Mar
06
Wed March 6th, 2013
6:30PM
The Gallery
Minimum Age: 21+
Doors Open: 6:30PM
Show Time: 6:30PM
RSVP HERE: stellify@lprnyc.com
Artist Statement:
Stellify means to change or be changed into a star. Creation myths of nearly every ancient civilization include stories of humans transformed into constellations. My favorites are those in which a god takes pity on one of our ancient ancestors fleeing some terrible danger, and saves them by placing among the stars. I’m inspired by the persistent relevance of ancient myths; they span time to express human experience. Currently, the Voyager spacecraft is poised to become the first man-made object to leave our solar-system. Thousands of years of human progress reaching toward the heavens.
The figures in my work are multiplied in different poses, twisting, floating and falling on a ground purged of contextualizing marks. The bodies carry a feeling of contradiction between harmony and discord as they push and pull each other, forming constellations on the paper’s surface. I never pose my models; they have free reign to move in an immediate, improvised dance. This fluidity contrasts with a fastidious drawing process, where every tiny gesture and wrinkle take on great significance.
Refreshments will be served.
This is a general admission event in The Gallery at LPR.
1
Leah Yerpe
Born in 1985, Leah grew up in the rural backwoods of upstate New York, in a town with a single stop sign. Naturally, she moved to the biggest, fastest city in the USA where she received an MFA in painting from Pratt Institute in 2009. Since then, her work has been featured in numerous exhibitions in galleries, museums, and art fairs, and discussed in publications including The Paris Review, PMc Magazine, and Visual Overture. She currently lives and works in Brooklyn, NY.
ARTIST STATEMENT:
Metamorphosis was part of an exhibit exploring notions surrounding the transformation of human beings into stars. The mythology of nearly every ancient civilization includes stories where humans turn into constellations. That fantastic metamorphosis is both seductive and frightening; you become an eternal, dazzling being of light, but at what cost? This painting depicts human bodies in flux. They are simultaneously melding into a larger whole, and breaking apart into their individual forms. There is no final destination, only an uncertain journey.