{"id":1185,"date":"2025-04-09T20:04:16","date_gmt":"2025-04-09T20:04:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thishabbo.com\/?p=1185"},"modified":"2025-04-15T11:40:48","modified_gmt":"2025-04-15T11:40:48","slug":"and-then-there-was-everything-unearths-the-allure-of-natural-motifs-at-joy-machine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.thishabbo.com\/index.php\/2025\/04\/09\/and-then-there-was-everything-unearths-the-allure-of-natural-motifs-at-joy-machine\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018And Then There Was Everything\u2019 Unearths the Allure of Natural Motifs at Joy Machine"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"‘And<\/p>\n

Joy Machine is thrilled to announce its second exhibition,\u00a0And Then There Was Everything<\/em>, featuring works by\u00a0Paul S. Briggs<\/a>,\u00a0David Cass<\/a>,\u00a0Laura Catherwood<\/a>,\u00a0Yellena James<\/a>,\u00a0Jeremy Miranda<\/a>,\u00a0Jeffly Gabriela Molina<\/a>, and\u00a0Anna Ortiz<\/a>. An opening reception<\/a>\u00a0will be held from 6 to 9 p.m. on April 18.<\/p>\n

And Then There Was Everything<\/em> takes its name from the opening line of Richard Powers\u2019 novel The Overstory<\/em>, which beckons readers into a winding, interconnected narrative tuned into the intimations of the trees. Powers writes that \u201ca good answer must be reinvented many times, from scratch,\u201d a sentiment each artist uniquely investigates through painting, ceramic sculpture, and collage. Iterating on natural motifs, these artists tap into our personal and collective psyches to unearth the recurring messages within.<\/p>\n

\"a
Paul Briggs, “Effloresce (Series)” (2025), black stoneware, white cone 6 glaze<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

<\/strong>Rendering the familiar unfamiliar has long been a way to investigate the overlooked and to surface hidden emotions, and each artist presents seemingly common subject matter as an invitation to pause and look inward.<\/p>\n

<\/strong>In Briggs\u2019 leafy vessels, repeating motifs are key to achieving equanimity. The artist uses a technique he calls \u201chand-turning\u201d and works in a \u201cvery assertive but tender process.\u201d From a single ball of clay, he pinches small, dynamic fronds surrounding the vessel walls as he finds a meditative balance in both his mind and the sculptures themselves.<\/p>\n

<\/strong>Although working at an intimate scale, Cass zooms outward as he paints undulating waves on antique tins, matchboxes, pulleys, and more, a collection of 14 of which are installed at Joy Machine. Visible swipes of paint delineate the horizon in some pieces, while others are entirely awash in curved lines. Interested in conveying the effects of a heating planet and rising waters, Cass uses repurposed, human-made containers representative of physical constraints as metaphors for our collective limits to adapt.<\/p>\n

<\/strong>In James\u2019 alluring canvases, dense ecosystems spill from edge to edge. Striving for a perfect balance that becomes \u201ca sort of compulsive meditation,\u201d the artist paints delicate, otherworldly environments evocative of both land and sea. Catherwood similarly lingers in uncertainty as she renders hybrid creatures with fantastic motifs. Painted with soft, tender brushstrokes, the arresting beings become welcome companions to explore life\u2019s mysteries and adjust to its cycles.<\/p>\n

\"a
Anna Ortiz, “Reflexi\u00f3n” (2024), oil on canvas, 30 x 34 inches<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

<\/strong>Ortiz, too, conjures the uncanny in \u201cReflexi\u00f3n,\u201d a desert landscape dotted with a pair of agave plants underneath an eclipse reflected on Lake Texcoco. The saturated, limited color palette renders the time of day ambiguous and helps establish a surreal borderland in which the now-dried lake still exists. Mixing memory and imagination, Ortiz draws on her own ancestral connections and positions the twin agaves as a way to consider unfulfilled destinies. <\/p>\n

Miranda and Molina grapple with similar questions as they utilize recollections of moments and spaces. Observation is at the heart of Miranda\u2019s works, and he harnesses the ethereal qualities of light to cast familiar spaces anew. In his hands, a nondescript pocket of forest or humble bonfire becomes dreamlike, prompting questions of perspective and how we understand our relationships to the settings that surround us.<\/p>\n

<\/strong>For Molina, a flutter of yellow butterflies and a mirrored parrot are symbols of connection and care. The brightly colored insects accompany a portrait of the artist\u2019s mother as a child in \u201cMother Our Castles Will Not Be Made of Sand,\u201d while \u201cTo Misericordia\u201d conjures a place long gone. A poem inscribed in the work reads, “… And do you know that glitter and gold have gone out of fashion, and that your parrot no longer remembers himself?,\u201d which references Molina\u2019s great-grandmother\u2019s pet and the ways companions give shape to the self.<\/p>\n

And Then There Was Everything<\/em>\u00a0is on view from April 18 to June 7. RSVP to the opening reception here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"a
Jeffly Gabriela Molina, “Mother Our Castles Will Not Be Made of Sand” (2020), watercolor on Arches 300 Lb, 23 x 23 inches<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"an
David Cass, “Pulley I – Rockport, ME” (2023-24), oil on marine pulley, 23 x 11.5 x 8 centimeters<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member<\/a> today and support independent arts publishing for as little as $7 per month. The article ‘And Then There Was Everything’ Unearths the Allure of Natural Motifs at Joy Machine<\/a> appeared first on Colossal<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Joy Machine is thrilled to announce its second exhibition,\u00a0And Then There Was Everything, featuring works by\u00a0Paul S. Briggs,\u00a0David Cass,\u00a0Laura Catherwood,\u00a0Yellena James,\u00a0Jeremy Miranda,\u00a0Jeffly Gabriela Molina, and\u00a0Anna Ortiz. An opening reception\u00a0will be held from 6 to 9 p.m. on April 18. And Then There Was Everything takes its name from the opening line of Richard Powers\u2019 novel The Overstory, Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1187,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1185","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-art"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.thishabbo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1185","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.thishabbo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.thishabbo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.thishabbo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.thishabbo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1185"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/www.thishabbo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1185\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1193,"href":"http:\/\/www.thishabbo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1185\/revisions\/1193"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.thishabbo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1187"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.thishabbo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1185"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.thishabbo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1185"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.thishabbo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1185"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}