kate joranson, ryan agnew, ian ruffino
ian ruffino (view work) was born in buffalo, ny and currently lives and works in columbus, oh. ruffino’s works call attention to the “objectness” of photographs by inflating their size while maintaining their scale. the viewer encounters thick slabs of paper coated with complex layers of pigment and emulsion. however, the thick paper is hand-made; pigment might include stains, threads, and marks; emulsion offers protection as well as exposure. at this larger scale, patterned grids of bumps become visible, and the thickness of the pictures becomes a ground for overlapping structure and non-structure. ruffino’s works are pictures of time. the support, or "substrate" in ruffino’s work, implicates metaphorical properties of something that lies beneath everything else, something that may be covered and/or exposed through the process of making.
ryan agnew (view work) was born in arlington, va and currently lives and works in columbus, oh. agnew is interested in ways the body is permeable to its environment. he relishes in the unstable conditions of such everyday materials as process cheese sauce, vegetable shortening, and lipstick, all of which he has used in past works. semi-fluid substances in his sculptural work address the body’s liquid/solid conflict. appropriating commercially manufactured products, agnew invites us to question our own emotions, needs, and desires in relation to consumer culture. two new sculptures by agnew find him embracing his in-between state with energetic optimism, as he presents a set of materials (several hundreds of feet of garden hose, a cast paper cloud, and an egg yolk) that will be repositioned throughout the gallery over the course of the three-week exhibition.
kate joranson (view work) was born in madison, wi and currently lives and works in pittsburgh, pa. joranson’s work has used powders such as flour, powdered limestone, and powdered tempera paint to cover the wall and floor. air currents, gravity, and wall textures become active agents in the making of her work. joranson has combined the sifting of powders with the dragging of objects such as tables and chairs through the dust-covered surfaces, leaving marks of activity. these marks expose the improvisation and temporality of her working process. joranson’s current process brings salt and paper together, posing them in opposition, and watching as they couple and interact. various configurations, referred to as salt papers by joranson, are made by soaking paper in very dense salt-water and letting salt crystals grow on the paper as the water evaporates. joranson’s role in this intersection is remote, but primary. she is interested in marks and forms that occur without being highly composed or arranged, but that happen as a result of everyday life – for example, marks that appear as a result of roads being salted, or the shapes snowdrifts take on after partially melting, being salted, then re-freezing. joranson organizes the elements, sets the scenario, and acts as the catalyst of her work.
the artists have collaborated together on a book published and available for purchase from the mahan gallery. incorporating images from the three artists along with text by ian williams, the book showcases their distinct but related practices and personalities.
for more information contact:
info@mahangallery.com
