Museum Thursday- E7:Tetrad at Transformer

I had about a million errands to run, and an plumbing emergency that kept my day pretty busy. But I did get over to Transformer Gallery towards the end of the day and took a look at their current exhibition. Transformer is a small gallery, I mean really small. The office space is on the 2nd level which is pretty much up a ladder type stairwell. Located on 14th and P past the CVS before you hit 14th street, it is a quaint little gallery. Right now they are exhibiting the 7th installment of Exercises for Emerging Artists.

Exercises for Emerging Artists was created to catch artists at critical times in their career and offer them a place to exhibit their work. Currently the artists being shown are Reuben Breslar and Jennifer DePalma. Each artist’s work is on one of the two gallery space walls.

Jennifer DePalma’s work consists of 25 pairs of drawings. Each drawing is paired with an inverse continuation of itself. The drawings are of long rectangular prisms, each subsequent pairing adds one more prism to the composition. The result is a dizzying combination of drawings that create a sort of optical illusion. The artist chose 25 pairs of drawings for her 25 years.

The other artist Reuben Breslar has created a massive face out of diagonal lines of blue electric tape. Features such as eyes mouth and and nose out of black painted branches, and red lines of yarn intersecting as a large ‘X’ across the face. The multiple diagonal lines cause a sort of optical illusion as well ( think of those black and white spirally or diamond designs that create a sort of moving image). The piece almost appears to have a life about it, as your eyes try to focus on it, resulting in the movement of the piece.

DePalma’s work is technically very good, the sheer attempt at creating this many geometric shapes in a way that appears flawless and fluid is amazing. Breslar’s work makes us look a little closer at the way that we take in information and perceive things. This show is a quick view, you could catch it on your lunch break, or stop in on your way somewhere else. If your looking for an alternative gallery experience head over to Transformer.