KATI GEGENHEIMER | CHENLU HOU
November 28 - January 13

The gallery is delighted to present an exhibition of works by two artists, Kati Gegenheimer and Chenlu Hou.  This is the first time the artists' works will be exhibited at the gallery.  Hou's small hand painted porcelain sculptures are paired with Gegenheimer's oil paintings on heart-shaped panels.  The artists share an interest in expression, pattern, and color, creating handmade works that process complex feelings and experiences of time and place.

Chenlu Hou's works feature imaginative depictions of women, animals, and plants rendered onto hand-built porcelain sculptures.  Using underglazes, Hou paints onto the porcelain before it is fired, then adds gold paint to the surface.  Her works draw from particular experiences she has had while living in the United States, from the frightening to the mundane--wearing a bright yellow sweater while hiking in a hunting zone, or learning English and being fascinated with the word 'pod.' She also finds inspiration in her Chinese heritage: her Chinese zodiac sign of the snake, folklore, monumental statues, and festivals.  Funerary objects in particular have inspired the forms of many of Hou's works.  These include lanterns, cut paper offerings, and decorative loaves of bread made during the 'Tombs Sweeping Day' festival in her home province of Shandong, China, when family members pay tribute to deceased loved ones.

Gegenheimer's paintings pay tribute to places and moments in time, which she frames through the loving shape of the heart and an unabashed embrace of the decorative.  Gegenheimer paints expressively, working emotive strokes of color into repeated lines and patterns that intermingle with figurative elements familiar to urban and coastal environments.  Inspired by artists such as Miriam Schapiro and Niki de Saint Phalle, who have used the symbol of the heart in their works, as well as the Pattern and Decoration movement, Gegenheimer's paintings are joyful expressions of the act of painting, memory, and time. They reflect the fleeting preciousness of the natural world: changing landscapes, seascapes, birds, ocean waves, tides, cloud formations, and reflected light.  Like Hou, Gegenheimer uses figuration, abstraction, and pattern to depict specific moments, experiences, environments, and moods, lending them a sense of loving permanence in art.

Kati Gegenheimer was born in Langhorne, PA in 1984 and lives and works in Philadelphia, PA.  She received a BFA in Printmaking and Art History from the Tyler School of Art in 2007 and an MFA in Painting and Printmaking from Yale University in 2013.  Her works have been exhibited at Gross McCleaf, Philadelphia, PA, David Peterson Gallery, Minneapolis, MN, North Orange, Montclair, NJ, and Jeffrey Deitch, New York, NY, among other venues.  She is the recipient of a Yaddo Artist Access Grant, and a smART Ventures Grant, and the recipient of an Elizabeth Murray Artist Residency as well as a Pollock-Krasner Residency at Yaddo, Saratoga Springs, NY.

Chenlu Hou was born in Shandong, China, in 1989 and lives and works in Providence, RI.  She received an M.A. in Decorative Art Design from Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts, China in 2016 and an MFA in Ceramic Art from the Rhode Island School of Design in 2016.  Her works have been included in exhibitions at Yiri Arts, Taipei, Taiwan, the Houston Center for Contemporary Craft, Houston, TX, and the Archie Bray Foundation for the Ceramic Arts, Helena, Montana, among other venues.  She has completed residencies at Penland School of Craft, Bakesville, North Carolina, Houston Center for Contemporary Craft, Houston, TX, and the Archie Bray Foundation, Helena, Montana, among others.