Who We Are

Fiercely Curious is an online art & design collective based in Brooklyn.

We believe in connecting directly with the artists and designers.

erin@fiercelycurious.com

I'd Rather Be Blue - Art Show
Thank you everyone who came out to the opening reception - we had a blast!
Thanks to Threes Brewing for serving up their delicious Vliet Pilsner.
The full price list can be found here.

Gallery Hours
Thursdays & Fridays 2 - 6pm
Saturdays 12 - 6pm
Sundays 12 - 5pm

Closing Reception
February 17th 6 - 9pm
RSVP Here

Curatorial Statement

Blue is the color of the sky and the sea. It is an expression of trust, loyalty, wisdom, confidence and strength. It is calming - emanating peace and tranquility. Blue has become the identifying color of the Democratic party and of harmony. It is also associated with the fifth chakra, located at the throat and therefore connects us to communication and truth. However, we are all familiar with the winter blues bringing sadness upon us. This universal color holds infinite depth.

In my quest for a show that reflects these ideals - invigorating and enlightening the senses, while pushing away the winter blues and celebrating harmony and truth (which we so desperately need at this time), Matilde Alessandra and Edward Granger were obvious choices.

These two artists communicate a vibrant energy not only through their hand and line quality, but also through the study of light and progressive / regressive forms. Their works reference depth and our perception of it. By layering up paint and line they can choose to either draw you into a deep focal point or direct you into the light. Their immediacy conveyed in their energetic brush and pen strokes recall my own feelings of urgency to action and togetherness in this political climate. Doing and undoing. Making progress that is not necessarily a straight path.

We hope that this show will wrap you with the light of these artists work to resonate with you further than the doors of this gallery. May their playful and optimistic spirits leave your winter blues behind.

The title for this show comes from I’d Rather Be Blue, a light wall sculpture by Matilde Alessandra.

Join us for drinks at Ground Floor Gallery, Park Slope, Brooklyn -

Opening Reception
February 3rd 6 - 9pm

Gallery Hours
Thursdays & Fridays 2 - 6pm
Saturdays 12 - 6pm
Sundays 12 - 5pm

Closing Reception
February 17th 6 - 9pm

MATILDE ALESSANDRA

I'd Rather Be Blue, by Matilde Alessandra - 48 x 48 x 3 inches, Wood, acrylic paint, LEDs, 2012, Edition of 3

On her light based artworks -

“My light pieces are like abstract dioramas, minimalist tableaux that exist independently from their surroundings, glowing from within. In them light is an object, a medium: it dialogues and relates with surfaces, forms and materials, making the picture appear in its finished state. I arrived at this medium through the stage, having trained Theatre Design. Theatre is part of the process that makes me look at light differently, and taught me its potential for seduction and illusion.

The inclination to use words in my artwork is very much the result of my fascination with luminous signage: the very concept of a message that is conveyed and amplified by light, that becomes so powerful through light, is simply amazing. It also stems from a desire to bring my work to a more expressive level: as I'm locked within the limitations of beauty and balance, I like to play with the rawness of words set against formal, graceful settings.

I'd Rather Be Blue is an homage to Yves Klein: while I was studying his work for another project I fell in love with his boldness and determination, and completely identified with his obsession with a single color – in my case bright red. I tried really hard to create, using light, a shade as deep and intense as his trademark International Klein Blue: it was also the first time I used a color that wasn't red.”

On her ink drawings –

“My drawings are a mix of tragedy and triumph. They are about light and energy as well as darkness and negation. They are non-objective but are open for interpretation. I'm not imposing an image: I want to draw the viewer into them, to experience the obsession and the drama within them, to become lost in their hypnotizing webs.

In them there's a real struggle between the flaws of the human mark and a striving for perfection devoid of irregularity or conflict.

Their execution process, their intimate gestural nature bear much weight in the finished result. When I draw l have my own flow, my own rhythm, is a continuous play of marks that endlessly interweave into one another. I divide the space over and over, invalidating it, pouring darkness into it. There is nothing hap-hazard, every line has its place.

They sums up a great deal of my visual vocabulary, of what has driven me as an artist so far. I have used light for the past 15 years but unlike my light-work my drawings have a stark personal quality and are connected to my state of mind and to the way I, in turn, relate to art making. But as in all of my work, light - and the negation of it - is very much central to them.”

Biography -

Born in Italy, Matilde Alessandra studied Theater Design at the Academy of Fine Arts in Venice and subsequently spent several years in London creating sets and displays.

Working with light for 15 years she has been building a reputation for her dazzling sculptures and installations, and singular use of fluorescent tubes. Her distinctive trait, graphic, essential and immediate, permeates in all her production, that spans from sculpture, drawings, site-specific installations and industrial design.

EDWARD GRANGER

Blue Parallels by Edward Granger - 48 x 48 inches, Acrylic, fluorescent paint and latex on canvas


Artist Statement -

“Pixels, like atoms, are intertwined. Everything from the atoms on our skin to atoms in the sky amongst the stars and galaxies. A connection to the cosmos, humans on earth are like tiny pixels creating one big image of humanity, vastly connected to a bigger picture of the universe.

An avid creator of weird fantasy worlds, mostly armed with RGB and CMYK in my tool belt, I aim to make the viewers of my work see object and environment as one, both, or frankly neither. With this series of perceptual “light” paintings,I am further examining the luminance (refracted light) and chromaticity (the quality of color) properties of the HSV (Hue-Saturation-Value) color model and color space pixels behind digital media. Behind this digital media, that glowing “white” of our televisions and digital devices, is compiled mainly of tiny pixels of red, green and blue light (RGB). The same (HSV) color diagram NASA uses to study the perceptual effects of light and color stimuli on human observers on an emotional and physical (psychophysical) level is the same diagram I am using to map out my paintings.

With these recent paintings, I am first digitally rendering these graphs, threads, and fibers of these color spaces, then physically mapping them onto the canvas through a grid system created from the digital renderings. I allow the threads and fibers to work together in various spatial, line and color pattern techniques. Through this back and forth process, I am challenging the idea of what it means for our immaterial lives as they’re played out in this timeless, spaceless digital dataplasm. Technology has made our lives feel so precise and exact, our physical lives rarely are.”

Biography -

Edward Granger was born in South Louisiana in 1989. He received his Bachelor’s degree in Architecture from the University of Louisiana in 2011. Granger has exhibited mainly in the southern United States with a main representation from Sibley Gallery in New Orleans, LA as well as exhibiting work at Art Basel in Miami, New York, Berlin and Brisbane. He was the chosen artist for the 2015 Hermes Vitrine D’Artiste, and has collaborated with brands such as IconoFly + Tom Sachs, Public Supply, Google, Ralph Lauren, Saks 5th Avenue and Piaget.

He has been reviewed in Architectural Digest, Art Report, Surface Magazine, Cultured Magazine, Paper Magazine, Essential Homme Mag, ART New Orleans, Art & Art Galleries of the South, Vogue Brasil, L ’Uomo Vogue, Design Milk, Sight Unseen, and featured in The New York Times.


Don't forget to RSVP for the closing recpetion!

xxErin

p.s. Thanks to Threes Brewing for sharing their delicious Vliet Pilsner at our Opening Reception!

Co-founder and creative spirit for Fiercely Curious
erin@fiercelycurious.com

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