Ivana Quezada / Jason Luper : Dual Artist Exhibition

- This is a dual artist exhibition. Ivana Quezada makes intricate and stunning abstractions in charcoal medium. Jason Luper shares his pop-esque oil paintings in surrealist spirit.

Ivana Q:

"My current exploration is to create an impression and extension of real space in ambiguous settings that contain forms reminiscent of recognizable things to give the viewer the opportunity to interpret freely the meaning of each work. I am inspired by natural movements and systems, forces, and forms, specifically celestial objects and nebulous forms. I aim to create new visuals of ambiguous forms and not reference any one thing in particular, but to give the sense of an initial substance of matter that does not have any definite shape or state of being. Protomatter is this ultimate basis of physical substance, before it has been given form.

Contemporary painter CT Nelson developed the term Non-Objective Realism which he explains as “the feeling of something real, yet far away from reality.” This idea of creating work that is not based on anything real and specific but still appearing as something that could exist in this world is the primary objective for my work. I am influenced by the idea that through ordinary shapes, colors, and lines one can establish a sense of transcendence, that is clear of any objective subjects. I want this idea of abstraction and purity to convey a sense of emotion equal to that caused by encountering representational work; so my focus is on creating an atmosphere rather than a narrative.

This project depends largely on the presence of opposite yet complimentary components, both conceptually and stylistically. I aim to achieve a balance of distinctiveness and ambiguity in the technical features of my work, namely in the compositions, values, and presence of light and darkness. More importantly, my focus is on the duality of the familiar and the unknown.

I want the viewer to experience an exploration into unknown areas, being pulled into each work through the vague familiarity present in each scene, and to keep that interest through the unsettling feeling of experiencing something new and strange. By creating unrecognizable textural abstract forms that imitate reality to an extent there is an exploration and a discovery into each work that can allow for a place of contemplation in the sublime, where terror and beauty coincide."