Darkest Before the Dawn at the ArtReach Gallery
This exhibition will be on display from February 1st – February 24th, 2017 at the ArtReach Gallery at THEARC, 1901 Mississippi Ave SE, Washington, DC 20020. The closing reception for this exhibition will take place on Thursday February 23rd, 2017 from 6:00 PM – 8:00 PM.
The creative direction for this exhibition was inspired by a combination of two ideas: situations always seem to be at their lowest or darkest point right before circumstances improve, and society primarily uses dark colors to describe the most seemingly negative aspects of life including loneliness, uncertainty, and even death. With this context in mind, the objective of this exhibition is to create a space that encompasses dark colors and the beauty they bring to life. Once this aesthetic is established, viewers will appreciate the darkness that leads to the dawn, or even find that the dawn itself can be full of darkness.
Artists Andrei Trach, Alfonso Fernandez, Maria Miller, and McKinley Wallace III each produced works focusing on the darker aspects of their creativity. Their works include a diverse realm of mediums including spray paint, black sand, charcoal, oil, acrylics, crayons, marble dust, and graphite. Trach perfectly describes the artwork as, “improvisations dealing with the eternal issues of light and dark, shadow and clarity, revelation and obfuscation, ambiguity and definitiveness.”
Artists Susan G. DeVan, Zac Franzoni, Neil Harpe, Kelly Walker, and Luther Wright each focused their artistry into pieces that combine transcendence and darkness, creating works slightly lighter than their counterparts. Kelly Walker describes the work as, “push[ing] mediums past their intended purposes, encouraging them to collide and react.”