UNIX Gallery is pleased to begin the summer of 2017 with Mad Summer, a group exhibition featuring a trefoil of contemporary artists, Desire Obtain Cherish, Ellen de Meijer, and Christian Voigt. The group show features brand new paintings and compelling works never before seen in the gallery.

Extending a new body of work that features large-scale paintings and photography — a significant departure for the object-oriented artist — Los Angeles based artist Desire Obtain Cherish challenges the decision-making process humans undergo while chasing the elusive state of happiness. Whether happiness is understood through finances, beauty, sex, or intelligence, Desire Obtain Cherish, is fascinated with the pursuit and decisions involved in such a journey.

Ellen de Meijer’s paintings give the viewer a unique feeling of sympathetic tension and pathos, simultaneously. Her portraits show figures of successful repute, yet vulnerable with empty gazes. Ellen de Meijer’s figures are armed with digital gadgets such as Google Glasses or iPhones, which refer to our zeitgeist of access to information and power. This proliferation of technology becomes a point of dependency while our human instincts docilely move to the background.

Christian Voigt is a German photographer, known for his impressive images created using large-format cameras. Voigt has photographed great libraries, museums, landscapes and temples. Through his lens, Voigt captured mankind’s extraordinary buildings and architecture. “The intensity of the image, or of what one perceives as being alienated, is the result of Christian Voigt’s camera technique,” explains art critic Simone Simon of Voigt’s work, finding “his own form and his unique style by experimenting with the proven technique of multiple exposures.” Voigt offers an illuminated tenor, delivering with his photography an inescapable sense of history and verve.