TRANSFIXED

DECEMBER 4, 2021 - JANUARY 22, 2022

VERY is pleased to present an exhibition of works by Charles Suggs, John Axon, and Tammi J. Meehan. Transfixed brings together a selection of captivating, multilayered images poised to unravel multiple states of consciousness. Through a compelling array of subject matter and two-dimensional media including oil painting, monotype, smoke drawing, and digital collage, the artists create the conditions for total engrossment and the suspension of reality.

Both within the context of this exhibition and outside of it, the fixed gaze is a profound gesture. At times it is a gateway to ambient meditation, and, at others, a floodgate to visceral psychologies. In his Body Stare series, Charles Suggs manifests haunting impressions of a Black figure rendered bare-chested and unblinking. Fraught with raw and immediate markmaking, the portraits contain the violent implications of the innumerable traumas endured by Black bodies throughout history. As the subject’s posture and unyielding gaze mirrors the viewer, the intensity heightens: one is caught in the act of staring back.

Sprawling digital amalgamations open into kaleidoscopic depths in John Axon’s work. His sequences of intricate overlapping geometries undulate and morph, inducing trance-like immersion. As mesmerizing patterns consume one’s field of vision, the mind is primed to dissolve, the external spiraling inward and back. In a new collection of oil paintings, Tammi J. Meehan narrates the blustery happenings of her internal world. Expressive strokes and buzzing palettes, equal parts bodily and ethereal, churn into emotional landscapes. Meehan’s vistas tantalize through strange and evocative forms, suggesting anything from the head of figure to a giant oyster shell. We are invited to visit these environments while, as in a dream, succumbing to our own psychological wanderings.

Video by Jason Kimball