The Arts Fund Presents Astronauts of Inner Space

A Psychedelic Pop Exhibition Curated by James Van Arsdale

The Arts Fund is psyched to announce the opening of Astronauts of Inner Space, curated by James Van Arsdale. A reception will be held at The Arts Fund Gallery on Saturday, October 14th, 2017 from 2-8pm during our annual fun-raiser, POP! BANG! POW!
 
Astronauts of Inner Space brings to light a group of abstract artists whose work melds Pop and Psychedelic sensibilities: Jane Callister, Stephanie Dotson, Warren Schultheis, Kerrie Smith, and James Van Arsdale. This exhibition, inspired by the Pop Art icons Nicholas Krushenick and Peter Max, as well as experimental films Altered States and Zabriskie Point, brings these artists together who use shape, color, and form to make works which explore the corporeal and mental “inner spaces” of ourselves from a contemporary viewpoint.

Popping off of an orange-colored wall, Jane Callister’s works remind us of an enlarged landscape of the interior body, yet one that is full of bright colors in greens, violets, and pinks. Her controlled, yet drippy paint evokes spiraling thoughts, exuberant emotions, and a longing for a distant landscape that is either hugely immense existing somewhere outside of our galaxy, or a hallucinatory dream inside one’s own head.
 
Shapes and lines in Stephanie Dotson’s work resemble internal organs, such as kidneys, the stomach, or intestines, and sinew in various states of tension and release. Mushy and projectile objects are highlighted with floral accents as if the sensorial has entered the body to intermingle, whether through scent, thought, or elixir—something seems to be stewing.
 
In Warren Schultheis’ work, microbial and soft geometric shapes jockey for position in a confined space as if there is not enough room, so they must adapt to accommodate their body’s rapidly ever-changing capacity. His linear and geometric elements speak of the brain’s ability to compartmentalize and the resultant wavy connections it makes between seemingly unrelated information.
 
Kerrie Smith’s V2 mixes the cellular and liquid with structural; its brightly colored Op Art shapes form a natural geometry. The silver, reflective Mylar underneath her painting further enhances the futuristic aspect of her psychedelic abstractions.
 
Projected hexagonally on a silver Mylar surface, James Van Arsdale’s looping video piece presents an organic, dramatic liquid-light show with references to bodily fluids and chemical interactions. A black cloth piece, festooned with gradient buttons that emulate bubbles or molecules, simulates the mind’s movement through abstract ideas in an interior space that is as vast and unbounded as the universe in which our physical bodies exist. 
 
The exhibition will be on view until Sunday, November 5, 2017 at The Arts Fund Gallery, located at 205-C Santa Barbara Street. Regular gallery hours are Wednesday-Sunday from 12-5pm. The exhibition is free and open to the public.
 
To purchase tickets to the event, please contact click the link below or The Arts Fund at popbangpow@artsfundsb.org

https://nightout.com/events/popbangpow/tickets