Perfect Strangers
Mary louise geerinG
John Mallett
Emet Sosna
Laura Swanson
July 4–August 5, 2022
Thomas VanDyke Gallery is proud to present Perfect Strangers, its inaugural exhibition exploring representation of the human form.
For over thirty years, Mary Louise Geering has produced intensely crafted, unsettling objects that combine distinct yet incongruous elements. By following a surreal equation, the natural and manmade coexist to create a hybrid entity commenting on forces in opposition in the human psyche. Fished deep from her subconscious, the work is influenced by contemporary culture, ancient archetypes, and an actual and/or socially constructed female identity.
John Mallett began his Unatomy paintings over 7 years ago while working as a commercial artist in Chicago and has produced 207 works in the series so far. The framework came from doing loose, watercolor anatomical paintings in life drawing sessions at Hubbard Street Lofts. These anatomical underpaintings are then desexed, broken down, derailed, then rebuilt over the course of several sittings. When making design choices he tries to follow an anti-rhythm theme of “not like before”.
The fantastic realities portrayed in Emet Sosna’s paintings illustrate a point of transformation and revelation, depicting characters overlapping and intersecting with themselves and their environment. Through the exploration of scale, dimension, and physical orientation, Sosna's worlds become a place to examine how individuals interact and participate with the objects and spaces in their surroundings.
Through orchestrated imagery, meticulously customized ready-made objects, and theatrical installations, Laura Swanson deconstructs and examines representations of physical difference and how identity is created, perceived, and performed. Drawing on personal experience, art history, and aspects of contemporary culture including commercial photography, retail display, and social media, the artist presents her body in playful ways to question the assumption of a normal human form.