JRB ART AT THE ELMS PRESENTS Bryan Rapp, "Transcendence Over Diagnosis & Beth Hammack, "Explanations?"
May 2, 2016
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 10, 2016
405-528-6336
Opening Reception
Friday, May 6, 2016
6:00 - 10:00 PM
JRB ART AT THE ELMS PRESENTS
Bryan Rapp, “Transcendence Over Diagnosis”
&
Beth Hammack, “Explanations?”
OKLAHOMA CITY, Oklahoma---JRB Art at The Elms presents two solo shows by Beth Hammack and Bryan Rapp. The exhibitions open with a reception from 6:00 to 10:00 pm on Friday, May 6th, 2016, during the Paseo’s First Friday Gallery Walk and continue through Sunday, May 29th.
Beth Hammack is a local abstract artist from Oklahoma City who creates large scale statement paintings. She says of her practice, “I paint with freedom and abandon, creating colorful surprise mixes of unexplained relevance.” Inspired by juxtaposition, she utilizes color combinations and implied “movement” that entertains the eye. Her pieces often incorporate lightly textured painting with drawing, subtle hues, disguised symbols and barely legible writing – all combined in purposeful abstraction. Frequently asked the meaning behind her work, Beth delights in “explaining” that meaning is in the eye of the beholder. For her current show at JRB Art at The Elms, Beth taunts the viewer by using the question “Explanations?” as her title.
“Beth is one of our most sought after artists,” says Joy Reed Belt, the gallery’s director. “I think this is due to her ability to create visually interesting and thoughtful paintings that accentuate most styles and interiors.” Beth graduated from the University of Oklahoma with a mathematics degree that gives her a unique approach to visual balance in her canvases. She also studied at the Chicago Art Institute and the London City School of Arts in the 1960’s; previously she has had success in interior decorating as well as jewelry design. Her work can be found in personal and public collections as well as on view in several prominent Oklahoma buildings.
Bryan Rapp is a representational figurative sculptor who completed his M.F.A studies at the University of Oklahoma this April. Originally from Pennsylvania, Rapp studied computer animation at the Art Institute of Pittsburgh and only began sculpting as a way to cope with a debilitating disease called Avascular Necrosis, which lasted for nine years. For the past twelve years, he has worked with various sculptors and clients in the bronze memorial industry, creating public work and exhibiting his sculptures in numerous states, from New York to Oklahoma. In 2013 he was the recipient of a scholarship from the National Sculpture Society, to be used for his studies at OU.
Rapp’s current work is an examination of the “subhuman” experience, creating artwork that shows an imperiled body that is stripped of its mental and physical identity due to internal dysfunction. Rapp submits that “the experience of disease, chronic pain, stress, and alienation leaves the afflicted feeling less than human, and more like a monster. Sculpture is a prosthesis to compensate for something missing in our society, such as the capacity for cultural self-consciousness and growth, and makes possible a communication beyond language and time to talk about our humanness in a world that isn’t always humane. These sculptural figures are vehicles to communicate human dignity, empathy, the energy of life, the intuitions of spirit, the transcendence of diagnosis, and to reflect inquiries about our existence.”
The gallery will also display several works by Katherine Liontas-Warren.
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