Ari Salka. Semblance

About

Lauren Powell Projects is pleased to present Semblance, the gallery's first solo exhibition with artist Ari Salka. Salka’s work on canvas, wood and mirror is a symphony of figurative and abstract painting. Bold strokes and enigmatic forms create a connection with the viewer that transcends that which cannot easily be identified.

sem·blance (noun) the outward appearance or apparent form of something, especially when the reality is different. 

an outward or token appearance or form that is deliberately misleading picture consisting of a graphic image of a person or thing an erroneous mental representation

Middle English: from Old French, from sembler ‘seem’, from Latin similare, simulare ‘simulate’. 

With a deeply personal touch, Salka embraces a diaristic and autobiographical approach to mark-making, using abstraction, figuration, and poetry. Salka passionately investigates repetition and fragmentation, resulting in a tapestry of notational entries. 

Salka states:

I view process-oriented abstraction and expressionist painting both as a kind of documentation of a performance of experience, whether currently present or being re-enacted. Through my past struggles to navigate my manic depression, which has now been in remission for six years, these experiences have a place to live through the color and mark-making in my current work. These forms of polarity and intensity can live in the gesture, released rather than trapped.  

The show runs August 10th through August 20th, 2023, and is open daily, noon-6 pm, or by appointment. Alongside Semblance, Salka has curated culinary, dance, film, and poetry responses to this body of work.