CIR @ LEVEL GALLERY:
Studio Visits Round III With Eunice CHEN Yuyue
Level Art Gallery’s Curator-in-Residence Eunice CHEN Yuyue has spent the last couple of months visiting the studios of Rockella Space Members at both One Eyed Studios and Brown Bears Studios to learn more about their work and practice. This research culminates into multiple group exhibitions curated by Eunice and open on May 3rd at One Eyed Studios to coincide with the Ridgewood Open Studios.
Check out Eunice’s round-up of this week’s visit below and find out more about the Rockella Space Open Studio happening in May, 2024!
One Eyed Studios: SHEILA LANHAM
Having been deeply involved in the vibrant contemporary art scene of New York City for decades, Sheila Lanham shared her artistic odyssey behind her paintings. She showed me her vintage photograph collage of landscapes, which are carefully imbued with a richly colored palette and composed of highly decorative fragments. Each layer is meticulously arranged to manifest her visions of an abstract female world. Lanham is concerned about how her paintings coalesce into a unified whole, drawing from the diverse poetic fragments of her visual, sensory, and experiential encounters.
Brown Bears Studios: KING DAVID
I met King David in his expansive studio, alive with the buzz of his creations—abstract paintings, sculptures, conceptual pieces, and watercolor drawings. As an artist of Jamaican diaspora, his multidisciplinary approach poignantly reflects on how his identity shapes memories across distances. His paintings are richly saturated with various mediums, each layer capturing subtle and fluid memories of Jamaica and America.
Find out more about King David’s practice by reading our interview with him as a 2024 Featured Member.
ONE EYED STUDIOS: Ben Blaustein
In Ben Blaustein‘s studio, surrounded by an array of chemicals and tools, I captured a glimpse of his process for creating cyanotype photos. He meticulously arranges these indigo images into collages, which he then reorganizes into symbolized pixel patterns. These art pieces deeply explores body language, infusing it with symbols of enlightenment and divinity from traditional Jewish culture. As we conversed, we pondered how these spiritual themes might explore new opportunities in secular realms.
ONE EYED STUDIOS: Alejandra Rojas
Stepping into Alejandra Rojas‘s studio on the first floor, I was immediately struck by the impressive array of ceramic-making machines, 3D printers, and plaster molds filling the space. With a background in architecture, Rojas is passionate about constructing structured patterns through ceramics. Her studio space buzzes with the presence of numerous tactile sculptures, some adorned with delicate sparkles that subtly mimic the texture of coral skin.
Alejandra is co-curating an exhibition titled Barro at One Eyed Studios during ROS2024 and coinciding with the 2024 Brooklyn Ceramic Arts Tour.
Find out more about Alejandra Rojas’s practice by reading our interview with her as a 2024 Featured Member.
brown bears STUDIOS: Teddy Lane
In his cozy studio, Teddy Lane shared with me the intimate details behind his paintings, which aim to capture the shared fleeting moments in communal spaces. His brush captures moments suspended in time—hands clasping the stainless steel railings of the subway, as the world whirls unnoticed. Surrounded by the silent witnesses of his craft—practice drafts, printed vignettes, and scribbled notes—Lane shared his alchemy of light and shadow and his contemplation of the structure and posture on each canvas.
