SPECIFICALLY YOURS:
ALEX DA CORTE
ADAM HENRY
RORY MULLIGAN

“A work needs only to be inter­est­ing. Most works finally have one qual­ity.”
—Don­ald Judd

Joe Shef­tel is pleased to present “Specif­i­cally Yours” an exhi­bi­tion of work by Alex Da Corte, Adam Henry, and Rory Mul­li­gan. The gallery’s inau­gural show begins with a recep­tion on Sun­day, Jan­u­ary 15th from 6 to 8 pm, and con­tin­ues through Feb­ru­ary 26, 2012.

The artists in this show are united in that their work addresses the role of the sculp­tural object on per­cep­tion and the influ­ence of mate­ri­als in cur­rent art pro­duc­tion. The sculp­tures by Alex Da Corte, paint­ings by Adam Henry, and pho­tographs by Rory Mul­li­gan all explore the role per­cep­tion plays in our under­stand­ing of optics, atmos­phere, sculp­ture, and of our imme­di­ate visual real­ity.

Alex Da Corte makes sculp­tures uti­liz­ing objects he finds in his post-industrial neigh­bor­hood of Kens­ing­ton, Philadel­phia. This apoc­a­lyp­tic land­scape pro­vides a blank slate for view­ing mass-produced objects, removed from their con­text of domes­tic, adver­tis­ing or indus­trial use. By paint­ing a sal­vaged over­sized Ice Cream Cone, Da Corte points out the ven­er­a­tion we give to the deli­cious and desir­able. In hand-blowing a 2 liter soda bot­tle out of glass and fill­ing it with orange sham­poo, Da Corte repli­cates that which we take for granted in order to make the viewer stop, pay atten­tion and care.

Sim­i­larly, Adam Henry uti­lizes paint­ing to chal­lenge our per­cep­tions of how the world looks. Influ­enced by the prac­tices of Alfred Jensen and Agnes Mar­tin, and draw­ing on his Chi­cano back­ground, Henry paints dis­solv­ing struc­tures that invite the viewer to see the world through altered vision. Chal­leng­ing what is pos­si­ble in painted sur­faces, Henry cre­ates sculp­tural spaces within space. These spaces can be appre­hended quickly, but are best appre­ci­ated over time.

Rory Mul­li­gan is also inter­ested in address­ing the sculp­tural and imper­ma­nent aspects of every­day life in his ana­log black and white pho­tog­ra­phy. He cap­tures the image as a relief, one that takes the inci­den­tal atmos­pheric ele­ments of a moment and stops them. By cap­tur­ing the elu­sive, Rory allows us to see the magic and coin­ci­dence that is con­stantly around us. Mul­li­gan devel­ops and prints his own pho­tos as part of his pro­duc­tion process.