Summer is a time when galleries often provide a lighter visual buffet, offering tasty samplings in the form of group shows. Following in this tradition, Gallery 1516 opens its own Summer Stock 4-artist show on July 7, featuring current work by Omaha’s Angie Seykora, Brian Wetjen, David Patterson and Bridget O’Donnell.
While all share an interest in the tactile and textural possibilities of their chosen media, there is a distinct aesthetic and conceptual variety at play.
Patterson is a painter, whose acrylic and mixed media paintings on canvas reflect his bright-hued impressionistic bent toward landscapes both wild and cultivated. Conversely, delicacy is Wetjen’s modality, as his biomorphic watercolors and charcoals call to mind nature’s repetitions of shapes and shadows.
O’Donnell’s highly worked prints and paintings contain the measure of her expressionistic interest in the beauty of collapse and decay. Trading in a different way on the phenomenal within the prosaic, Seykora creates large, labor-intensive sculptures and wall hangings from repurposed commercial materials.
The resulting show promises to bring a cool breeze of young talent to 1516’s offerings.
Angie Seykora/Brian Wetjen/David Patterson/Bridget O’Donnell: Summer Stock opens Friday, July 7 at Gallery 1516 and runs through August 27. The gallery is located at 1516 Leavenworth Street and is open Friday — Sunday from 11am to 5pm, and on First Fridays until 8pm.