Indices of Being – Curator, Tavarus Blackmon

Aleksandra Avramova, Zeina Baltagi, Elizabeth Cord, Michelle Lee, and Julia Rigby

Today is a place of uncertainty but there is hope, struggle and resistance. In the face of challenges large and small, institutional and interpersonal, it is with will and courage we find ways to live our best lives and uplift others on this shared journey with empathy and compassion.

Indices of Being asks the question: in a time of patriarchal injustice, in a time of global warming and debate on climate change; native battles for water and land, atrocities in immigration policy; in a time of voter suppression, #Me Too, Black Lives Matter, Queer suppression and anti-Trans legislation, and, with gender biases in some of our finest Museums and gathering spaces of culture and intellect, what does it mean to be, in this most critical and vital moment from a woman’s perspective?

Daniel Alejandro Trejo – Gravity Don’t Pull Me

posted in: East Room show, Shows | 0

Axis Gallery is excited to showcase the works of artist and curator, Daniel Alejandro Trejo, in a solo exhibition titled “Gravity Don’t Pull Me” in the East Gallery Space for the month of May.

This exhibition is an examination of personal narratives and experiences when environments become unreachable, alter through time, and a reconciliation for the discrepancies are exigent. It is inevitable to be propelled by personal motives for creating work from a bedrock of references and niche experiences. By emulating spaces from a future-oriented disposition that parallel registered sensations, Daniel Alejandro Trejo attempts to achieve familiar relationships while being spatially out of reach.

Doug Dertinger – March 2020 – March 2021

posted in: Doug Dertinger, East Room show | 0

Axis Gallery presents new work from Sacramento artist, Doug Dertinger, March 2020-March 2021. Made during early morning and evening walks, Dertinger’s work is an exploration of the quiet energies and pervading solitude of the last year. The work is on display in Axis East Gallery, April 3rd through April 25th, 2021.

Richard Gilles
The Sequestered Form

In many ways the title of this series speaks for itself. As a photographer, I have always paid close attention to form but subject has always played the leading roll. Now because of COVID-19 isolation, I have been deprived of subject. With this new series of cut paper photographs, form now takes the lead.

Posterworks (MOSAIC EXHIBITION)
Curators: Beth Rubel and Alex Rubio

Axis is pleased to announce Posterwork, an exhibition curated by Beth Rubel and Alex Rubio. Posterwork is an exploration of traditional poster art and design, which have influenced modern life, including politics, culture and diverse industries. Posters continue to be a preferred, printed medium for contemporary graphic artists and activists. MOSAIC student artists present posters featuring compelling graphic design which captures this unique moment in time of cultural and socio-political importance. 

Flor Mort, dead flower – Tavarus Blackmon, Halcyon Clay and Patti Kilroy
Curator:Tavarus Blackmon

This exhibit brings together three artists who have connected online during the COVID-19 Pandemic. This installation is comprised of work from Halcyon, Patti Kilroy and Axis Gallery member, Tavarus Blackmon.
Through expressive works on canvas, conceptual painting in the expanded field and sound art work, this experience is influenced by Art History and the use of the floral, still life or dry flowers, in art. From what was a formal exercise in representation emerges a contemporary exhibition of active picture planes, playful, non-paintings and expressive sound. What does such an image mean in our culture today, gripped by a deadly virus and demands for social justice? Flor Mort, is concerned with presence, immediacy and the act of play. And, how we may be better to observe the stillness we can inhabit through a practice and the lived experience.

Summer Ventis – There is still a ground. There is still a sky.

So much is uncertain. We find ourselves at a boundary, in a margin, on a cusp. The space between the sky and ground, between before and after, between self and other is a space both terrifying and full of possibilities. The works in this exhibition exist in the space between. They engage the dystopian present and ask what possibilities it holds for a more hopeful future. There is still a ground. There is still a sky.

(re)flection
Nick Shepard and Jake Seltzer

posted in: East Room show, Nick Shepard, Shows | 0

Artists and lifelong friends Nick Shepard and Jake Seltzer collaborated via text message and email to explore the COVID-19 disruptions from multiple perspectives. Shepard’s understated and layered photographs depict past and present scenes as mediated images displayed through the surface of electronic devices. Seltzer’s brash and energetic poems reflect on wide-ranging experiences. Together, the images and words create a complex portrait of this extraordinary moment.