Chris Oatey
,
Greg Santos
,
Ami Tallman
,
See Line Gallery presents Braveland, a group exhibition curated by Janet Levy featuring the works of Chris Oatey, Greg Santos, and Ami Tallman.
Chris Oatey uses drawing to deconstruct icons in a way that forces us to reconsider our relationship to popular imagery. He removes the spectacular characteristics of the photograph while reconstructing the spectacle through drawing, devoid of color and scale. The stark, stylized ink drawings explore the icon of the mushroom cloud, drawing it out of its cultural context temporarily in an attempt to explore its visual mechanics. The drawings are spare, each with a single cloud composed of thousands of tiny circles. Detached from their weighty historical significance, they become just strange and beautiful shapes — which, of course, points back to why they have become such powerful icons.
Greg Santos’ recent body of work depicts instances of staged peril and extravagant disaster. Working from his own photographs of the TV screen, Santos isolates and paints a state between images, describing a moment unrealizable through photography alone. In his 2006 painting The Last Great Act of Defiance, a figure is perched high atop an industrial crane. The man, a dare-devil clad in a red, white, and blue jumpsuit, stands arms outstretched in front of two American flags. He leans forward over the edge, frozen for an instant, before falling to the unseen ground below. In a display of patriotism and bravado, the dare-devil represents the extremes of personal freedom and modern spectacle. Santos’ alluring technique and spectacular yet transient subject matter create a form of electric light impressionism, drawing viewers in, and compelling them to contemplate subjects on the brink devastation.
Ami Tallman draws from many disparate sources for tactical models and visual styles. Much of her work is in ink on notebook-sized paper, but because her projects are generally conceived as groups of juxtaposed images in a larger installation, most bodies of work will include some pieces in another medium or scale. While Tallman seeks to understand her subject by drawing it, she also seeks to change it. This process often involves a confusion of whimsical play and functional intent. In the present exhibition, the media include water-soluble oil, gouache, tempera, ink, liquid acrylic, and pencil on paper, canvas, and clay board and concentrates on two types of vantage points particular to the rich and powerful: the view from the insulated space of the great hall or manor, and that from the sorts of airborne transports (gondola lifts, hot air balloons, and helicopters) that allow for a leisurely and removed surveillance of territory.