques by teaching classes and workshops, as well as mentoring aspiring artists.