Pontone Gallery will showcase the works of Malcolm Liepke, Matteo Massagrande, Lee Leenam, Emil Alzamora, and Jeff Robb in the 2018 edition of Art Miami.
Malcolm Liepke creates a distinct world through his oil paintings, a 21st century "demi-monde" populated by young and attractive individuals who exhibit feelings of vulnerability and display airs of self-absorption. Cream-like paint is laid down in planes of acidic, pastel hues of greens, blues, pinks, purples and oranges, making dramatic contrast with descriptive areas of pale skin-tones. Genuine emotions are on display in a contemporary world of mutual grooming and self-presentation. This is a milieu familiar to us from the paintings of Degas, Toulouse-Lautrec, Manet, Hopper, Sargent and many others. Through his contemporary cast of provocative characters, Liepke makes a connection with the past and presents us with an archetypal portrait.
Matteo Massagrande works within the traditional medium of oil paint, which he meticulously layers upon black-primed board to establish a vibrantly colored, luscious pictorial surface. The artist manipulates perspective to depict scenes of derelict, abandoned buildings with intricately tiled floors and backdrops of verdant gardens or placid blue seas. While these captivating paintings appear to depict historic settings captured in time, they are in fact visual constructs created by the artist to depict a constantly changing and evolving contemporary world.
An established video and new media artist, Lee Leenam harnesses the power of digital technology to create contemporary renditions of classical masterpieces and natural phenomena. Historic paintings such as Mona Lisa, The Starry Night Arles, and The Kiss as well as those of Korean natural wonders are reinterpreted and transformed into dynamic moving images through artistic animation.
Emil Alzamora's minimalist sculptures represent the human body in its most pure form.
His sleek, polished figures are anonymous yet identifiable; they lack any sort of distinct facial features or differentiation of gender, but simultaneously symbolize a universal understanding of and connection with the human body in its various manifestations. He exaggerates, lengthens, distorts, and manipulates these forms to express emotional, mental, or physical situations and to tell captivating stories. They are reminiscent of the slender, elongated figures of Giacometti or the intimate, abstract sculptures of Brancusi, yet are unique in their refined curvature, urbane presence, and contemporary appeal. Alzamora strives to make visible the intangible interaction between limitation and potential within the human form.
Jeff Robb works in a variety of innovative media including lenticular photography, bronze and silver cast sculpture, reflection and transmission holography, photography, film, laser light and sound installations. Robb is best known for his lenticular photographic work focusing on the nude figure and abstract forms in space. These lenticular photographs are a visual exploration of the forces of the natural and unnatural world in three-dimensional space, displayed within a two-dimensional format, resulting in a compelling image of the human form in a liminal, otherworldly state.
