Helter Skelter

Launch F18 presents Helter Skelter, curated by Sam Trioli and Christin Graham, the gallery’s third chapter of exhibitions relocation back to its origional Tribeca location.  This group exhibition includes the work of Katie Bell, Joel Blank, Katherine Bradford, Caroline Wells Chandler, Jack Pierson and Adam Stennett. With this exhibition, Launch F18 slides into the world of sight-specific installation and quizzical works that create a haphazard atmosphere.

Brooklyn based artist, Katie Bell, has been working with the gallery to create a signature large format installation.  Created with found objects and strong geometric formations, Bell’s work is composed of utilitarian elements juxtaposed with an obscured, yet well crafted color pallet.

Alongside her installation is the work of Adam Stennett. The chilling images of Lee Harvey Oswald, Doc Ellis and others were created with his use of hypnotizing lines and obscured faces. Stennett takes his viewers into a void of mysticism with a looming uncertainly to the likes of Albert Hitchcock.  Well-known for his detail-oriented paintings, F18 takes a moment to showcase pieces that transcend the idea of Helter Skelter beyond the physical and into the psychological. Expanding on that component of the psychological is New Hampshire based artist Joel Blank.  Blank’s unique collages, use of color, and subject matter touches upon familiar narratives and with new and fresh perspectives.  Though his works are small, and even sometimes quite, he captures a multitude of emotions, some difficult and some refreshingly pleasant.  

Breaking that introspective moment, with a burst of energy and color are Lil Kim and Lil Denis, two pieces by Caroline Wells Chandler. Both characters, placed in a running pose, create the dialogue of happy-go-lucky or renewed optimism. Chandler successfully uses satire and color to capture the attention of her audience. A peculiar undertone is put forth as they wonder why the smiling, colorful characters appear to be running away. She uses gleeful gesture to illustrate this movement and strong out-lines to define not only a shape in space, but to also characterize the weight of an idea and how within that can be remarkable uncertainty.  

Jack Pierson, recognized for his photographs and text installations, is being represented in this exhibition by a small work on paper.  Pierson lyrically mixes grey’s with different shades of blue and creates a constant pull, showing the ebb and flow of an artist’s process, career and evolution.  Pierson considered work from this series as a way of getting “back to the hand” and focused on this process while on a self mandated retreat to Captiva Island in Florida.  Within Pierson’s work one can feel the motion of the sea and its tides, as we too rise and fall through out natures own harmonies.

Finally, quietly standing among the other artists is Katherine Bradford. Like Chandler, Bradford’s Superman character seems destined for faraway places, almost flying right out of the picture plane. Her innocent painting adds a different note to the ominous conversation among the other artists, while still playing into the covert pieces that surround it. Flanked by red and blue, two obvious colors that are reflective of the American spirit, Bradford ties this family of artists together with the full tilt escape of her hotfoot superman.