May 18 - June 15, 2024
From the Galveston Artist Residency:
“PRESTON GAINES
Houston-based artist, architect, and industrial designer, Preston Gaines — also known as Inanimate Nature — crafts a compelling fusion of the digital and natural realms. Moving seamlessly between sculpture, projection mapping, and interactive installations, he persistently pushes and redefines traditional artistic boundaries. With a deep foundation in architectural design, Gaines’ work engages with themes of sacred symbolism, geometry, and nature’s intricacies.
His investigation into the relationship between the natural world and the human psyche enhances the bond between our perception and the surrounding environment. This deep dive intensifies the discourse on the interplay between nature, the human experience, and the cultural and scientific paradigms that shape our perspectives.
Drawing on the universal language of numbers, shapes, and their harmonic relationships, Gaines channels spiritual and philosophical notions inspired by ancient civilizations, notably Egypt. His immersion into archetypal tenets is driven by an allure for their symbolism and geometry, spanning a range of media from the traditional to the digital.
CRASIS
Crasis (/krey-sis/ from the Greek κρᾶσις, “mixing”, “blending”) is a collaborative duo made up of Andy Davis and Anne Lukins. Their projects use participatory live performance to engage with questions of human ecology, moving between social experimentation and ritual. They collaboratively design and fabricate elaborate props, prosthetics and ceremonial dress, using both new and pre-industrial techniques. Performances channel an evolving multitude of beings which emerge from personal narrative, the environment, and from ancient and contemporary cultures. Since 2020, they have organized workshops and performances in a wide variety of contexts: from historical sites to public beaches, artist-run galleries, and the forest floor. Crasis is serious play, rebellion against a culture of disposability and isolation, and transgression against the acceleration of ecological twilight.
DEVIN T. MAYS
Devin T. Mays (b. Detroit, MI) uses sculpture, installation, performance and pictures to offer observation of what’s seen and unseen. His use of the temperamental and temporary is an attempt to work with the materiality of everything and nothingness. The materials being used in his practice do not always present themselves as anything more than what they appear to be. There is not always a physical transformation at the hands of his facilitation. He often refers to his interdisciplinary practice as a practice-in-practice, a place for things to become Things. He has exhibited and performed at The Renaissance Society, Chicago; Neubauer Collegium, Chicago; gta exhibitions, Zürich; Sweetwater, Berlin; F, Houston; SculptureCenter, New York; Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago; The Reva and David Logan Center for the Arts at The University of Chicago; DePaul Art Museum, Chicago; Regards, Chicago among others. Mays holds a Bachelor of Business Administration from Howard University and is an Assistant Professor in The Department of Art at Rice University.”
Reception: May 18, 2024 | 6–9 pm
2521 Mechanic St
Galveston, 77550 TX
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