Marta is pleased to announce Of Two Minds, an exhibition of new functional-sculptural work by Pasadena-based artist and designer Ryan Belli.
For Belli, materials are a mode of expression. They are the physical illustration of an idea and its implied double: the alternative—whether suspected, assumed, or desired—of a viewer’s contact with his work. Rendered in disparate mediums and across diverse functions (wood, metal, and textiles; seating, surfaces, cabinetry, and lighting), the artist’s formal choices allow shapes to take on new meaning.
Lengths of ribbon are sewn into peaked light shades that translate traditional bricklayers’ patterns into Albers-esque constructions, the pliant fabric becoming firm, subverting the need for rigorous internal supports, and contextualizing color—greens; yellows; pinks—as the German-American artist and educator did: a physical, observation-dependent element of the work. Belli’s collection of variously sized lights dialogue with the hand-carved redwood perch and coastal live oak stool, which follow the plastic logic of a sack of grain: slouching yet stable, its rigidity reliant on the volume of its contents and predicated on the supple enclosure of burlap. With pointed detailing—are they ears? Horns?—these lightly figurative works, iconic in the artist’s tender treatment of wood, animate in partnership, extending a familiar camaraderie both mischievous and fundamentally optimistic, like two creatures peeking over a fence to get a look at the activity on the other side.
Gallery Hours:
Wednesday – Saturday, 12 – 5PM