Geary Contemporary Opens Duo Exhibitions of Memory and Folklore by Catherine Haggarty and Dan Gunn

In time for the forthcoming Upstate Art Weekend next month, Geary Contemporary opens two solo exhibitions: Catherine Haggarty's Just Drawings and Dan Gunn's The Ungrateful Son; both on view from June 8 to July 28.

Haggarty represented by the gallery, displays a collection of new work on paper, Just Drawings. These pieces explore the themes of memory, grief, and iconography through material exploration of wax crayons, colored pencils, and acrylic airbrush on toned paper. The layering of these materials bring those themes to bright and familiar yet dreamlike environments of the home. The playful colors and linework further the psychologically intriguing qualities as viewers are able to reflect on shared and personal memories of their home.

Just Drawings has motifs of woodgrain, cats, and the Droste effect. The wood grain is a homage to the history scratched into New York floorboards and the uniqueness of the grain that was particular to a place in nature at one point. Haggarty, even before recently owning one herself, has always drawn cats. The selected animal becomes a pattern inside images. Each cat drawing or silhouette embodies the mysteriousness and feline spirit Haggarty's work already strides towards.

In material contrast of Haggarty’s delicate works on toned paper, Gunn presents grounding stoneware pieces adorned with lights. Geary Contemporary builds a fascinating composition of varied interpretations of the playful themes presented. This stimulating dialogue of materials is a focus of Jack Geary and Dolly Bross Geary, the gallery owners, in the curation process.

Gunn’s stoneware pieces and paper collages in The Ungrateful Son are his physical interpretation of the Brothers Grimm’s fairy tale where a son is punished for disloyalty. Presented in the back of the gallery, the hand-coiled and larger-than-life stoneware toads have further been transformed into floor lamps. The lamps are composed from found glass marbles and bright lights. He strikes an alluring balance between the heavy stone and neon lights illuminating the space. The toads and reference to the fairytale formulate a conversation between American craft and folk art to bridge constructions of the past to the present.

Through vibrant and distinctive material work, both Haggarty and Gunn use past narratives to pose stimulating present-day questions.