Occasionally in life you run across something so irresistible that you have to go back for a double dip. With this in mind, Maxwell Colette Gallery is pleased to present two solo shows featuring painters whose work explores the greater cosmic narrative. Deconstructed Monuments features new work from Austin, TX based Adrian Landon Brooks while "Yes, Medusa!" debuts new paintings from San Antonio, TX based Angela Fox. Both artists have shown previously with the gallery, having been included in the critically acclaimed group show The Ballasted Frequencies. This is the first solo show in Chicago for both artists.
Deconstructed Monuments utilizes themes that Texas artist Adrian Landon Brooks has been developing for years: religious and occult symbology, pixellated pastel palettes, and geometrically oversimplified facial iconography. By directing viewers' focus to the contrast between these distinct concepts, Brooks creates the effect of displaced pieces of a larger puzzle. In this collection, huge statuesque heads (human and animal) or disembodied parts float above multi-colored bricks, black blocks, and woven color strips. By unearthing from his unconscious and then juxtaposing these unlikely elements, Brooks reveals a mysterious logic unique to his own vision.
Angela Fox's "Yes, Medusa!" focuses on the preservation of communities and how collectivity presides over individuality. Literal and figurative walls, symbolizing security and unity, appear in the form of cities with tightly knit gangs of characters. These figures congregate, wearing cocoon-like, protective shells of layered garments that obscure identity while signifying membership. The gangs embark on adventures of survival, creation, and destruction, linking these narratives to mythology. Within this context, Medusa represents preservation by keeping others at arm’s length. According to myth, Medusa was a beautiful maiden, punished by Athena for breaking her vows of celibacy when Poseidon raped her. Medusa was then transformed into a serpent-haired monster whose gaze turned men into stone. Twice a victim, Medusa becomes a symbol of power, horror, and rage. In Fox's paintings, figures appear with snakes in an attempt to adopt the characteristics of the creature and to ensure the survival of the group by using fear and power to ward off outsiders.
Opening night for the two exhibitions is Friday, October 2nd with a reception from 5 - 9pm. Adrian Landon Brooks will be present at the opening. Both shows continue through November 14, 2015.