“Danyluk & Goodvin" at the Quad City Arts Center -- June 28 through August 9 (pictured: Kate Goodvin's "Adam in His Room").
Exhibit: Friday, June 28, through Friday, August 9
Opening Reception: Friday, June 28, 6 – 8 p.m.
Quad City Arts Center, 1715 Second Avenue, Rock Island IL
Arresting blasts of color and trenchant themes will both be on display at the Quad City Arts Center from June 28 through August 9, with the Rock Island venue, in its summer exhibition Danyluk & Goodvin, treating patrons to the exquisite oil paintings of Chantal Danyluk and screen prints of Kate Goodvin.
Born in 1997, Danyluk is a portrait and figure painter based out of Chicago. The signature colorful, large-scale, surreal figures on plywood that she paints challenge traditional notions of painting by breaking away from square canvases. These oversize figures crafted from plywood are detached from their surroundings, compelled to exist in our own realm. Inspired by the surreal art movement, which railed against rationalism in politics, her whimsical artwork uses visual metaphors to relate to current social issues. These humanoid representations undergo frying, combustion, and drowning, symbolizing the immense pressure imposed by societal burdens such as the cost of living, climate change, rental prices, and the objectification of women. Each piece represents a harsh problem facing our generation and reveals the unattainable ideals and shattered aspirations that leave the younger generation disillusioned. Danyluk brings to light the younger generations psyche in her tongue-in-cheek work that uses humor to invite viewers to contemplate how these serious themes might resonate with them.
As Goodvin explains in her artist statement, “My body of work represents my interpersonal relationships as they correlate to time, memories, nostalgia, comfort and vulnerabilities. The imagery in my art focuses on people and their environments as it relates to contemporary life. The visual content represents intangible information imposed through history, the internet, and pop culture, intermingled together to act as a timestamp or archive. My saturated work accentuates and embellishes images or stories from my everyday life... . My work displays accentuated interpretations of people and objects in an exaggerated setting. whether that be a portrait, an environment, or representational objects that reflect myself and those around me as they correspond with a specific person or era in time. I would like for the figures and objects to create a narrative and perception that enforces the tension of living in an overbearing, but also joyous, space and time.”
An opening reception for Danyluk & Goodvin will be held at the Quad City Arts Center Gallery in Rock Island on June 28 from 6 to 8 p.m., with guests invited to meet the artists and enjoy complimentary refreshments. The exhibit itself will be on display through August 9, regular gallery hours are Mondays through Fridays 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Saturdays 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., and admission is free. For more information, call (309)793-1213 and visit QuadCityArts.com.
