Allouche Gallery is pleased to present “Dimensions of Three,” an exhibition featuring contemporary artists Reinoud Oudshoorn, Crystal Wagner and Martin Gremse. The three artists test the boundaries of dimensional space, dipping between visible and invisible, infinite and contained, abstract and representational -- to illuminate the permeability of the margins between them.
Martin Gremse’s abstract canvases are coated in metallic, silver casings made from steel lilac, zinc daffodil and aluminum hyacinth. The artist, who trained as a doctor, first meticulously applies layers of paint, catalyzing reactions between color, texture and shape that mimic chemical responses. He then glazes the piece with a crackly film of precious metal, alluding to art history’s tradition of deriving an artwork’s value through the cost of its materials. The resulting works, which appear random and wild despite their careful construction, reflect the viewer’s image, split and multiplied. Thus every viewer encounters a different image, one unique to her own reflected image and extracted understanding.
Reinoud Oudshoorn begins his process by staring at an empty, white surface -- be it a blank piece of paper or a rolling cloud -- and seeing what imaginary forms emerge. He develops these potential shapes into scant sculptures made from iron and glass that hint at potential windows, portals, shadows and infinite space. All of Oudshoom’s works feature the same vanishing point, at roughly 1.65 meters, colluding to alert the viewer to the invisible world waiting perpetually, just out of view. His sculptures become humble arrows alerting viewers to its existence, inviting pointed seeing and reverie.
Crystal Wagner creates oozing, ravenous sculptures that resemble tie-dye made flesh. Using hand cut paper techniques including screen printing and cut paper, Wagner mimics the forms of mushrooming, organic growths using glaringly unnatural materials like neon colors and dollar store goods. Her pieces resemble mutant honey combs, enchanted plasma or toxic dipped coral reefs hungry for revenge. Straddling the line between natural and artificial, rampant and contained, Wagner’s abstract forms resemble otherworldly growths that have temporarily agreed to reside peacefully on gallery walls.