PROTO
John Paul Kesling and Ignacio Michaud
October 11-26, 2024

Opening Reception:
Friday, October 11, 5-7 pm
Artist Talk:
Saturday, October 19, 3 pm

Ground Floor Contemporary is thrilled to present Proto, an exhibition of new works from John Paul Kesling and Ignacio Michaud.
 

John Paul Kesling (b. 1980, Kentucky, USA) is a painter from the industrial foothills of the Appalachian Mountains. His practice delves into the complexities of human intimacy, both romantic and familial. After the death of his younger brother and many friends to the ongoing opioid epidemic of his hometown, awareness of his own mortality became embedded within the active mark-making of his work. He intuitively mines his materials with imagery, text, figures, and landscapes to unearth balance and levity in an otherwise chaotic world. Kesling received his BFA in Arts from Morehead State University (Morehead, KY) in 2003 and his MFA in Painting from The Savannah College of Art and Design (Savannah, GA) in 2010. He lives and works in Madison, TN.

Ignacio Michaud (b. 1979, Santiago, Chile) is a contemporary painter. Working from the premise that precision is best found intuitively, his recent painting series Somewhere explores space as a natural system of currents, forces, and tensions. Michaud’s paintings are often reminiscent of oceans, skies, and the landscape, as seen from a bird eye or drone view. Within this space, he deliberately avoids cultural artifacts and their temporal adjustments. Instead, he places indefinite shapes that participate in-scene, evoking scale and the phenomenon of our existence. Michaud received his BFA from Universidad Catolica de Chile and is represented by the Sandler Hudson Gallery in Atlanta. He lives and works in Atlanta, GA.


Image: Ignacio Michaud, In different places different thoughts emerge, 2024, acrylic on canvas, 48x60 inches 

This exhibition round includes works provided by Ground Floor Contemporary which will be on view in the North Floor Gallery from October 4 – November 19, 2023.  Lowe Mill A&E invites patrons and art lovers to join us for Open Studio Night, a building-wide experience when our over 150 studios will be open to the public.  The evening also includes receptions for all seven of our gallery spaces. This series gives the public a chance to meet and interact with visiting artists and discuss their work as it is on display and available for purchase. Come out, enjoy a pleasant evening, and maybe you’ll find that special piece of art that speaks to you!  The Open Studio Night reception is Saturday, November 19 from 5-7 pm.

About the exhibit:

Make —> Forward asks us to define where we would like to go, but it necessitates knowing where we are now and where we have been. This scope can be individual, or infinitely collective. The tension of the present, informed by the past and influenced by the future speaks to the human challenge of simple existence. Make is the action that weaves this trichotomy into a unity that creates space for healing and decisiveness. These works all engage with this trichotomy in some fashion—some swim into the murky past, others raise their eyes towards the lofty future, and still others ground themselves in the earthy present.

To make is an act of process; it necessitates the dialogue with the generative, creative force in even the smallest, most mundane of actions. To make is to conjoin and weave together disparate ideas and objects into dialogue; it creates order, it creates unity. Conversely, to make can also mean to disassemble, to dissect, to fracture, to reduce to individual parts. This is the spirit in which our works for Make —> Forward come together. 

The arrow, as an extension of the eye, articulates our fundamental experience as conscious beings—it communicates what is most important to us. The arrow communicates what we aspire to, what we currently ruminate on. It means that in the act of making, we are moving forward. It is an indication of value. “Here! Let us move this way—let us push a path from here to there.” It speaks of causality—to make is to move forward in time, in space, or in the psyche. 

Within these infinitely broad but infinitesimally personal scopes, we have assembled Make —> Forward. These pieces ask the viewer to consider how they also Make —> Forward, whether externally or internally. Life is beautiful even when it looks a mess. If you are open to hope, you can find it in the changing of the seasons, in the nod of a passerby, or in a perfectly round squirt of ketchup next to your fries.

Ground Floor Contemporary (GFC) is an artist-run, artist-supported cooperative gallery started in 2016.

Art Of Resilience

Vanderbilt University Fine Arts Gallery

Cohen Memorial Building

Group Exhibition

Opening Reception 09/23/23

Celebrating Ten Years

Ash Atterberry  +  Wayne White  +  Samuel Dunson  +  Josh Black  +  Noah Saterstrom  +  Louisa Glenn  +  Kevin Guthrie + Jon Langford + Brett Douglas Hunter  +  Nuveen Barwari  +  Delia Seigenthaler  +  Brooke Gillon  + Elizabeth Williams  +  Becca Jane Koehler  +  John Paul Kesling  +  R. Ellis Orrall  +  Benjy Russell  +  Josh Elrod  +  Alex Lockwood + Rachel Briggs  +  Jodi Hays  +  Beizer Abdi  +  Harry Underwood  +  Dan Melchior  +  Megan Kimber  +  Emily Holt  +  Andrew Combs + Julia Martin

It is official… It has been a decade, and we are celebrating with nearly thirty of our favorite artists, bringing you a truly epic anniversary exhibition, including an 8 foot Wayne White puppet show!? I know, I can’t believe it either… much less ten years.

To kick it up even more we’re shutting down the street and invite you to settle in for a little festival of music featuring William Tyler, HR Lexy, Username Password, Styrofoam Winos, BCKHND, Dim Watts… so bring your favorite chair or blanket and settle in. We kick off around 3:00. Our Martin brethren over at Martin’s BBQ are setting us up with the most delicious BBQ and fixins in the world, Bearded Iris Brewing is hooking up the Homestyle, We’re whipping up some extra special custom merch, and I’m sure I’m forgetting something, but you know we’ll have plenty of champagne! All we require is your beautiful presence.

We cannot wait to celebrate with you and show our gratitude for all your support over the last ten years. Thank you, we love you. -JM

Opening Celebration: September 2nd, 3:00 - 9:00pm

Show Dates: September 2nd - October 28th, 2023

Gallery 85

Exhibition: And We’re Back!

New York City

CURATOR

Victoria Gildersleeve

PROJECT DESCRIPTION

Inspired by the spirited energy that defines the changing seasons, And We’re Back! is a representation of how the city springs to life after months of contemplative gray. Vibrant and verdant, the atmosphere feels a little lighter, our lives more effervescent. And in this energizing curation, vivid colors create an energy and vitality that lovingly celebrate this cherished time of year.

Rise

To rise is to elevate, to levitate, to ascend and grow. As artists—and as humans—we desire growth, to rise again and again. And rising can feel good, but by no means is it easy. We often rise in order to depart from a place that we desire to get out of, whether it be a situation, a state of mind, or a physical place. This process requires us to take action and overcome—and we’ve had a lot to overcome recently. Some may have to rise up and overcome fear and doubt in order to create their artwork, while others may use their art as a way to work through things internally, building themselves up in the process.

For this virtual exhibition, artists have created works that relish in the satisfaction of overcoming, that sit with the emotions of this process, and explore what it often takes to get there.

By Christina Nafziger