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MANY WORLDS | IAN TRASK

James Oliver Gallery
723 Chestnut St. 4th Floor
Philadelphia, 19106 , United States

tel: 267.918.7432
email: jamesolivergallery@gmail.com

posted by james oliver gallery

event website

October 2, 2021 - November 7, 2021

Reception:
October 2, 6:00pm - 9:00pm

James Oliver Gallery presents Many Worlds, a solo exhibition curated by JOG, featuring scientist-turned-artist Ian Trask. Many Worlds is a playful exhibition of the eco-conscious and multiversal work of Maine artist Ian Trask. This one-man group show presents a diverse assortment of sculpture, installation, drawing, photomontage, and assemblage spanning nearly 10 years of creation and represents multiple approaches to Trask's evolving art practice. Counterintuitively the wide range of forms and outcomes all share a common thread, each one catalyzed by inspired moments of resourceful collaboration with Trask’s community. His sculptures transform materials of waste and commercial byproducts into refined aesthetic objects through an alchemistic procedure of reinterpreting a material’s value and usefulness. At the core of his process is a symbiotic relationship designed to intercept all manner of things from the waste stream. Donated 35mm slide photographs, Pantone chips, leather scraps, unwanted textiles, used vaccine vials, post-consumer plastic packaging, cast-off picture framing materials, and a computer monitor are just a few examples of the waste that Trask has reimagined in this show. In many of his sculptures, the viewer will find a mischievous invitation. Texture and tangibility are essential to the experience of these objects, and by provoking the impulse to explore, each piece rouses in the beholder the same spirit of curiosity, experimentation and play that occasioned their creation. Within this context of creative reuse, multitudes coalesce under one mindset to generate many new and expansive worlds.