Press Release - Represented group exhibition
Liz Hernández
“Materializada (Materialized)”
Clay and vinyl paint on paper
32.5 x 28.5 inches
2021
pt. 2:
Adrian Octavius Walker
Brett Flanigan
Cannon Dill
Jordy Kerwick
Kelly Ording
Kyle Lypka
Lenworth McIntosh
Liz Hernández
Maria Paz
Meryl Pataky
Molly Bounds
Muzae Sesay
Ryan Whelan
Tyler Cross
Yétundé Olagbaju
April 10 - April 30, 2021
Appointment only
1523b Webster St.
Oakland, CA 94612
Schedule a private viewing
info@part2gallery.com
pt. 2 Gallery is pleased to announce our Represented Group Show, an exhibition of new works by the fifteen artists represented by the Oakland-based gallery. While the represented artists and their exhibited works vary greatly in terms of media, scale, and concept, the artists themselves are related thanks to the community that brings them together. pt. 2 Gallery is pleased to have been a stalwart in the Bay Area during a trying year, offering a space for viewing art, engaging in critical dialogue, and supporting local creatives. The works by the fifteen artists portray the benefits of the hard conversations the artists have had together, and the way they have grown together. The presented works demonstrate the wide-ranging conceptual concerns of the pt. 2 roster; ranging from the intimate representation of identity, the increasing urgency for archiving of familial and cultural histories, the usage of abstraction and figuration as a means to explore a sense of place, and the consideration of form and texture as foundational formal elements.
A number of artists connect their unique pasts with their societal experience of the present to create archival works that are rich in narrative. In new drawings, Liz Hernández weaves together vignettes of memories, stories, and symbols that serve to elaborate on the world of Talismán, an autobiographical short story influenced by Magical Realism. Through this story, she continues her exploration of familial and spiritual ties to Mexico and fulfills her need to document the past and present. Yétundé Olagbaju presents paintings on paper with two new works from the series On becoming a star, which alludes to their reassessment of the Mammy archetype, tracing Mammy’s journey from racist symbol to mythological inspiration. The paintings mark a moment where the human form intersects radiant, celestial bodies. A new ceramic by Maria Paz reveals the connection between life and the underworld, charting the familiar and cultural traditions that have followed her from Chile to Oakland.
Suggesting that the division between abstract and figurative exists on a spectrum rather than in a dichotomy, a number of new paintings on canvas and paper explore a sense of place and the artist’s social connection to landscape and cityscape. In a series of new drawings, Ryan Whelan seeks to reconcile with the rapid changes he sees happening all over Oakland. With stripped-down figurations of apartment buildings that feature stark windows, loosely constructed facades, and surroundings that vary from overgrown foliage to a quiet emptiness, the artist ponders on how our relationships to the places we call home change as the immediate environment transforms. In a monumental new painting flush with vibrant orange and purple blocks, Muzae Sesay ponders a similar question by lamenting the aggressive pruning of the city’s trees. Vivid forms of breezeblocks, cut trees, and a staircase to nowhere emerge from a dark background, discombobulated amongst the frenzied change. Nonetheless, a rainbow cuts across the foreground, a sign of hope that trumps despair. In a brand new body of work, Brett Flanigan’strademark abstraction reveals a hidden landscape, rendered in dazzling fluorescent tones of magenta, aquamarine, and violet. Palm trees stretch from the bottom to top of the canvas, creating three-dimensional space across a kaleidoscopic array of abstract patterns and forms.
Brett Flanigan
”I don’t know where I’m going but I’m on my way”
Oil on canvas
52 x 42 inches
2021
Through various forms of portraiture, the themes of intimacy and identity are explored. Adrian Octavius Walker’s new photograph Equal Parts 1 peers over the shoulder of a Black woman from behind, focused on her cornrow braids and handcrafted earring, her gaze just out of sight. A new drawing by Molly Bounds suggests the subject in repose at home, portraying merely an outstretched arm in the sanctuary of the living room. In the sculpture Katabasis (broom/dustpan), Kyle Lypka references the Greek descent into madness and the unknown. A vertebra cradles the handle of a broom, prepared to sweep up a pile of bang snap fireworks and two eyeballs. A selection of drawings from Jordy Kerwick invites the viewer into the comfort of the artist’s home and mind, places of comfort during lockdown. The fantastical elements - animals in the forms of lamps and rugs, reveal the artist’s wavering grip on reality, as one reads “I don’t recognize myself anymore…” In Lenworth McIntosh’s What I kept seeing felt right, a face peers out behind a mask-life arrangement of vivid, organic forms. The still face an uncommon subject for McIntosh, the title seems to suggest an acceptance of painting as a form of expression for the multidisciplinary artist.
In both sculpture and painting, material experimentation can be paramount. In a new mixed-media sculpture, Meryl Pataky returns to a series of works that seeks to understand the stress and the breaking point of materials. Pushing glass to the boundaries of its physical capabilities by blowing fragile, organic forms in the place of more rigid neon tubes, her new work investigates the boundaries and connections between strength and vulnerability.Two new paintings by Tyler Cross reveals the artist’s investigation into color and form. Working in an intuitive space, Cross works mixes acrylic, ink and enamel on linen, elaborating familiar shapes across a rich colorscape. New collage paintings on paper by Cannon Dillcreate space with texture as well, images of vases, tigers, and abstract forms create a field for color and texture to elaborate. In two new paintings, Kelly Ordingcontinues her abstract geometries, continuously repeating sweeping curves that form shapes like the letters U and O, resplendent in vivid pinks and blues. Each fine line is a meticulous study in repetition and paint, revealing the potential of complex forms in the most humble of marks.
Adrian Octavius Walker
”Equal Parts I”
Awagami Unryu Paper
27.5 x 20.5 inches
Edition of 2
2021
Adrian Octavius Walker is a mixed-media artist based in Chicago, IL by way of St. Louis Missouri. His work is inspired by the black body, dynamics of the black family, and archival work related to the African American experience and the untold stories they share. Working in both film and digital-format photography, Walker creates penetrating portraits influenced by his deep awareness of the nuances that pervade the human experience. He was one of the prize-winning artists in The Outwin 2019: American Portraiture Today Competition, on display at the National Portrait Gallery Smithsonian in Washington, D.C. His work has been exhibited across the US, including the Museum of the African Diaspora, San Francisco 2020 and at Magnum Foundation, New York in 2017.
Brett Flanigan (b. 1986, Great Falls, MT) lives and works in Oakland, CA. Flanigan holds a degree in Biology from the University of California, Santa Barbara. He works primarily in painting and sculpture. His work has been exhibited in the San Francisco Bay Area, New York City, Portland, Atlanta, and Chicago, as well as internationally in Hamburg, Germany and Warsaw, Poland. Flanigan has also completed a number of public artworks, including a mural at the Lilley Museum at the University of Nevada, Reno, and a large-scale public sculpture in downtown Oakland.
Cannon Dill (b. 1991) is a painter living and working in Oakland, CA. He studied at California College of the Arts. Dill is known for formal investigations on canvas, treating his textured surfaces and palette as equals to the subject matter he paints. He has had solo exhibitions at pt.2: Gallery in Oakland and participated in shows in San Francisco, NYC, and London.
Cannon Dill
”(Yellow room) Perfume ad 2”
Acrylic and collage on paper
62.5 x 52.5 inches
2021
Jordy Kerwick (b.1982 Melbourne, Australia)is a self-taught artist who explores the classic genre of still life through a contemporary perspective. Currently based in Albi, France, he is inspired by his homely life, the artist’s painting often features domestic elements. Recalling Vanitas iconography, various objects of contrasting connotation such as flowers and cigarettes are combined within the canvas, depicting the pleasant and grittier aspects of life. In his recent works, predatory animal makes their appearance in the home setting, as to remind the viewers of their most primal nature. Clear from constraints of style, Jordy Kerwick makes use of various techniques and interlaces historical references into his work. His solo exhibitions include The Three Month Dream, Piermarq* (Sydney, 2020); I love you, What’s your name, Anna Zorina Gallery (New York, 2019); Sweep the leg, Johnny, Pt. 2 Gallery (Oakland, 2019); and Diary of an Introvert, Delphian Gallery (London, 2018). Kerwick has also participated in group exhibitions at Ambacher Contemporary (Munich, 2019) and Kunstforeningen Det Ny Kastet (Thisted, 2018).
Based in Oakland, California, Kelly Ording has exhibited her work both in the U.S. and Internationally since graduating from the San Francisco Art Institute in 2000. In addition to her works on paper, canvas and collages, Ording has created several large scale public works and murals. Her public works and murals can be seen in San Francisco’s landmark Clarion Alley, the Palega Park Recreation Center in San Francisco, Genentech, the Emeryville Center for Community Life, as well as other locations throughout the Bay Area and Internationally. She has completed residencies at the Facebook Analog Research Laboratory, Menlo Park and Kala Art Institute, Berkeley. Ording recently completed a large-scale paving project on Ocean Avenue in conjunction with the San Francisco Art Commission and the San Francisco Department of Public Works. She was the recipient of the 2020 Kala Art Institute Master Artists Award. Her work is included in several collections; such as the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art collection, the San Francisco Arts Commission Public and Civic Art Collection, the Alameda County Collection, JP Morgan Chase Collection and the Ellie Mae Collection, to name a few. She currently devotes all her time to her artwork and her family with fellow artist, Jet Martinez.
Kelly Ording
”Rosewood”
Acrylic on canvas
36 x 36 inches
2021
Kyle Lypka (b.1987 Philadelphia, PA) is a self taught artist who has been living in Oakland since 2011. His sculptural work is primarily figurative, recently he explores object functionality, labor, psychic/physical pain, temporality and the modern subjects' relationship to self. He also maintains a collaborative art practice with his partner Tyler Cross.
Lenworth “Joonbug” McIntosh (b. 1987 Jamaica, West Indies) is a visual artist, photographer, illustrator and designer based in Oakland, CA by way of Dallas, TX. His quirky wit, warmth, and diversity of pursuits give his work vibrant soul while his approach is indirect; he portrays things as they are without revealing all of the answers. McIntosh received his BFA in graphic design from McMurry University in Abilene, Texas. He has exhibited extensively in the Bay Area, including at pt. 2 Gallery in Oakland and Swim Gallery in San Francisco, as well as in Dallas, Texas at {neighborhood}.
Lenworth McIntosh
”What I Kept Seeing Felt Right”
Oil on paper
46 x 33 inches
2021
Liz Hernández (b. 1993) is a Mexican artist based in Oakland who works primarily with topics related to her upbringing. Inspired by the magical realism movement in Latin America, she uses imagery from memories of living in Mexico City, adopting supernatural elements and symbolism to address modern-life subjects. Hernández’s practice focuses on painting and sculpture, and most recently, murals. She has exhibited work in the San Francisco Bay Area, Los Angeles, and Mexico City.
Maria Paz (b. Quilpue, Chile) is a self-taught Latinx sculptor based in Oakland, California. Her work explores the bond broken with her home country and how her experience as an immigrant in the United States has shaped a multiplicity of identities within her. By painting visions of Chile, her ancestors and her higher self, Paz archives her personal history on her ceramic vessels as an act of resilience. Each piece tells a different story, often telling several, many of which are brightly colored in an homage to the palette of Latinx culture in the Americas. Recently, Paz has exhibited work at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts (San Francisco), San Jose Institute of Contemporary Arts (San Jose, CA), Pt. 2 Gallery (Oakland, CA), Southern Exposure (San Francisco, CA), and New Image Art (Los Angeles, CA). Paz was a finalist for the 2019-2020 TOSA Studio Award and has held workshops at the Contemporary Jewish Museum (San Francisco, CA). She was recently awarded the Bed Stuy Arts Residency in Brooklyn, New York and is currently preparing for a group exhibition at the Di Rosa Center for Contemporary Arts (Napa, CA). Paz is represented by Part 2 Gallery in Oakland, California.
Maria Paz
”The Underworld”
Stoneware and glaze
23 x 12 x 12 inches
2020
Meryl Pataky (b. Florida) moved to San Francisco in 2002 to attend the Academy of Art University. She fell in love with the tactile nature of sculpture and graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Sculpture. An artist of many disciplines and mediums, Meryl focuses on the relationship between her own hands and material. Informing her material selection is a meditation on the elements of the periodic table from noble gases to metals and organics. She is aware of the history of her elements from their origins in the universe to their applications in culture and myth. The artist derives deeper meanings from these histories to add layers to her concepts. Both a personal and process-driven narrative drive the work further forward. Pataky is currently working on exhibitions in Oakland, California as well as curating the all-female, all neon exhibition entitled, "She Bends". The exhibition features female benders from around the world.
Molly Bounds received her BFA in printmaking from Metropolitan State University in Denver, CO in 2014. She has exhibited widely throughout California and the Southwest including at RULE Gallery in Marfa Texas, at Athen B. Gallery in Oakland and at pt. 2: Oakland. Molly’s work highlights the complexity of inner dialogue surrounding notions of possibility and limitation. Highly influenced by narrative and sequential art, Bounds correlates the training of doubt with the scope of one’s own capabilities. Within visions of suspended motion and contemplative pause, stills from a subdued life reveal internal conflict, urgency, complacency, and fleeting opportunity. Molly lives and works in Los Angeles, CA.
Oakland-based painter Muzae Sesay (b. 1989) has shown widely since 2015, with dozens of solo and group exhibitions in the Bay Area as well as additional presentations in Los Angeles, New York, London and Copenhagen. Sesay’s richly chromatic, geometrically structured works deftly allude to history, community, personal experience and the world around us. Much of his work explores the formation and fragmentation of memory, identity and human connection in relationship to environments and architectural spaces real and imagined. His most recent exhibitions include solo companion presentations at pt.2 Gallery in Oakland and a group show at the San José Institute of Contemporary Art. He is a member of nure collective in Oakland.
Muzae Sesay
”They Cut the Heads Off Our Trees in the Dark of Distraction”
Oil pastel, acrylic, colored pencil, and graphite on canvas
84 x 66 inches
2020
Ryan Whelan (b. in 1991) is an Oakland-based visual artist whose current practice investigates how connections can create a sense of place. Originally from Torrance, California, Whelan moved to the Bay Area in 2009 to earn his BFA in Printmaking from San Francisco State. In addition to his art practice, he has been working at the Creative Growth Art Center since 2015. Whelan has exhibited in the San Francisco Bay Area at pt. 2 Gallery and Hashimoto Contemporary, in Portland at Stephanie Chefas Projects, and at pt. 2 Gallery and Hey There! Projects in Los Angeles.
Tyler Cross (b.1992 Lancaster, CA) Graduated from SFAI in 2015 and has been an artist living in the Bay Area since 2012. His practice focuses mostly on painting and sculpture. He also maintains a collaborative art practice with his partner Kyle Lypka.
Yétundé Olagbaju (b.1990) is an artist and maker, currently residing in Oakland, CA..They have shown work and projects with Oakland Museum of California, Portland Institute of Contemporary Art, pt. 2 Gallery, Southern Exposure, SOMArts Cultural Center, Untitled Art Fair, Art Basel, and more. They hold an MFA from Mills College and are the recipient of the inaugural Nancy Cook Fellowship, the Murphy Cadogan Awards, and the Jay Defeo Award. They are currently in residence at the Headlands Center for the Arts.