Specularis
Steve Sangapore + Rob Sullivan
May 4–28, 2023
SoWa First Friday Art Walk: May 5 | 5–8 PM
Instagram LIVE: Sunday, May 21 | 6 PM
Artist Q & A: Sunday, May 28 | 1 PM
“Specularis,” features the work of Steve Sangapore and Rob Sullivan. This ambitious show of painting and sculpture brings to life its title, a Latin term that directly translates to “you watch” or "you look.” The work invites viewers in with its combination of traditional and modern practices, and, echoing the contemporary “specular,” involves aspects of lenses and mirrors. Whether communicating transparency, the beauty of form, or human spirituality, both artists employ the figure as a kind of lens. Through such apertures, the artists open windows into the human experience.
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Good Intentions
Steve Sangapore has an insatiable curiosity for how the world works. He is as passionate with his interest in how the universe operates on a mechanical level as he is concerned with how we humans are to conduct ourselves within it. His series titled "Modern Icon" explores the re-appropriation and recontextualization of ancient spiritual art and symbolism. Through the use of reflective mirrors, the viewer’s gaze is placed within the works, prodding us to re-examine ancient religious and mythological expressions. In the changing modern world, how do we preserve and utilize the crucial narratives embedded within these belief systems?
Sangapore is a contemporary oil painter and mixed media sculptor. Using vastly different stylistic approaches of composition, medium and structure throughout various series, his work can be described at once as aesthetically traditional and conceptually contemporary. His work is intellectually exploratory with a gravitation toward religion, science and the human condition. Sangapore’s work has been exhibited in galleries and leading art fairs nationally and has been included in a variety of publications. He is a Core Member of Fountain Street.
Exuro (detail)
Rob Sullivan works with oil as his primary medium, putting a contemporary lens up to the traditions of figure painting and narrativity. Color theory, transparency, and conceptual frameworks embedded within the imagery push the expected conventions of the genre towards unfamiliar, allusive meaning. His technical facility with paint is a product of his traditional training in the craft, but the conceptual platform of his work is wholly modern, drawing upon the pictorial zeitgeist of visual culture. This creates a working duality within his pictures, allowing figure painting’s storied history to have a dialogue with the discourse of the present.
Sullivan possesses an expansive range to his artist’s career, with painting, digital media, design, illustration, critical theory, and writing integral to his educational and professional experiences. Currently a lecturer at Lesley Art+Design, Sullivan specializes in seminars related to visual culture. His art is exhibited in galleries and collections from New York City to Boston. Sullivan maintains his art practice at his home studio in Portland, Maine, and is a Core Member of Fountain Street.
