Building Community Through Art

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Marietta, GA 30060

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David Kessler, John Petrey, & Issac Payne

Perception: David Kessler, John Petrey, and Issac Payne

September 26 – December 13, 2015

David Kessler, Isaac Payne and John Petrey come together in this year’s fall exhibition, with one angle in common: perception.  Perception offers a different point of view of how we perceive the world in which we live, through the eyes and invention of Kessler, Payne and Petrey. 

David Kessler was born in Park Ridge, New Jersey and received his M.F.A at the San Francisco Art Institute.  Over the past twenty-five years Kessler has created a series of spectacular waterscape paintings that incorporate realistic imagery painted over a surface of abraded and polished aluminum. His work takes a viewer’s perception to a psychological level: a single unified awareness derived from sensory processes while a stimulus is present.  The hybridization of refracted light and surface material creates “real” light from his paintings instead of an illusion.

Isaac Payne grew up in Tacoma, Washington and studied painting at the Queens College.  His work explores the pedestrian views of the modern city and landscape.  The overlaying technique he applies with a draftsman’s touch creates a narrative of architectural environments in a state of flux.  “The anonymity of figures and places are intended to encourage viewers to relate their own experiences to these pictorial environments while also contemplating the layers of shared history that buildings represent.”

The life size sculpture of Tennessee artist John Petrey can be lighthearted and whimsical or deeply symbolic.  “Images in nature, art, and new technology all influence me.  I am especially intrigued by the moments in life that catch my eye, random ideas that erupt in my mind, and words people say that just hang in the air.”  Petrey’s inspiration is rooted deep in his childhood experiences of watching TV and evokes a nostalgic glimpse into the “make-believe world portraying perfect people, in perfect families, living in a perfect society.”  The materials he uses are manipulated into something that they were not intended for and this is part of that twisted perception of that perfect world.

Every viewer carries with them their history when looking at a piece of art and establishes an understanding of that piece based upon their social, economic and cultural experiences.  What are you bringing with you?

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