GR gallery is pleased to present “Dreaming Awake”, a bright and aesthetically balanced group exhibition featuring 15 fresh works on canvas by artists Dan Oliver, Geppy Pisanelli and Mark Posey. The title is inspired by the exclusive concept that defines the artists new series and the destabilizing perception of an outlandish realm, where reality and fantasy fuse together establishing a sense of reverie, able to push the viewer to reflect on the current state of the arts, by throwing him in a case of semi dormancy in order to eventually awake and find the revelation.
Opening: Thursday April 27, 6:00pm – 9:00pm (Exhibition Dates: April 28th – May 20th 2023). Members of the press can contact GR gallery in advance to schedule a private viewing and/or an interview with the artists before the exhibition is officially open. Visitors who want to attend the opening can RSVP by contacting the gallery. Artists will attend the opening event.
GR gallery, 255 Bowery (between Houston & Stanton) New York, NY 10002 | info@gr-gallery.com | tel: +1 212 273 2900
“Dreaming Awake” intentionally generates a disorienting visual thread that represents a newly accomplished state of mind, where the individual reaches a new level of consciousness as a result of giving a tangible form to the subconscious, completing the resurrection from a form of lethargy and apathy that limits people thoughts and ability.
With his distinctive painting style that combines surrealism and rural romanticism, Dan Oliver constructs a dream-like vision of the world that is simultaneously familiar and strange. Oliver’s imagery ranges from figural to abstract, and realistic to symbolic. He skillfully blends past memories with concerns of the present, creating idyllic, yet haunting images evoking nostalgia, and engaging with contemporary concerns. On the other side, Geppy Pisanelli’s highly conceptual inner landscapes are the development of a strenuous conflict between reason and deception, that resolves in an ambiguous misty natural scenery, characterized by a deep contemplation about the clarity of the soul. Specific and recurrent meaningful objects serve as a guide to the viewer, able to offer a key to the interpretation of this visionary and conceptual composition. Mark Posey gives a new and unexpected life to everyday objects, using them as an unconventional interpretation of the psyche and power of dreams. His hypnagogic artworks put together, in an almost Dadaist way, recognizable traditional objects, figures and words apparently unrelated, creating a sort of flux of consciousness in images glued together by a unique style that imitates the effect of condensation on a mirror, symbolizing the resolution of the ancient challenge.
Dan Oliver grew up in the Southern Illinois cities of East Saint Louis and Belleville. He studied with Lester Goldman at the Kansas City Art Institute for his BFA, then, inspired by the Chicago Imagists such as Christina Ramberg and Roger Brown, he moved to Chicago where he got his MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Oliver’s work is influenced by Surrealism, Modernism and Pop Art—but also by his own experiences growing up in small American towns. In his paintings, one can see echoes of the landscape and architecture of that region. Shifting between narrative, abstraction, the personal and the historical, Oliver’s intention is to always capture a psychological reality. His paintings have a dream logic, and are inspired by filmmakers such as Kubrick and Lynch just as much as by 20th and 13th century painting. His paintings invite viewers to reflect upon their place in this world, leaving room for dialogue and multiple interpretations. His work has now been exhibited and collected internationally.
Geppy Pisanelli’s artistic research focuses on painting intended not as an instrument for its own sake but as a communication medium. Such awareness leads the artist to create artwork in which planning as well as semantic and metaphorical cross-references of the image are fundamental elements of his pictorial composition. As for the content, the artist is interested in creating so-called archetypal images that may be interpreted not only as a reproduction of reality (as they may appear at first glance), but that are also able to convey “mental” images leading the observer to an ampler reflection on the value of painting as an expressive medium to analyze the reality and the human condition. He is currently living and working between New York and Napoli.
He abundantly exhibited in galleries and museums in Europe and U.S. among these we point out, Reggia Di Caserta; PAN, Naples; Casa Zerrilli-Marimò, New York; Kips Gallery, New York; James Cohan Gallery, New York.
Mark Posey is based downtown Los Angeles. He earned his BA in History from UC Berkeley in 2010, and his MFA from the Academy of Art in San Francisco in 2012. Growing up in the ’90s Mark Posey was primarily influenced by the YBAs. He makes use of thick layers of fluid paint and relies on the unpredictable nature of the material to guide his work. The subjects in his work recur from painting to painting and often contain nuanced differences, giving them a sentimental history that reveals nostalgia and varying identity. Much of his work is a modern take on traditional subjects, and his use of contemporary materials challenges people to re-address their familiarity with classical subject matters. The pop style of his early still-lifes has translated into various mediums, his early works in oil display skill while remaining personal and stylized, as the artist transitioned to acrylic he also delivered equally irreverent works of sculpture which reflected and conversed with painting. Mark has shown over the years a capability and effort to evolve his artistic practice, this can be seen through the different periods of his works. Currently, his production has culminated in large artworks which are unrestricted and draw many subjects to clash and conciliate, captured essences from history linked by the artist’s hand.
