Harris ∙ Stanton Gallery in Akron opens its 2019 calendar year with our annual New Directions exhibition on January 10^th, 2019. New Directions, an exhibition dedicated to highlighting emerging young talent, has become a favorite exhibition of HSG viewers! This year’s show will feature exciting work and fresh perspectives by artists Stephanie Spyker, Joe Karlovec, Austin Turner and Mike Mentz.

University of Akron graduate, Stephanie Spyker’s Polaroid montages emphasize location and investigate how a specific location can tell a visual story. Spyker manipulates photographs and uses a Polaroid printer to piece together hundreds of small images to create one cohesive landscape. Joe Karlovec’s paintings embrace dense physical surfaces and smooth graphic imagery. Karlovec, a Kent State University graduate, builds his surface by using common studio materials such as wood, fabric, foam, tape and plastic resulting in a canvas where sculptural forms emerge. Cleveland Institute of Art graduate, Austin Turner uses a 3D modeling program to create scrambled renderings of a virtual place. Turner then paints exaggerated landscapes containing flat planes, perspective lines and figures in an attempt to explore our understanding of place and to help the viewer build a narrative about community, architecture and the lull of office space. Mike Mentz, a graduate of the Cleveland Institute of Art, uses line pattern to exploit the optic qualities of his interactive glass sculptures. These works allow the audience opportunities for reflection and challenge the participant to slow their conscious stream. The work explores topics relating to self-identity and its formation, interdependence, kinetic potential, and cultivating mindfulness.

New Directions, opens at our Akron gallery location, 2301 W. Market Street, with a wine and cheese reception on Thursday, January 10^th, 5:30-8pm.  A gallery talk by the artists will take place at 6:30pm. The exhibition runs through Saturday, February 9^th, 2019.

Select works from this exhibition may be viewed online at www.HarrisStantonGallery.com. For more information about the exhibition or to obtain more images for print please contact Meg Harris or Ivana Medukic at info@HarrisStantonGallery.com.