The sensation of touch is integral to visualizing, imagining and connecting to the world. The works of nine abstract painters exploring how this sense defines our perceptions and shapes our vision will be presented in “Touch: Between Image and Surface.” The exhibition will be on view in the Emily Davis Gallery at the Myers School of Art at The University of Akron from Feb. 29 to March 18. The opening night reception is Thursday, March 3, from 5 to 8 p.m. at the gallery, located in Folk Hall, 150 E. Exchange St.
Movement, texture, replacement, layering, absence and color are all ways that painting both visually and tactically engages processing information in time, material and space. Influencing emotion and inspiring action, touch helps us to know our limits and negotiate obstacles in our way.
Curator and UA painting professor Matthew Kolodziej presents approaches to touch ranging from the overtly tactile to trace remnants. Painting today is in dialogue with both a digital future and a material history. Painters in “Touch: Between Image and Surface” engage an information-driven age with the tactile being central to their practice. The participating artists — Eric Neff, Dragana Crnjak, Tom Berding, Martin Ball, Andrea Joki, Laura Lisbon, Jered Sprecher, Amy Yoes and Dustin London — use painting as a means to explore both the visual and haptic senses.
In the work of Berding, Joki, Ball and Sprecher, juxtapositions of conflicting surfaces suggest the negotiations of space we make between fast-paced environments and the desire to slow down. Neff, Lisbon, Yoes, Crnjak and London take meditative approaches in examining how visual language and material intersect.
“Touch: Between Image and Surface” showcases talent within the region and several universities and art schools, including Kent State University, The Ohio State University, The Art Institute of Chicago, the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Youngstown State University, Michigan State University and Eastern Michigan University.
Emily Davis Gallery hours are Monday through Thursday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., Friday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Saturday from noon to 4 p.m.
Media contact: Elisa Gargarella, 330-972-8325 or gelisa@uakron.edu.
“Hacked” is a 76 feet by 70 feet oil and acrylic on canvas by Tom Berding.
“R-A-T-A-Q,” is a 70 feet by 60 feet oil on canvas by Dustin London.