ART CENTRO 485 Main Street • Poughkeepsie, NY • 845.454.4525 • artcentro.org
Jolynn Krystosek & Julia Whitney Barnes
November 3 – 26, 2017
Opening Reception: Friday, November 3, 6–8pm
Artists' Talk: Saturday, November 4, 1–3pm
Art Centro is pleased to present an exhibition of sculptures by Jolynn Krystosek along with paintings, drawings and a site-specific floor painting by Julia Whitney Barnes. This exhibition marks the first extensive showing of each artist in the Hudson Valley. Whitney Barnes moved to the city of Poughkeepsie from Brooklyn in 2015 and has known Queens-based Krystosek since they were in graduate school together at Hunter College in 2003.
Jolynn Krystosek's felt sculptures create a space that has both a shallow and infinite depth. The quality of the felt is one of absorption of light and sound and the folding creates pockets of ambiguous space. The forms begin with an ovoid shape that she folds in upon itself. The negative shape from the off-cut of felt of these ovals is sometimes used to band the ovoid forms, weaving around and in-between. The curved planes or edges of the felt are sometimes highlighted with paint or dusted with pastel, to accent the forms. Krystosek also makes ceramic objects that mimic found organic forms, which she pairs with the felt components. Some of the works incorporate found objects such as a shell or seedpod directly, creating a strange fission between the found and hand made. Other works incorporate stone slabs or blocks that the felt forms envelop or rest upon. The natural characteristics of the stone with their pitted holes and quarry marks lend a sacred tone to pieces, where they float in an ambiguity of ruin, remnant, and discard. In contrast, other felt forms rest on plinths wrapped in marbled paper that imitates the stone patterns in bright and unnatural colors. The felts works inspire a variety of aesthetic references including hoods, bonnets, or habits and are suggestive of feminine anatomy. The human scale of the work is utilized to emphasize this relationship to the body.
Julia Whitney Barnes is a multidisciplinary artist whose work combines elements from the human or built environment in surreal juxtapositions with nature. Symbolic objects, flora and the domestic spaces of her Poughkeepsie home and neighbors' homes populate Julia's current oil paintings and drawings on Mylar, in addition to imagery from past travels. Her boldly colored paintings are based on a variety of source images that are conjoined into unusual interiors and landscapes. Whitney Barnes works in the style of many Hudson River School artists who created composite paintings based on sketches from several days and locations distilled into a single image. Julia's painting based on Olana, the famed home and studio of Frederic Church near Hudson was created after many seasons of visiting the location. At first viewing, the painting appears to be one cohesive scene framed by a red and white awning, cobalt ceramic tiles and an ornately patterned floor. The painting can be read as a landscape reflected in a window with the viewer standing outside, or can be seen as a view through a window with the viewer inside of the house. Alluding to life cycles, the landscape transitions from a withered oak and threatening sky to a lush summer scene in the center and a springtime sunrise lighting a blossoming Magnolia tree. The back gallery's site-specific floor painting was inspired by Olafur Eliasson's windows of Harpa in Reykjavik, Iceland as well as the palette of Krystosek's sculpture and her own painting installed nearby.
For additional information and inquiries please contact Julia at 917-957-3353 or juliawhitneybarnes@gmail.com. Please note that 30% of all sales will be donated to support the non-profit Mid-Hudson Heritage Center, which is dedicated to enriching our area through arts and cultural events, as well as space of interaction between the community and the arts.
Gallery open Tues 2–6pm, Wed 10am–6pm, Thu 1–6pm, Fri 12-6pm, Sat 1–6pm, Sun 1–5pm & by appointment
BIOS:
Jolynn Krystosek received her BFA from San Francisco State University in San Francisco, California and her MFA from Hunter College in New York, NY. She has exhibited throughout the United States including solo exhibitions at Lux Art Institute, Philadelphia Art Alliance, Lucas Schoormans Gallery, and The Horticultural Society of New York. Her work has recently been exhibited at Casey Kaplan Gallery, Racine Art Museum, and the Islip Art Museum. Jolynn’s work has been featured in publications including Surface Magazine, NY Arts Magazine, San Diego Union Tribune, the North County Times, the Shepard Express, and KPBS. She lives and works in Queens, NY. jolynnkrystosek.com / Instagram: jolynnkry
Julia Whitney Barnes received her BFA from Parsons School of Design and MFA from Hunter College, both in New York, NY. Whitney Barnes has exhibited throughout the United States and abroad and her work has been featured in The New York Times, Chronogram Magazine, Brooklyn Magazine, The Village Voice, Hyperallergic, and The New York Sun. She is the recipient of fellowships from the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, Abbey Memorial Fund for Mural Painting/National Academy of Fine Arts, the Gowanus Public Art Initiative, and completed public art projects in Fjellerup, Denmark through funding from Kulturpuljen, Norddjurs Kommune, Denmark in 2013 and the NYCDOT Urban Art program in 2011. After two decades in NYC, Julia moved up to Poughkeepsie, NY in 2015. juliawhitneybarnes.com / Instagram: juliawhitneybarnes