eye candy

eye candy
February 16th – March 29th, 2024
Skye Gallery Aspen
508 W 28th St
New York, NY 10001

Skye Gallery Aspen is pleased to present eye candy, a group exhibition in which colour takes centre stage and vibrant hues and subtle tones harmonize, met with relics of cultural rituals. The exhibition features paintings and sculptures by Alexis Nunnelly, Anna Ortiz, Daniel Freaker, Dina Nur Satti, Emma Childs, Esther Ruiz and Tamara “Solem” Al-Issa. Skye Gallery will host an opening reception on February 16 from 6 to 8 p.m. at the High Line Nine (508 W 28th St).

eye candy highlights the dynamic interplay of colour through the artist’s works, each offering a unique and captivating exploration of the visual spectrum. From canvases bursting to life to sculptures embedded with vibrant hues, the exhibition invites visitors to experience emotions and perceptions through colour and storytelling traditions.

The paintings by Ortiz and sculptures by Ruiz both reference places that hold importance in their practice. Ortiz learned painting from her grandfather in Guadalajara, Mexico, and her surrealist landscapes speak to her experience as a second-generation American. The works are influenced by Aztec and Mayan mythology while reflecting on her personal life—a mix of memory and imagination, invented spaces and actual places. Ruiz’s sculptures, made from found objects and sourced materials, are relics of imagined spaces. She draws on emotions, memories and impressions to decide on materials, often creating abstract works that allude to domestic objects and discoveries from cerebral landscapes.

Nur Satti and Al-Issa work with ceramics, crafting beautiful vessels that draw inspiration from their respective cultures and lived experiences. Nur Satti, originally from Sudan and Somalia and raised in Kenya and France, studied African art and Pre-colonial African societies, gaining interest in ritual objects and spatial design.

The ceramic sculptures she makes facilitate her exploration of personal purpose and growth, as well as her connection to collective traditions and cultural storytelling that
she observed in her travels to Africa to study those upholding this ritual-based craft. Al-Issa’s ceramic works pull from memories of the architecture and practices within SWANA and Southeast Asia, conveying the preservation of time. Utilizing familiar shapes, colors and textures from these regions allows Al-Issa to bridge the metaphysical gap between the physical self and the essence of Home, existing in multiple places at once and finding peace in the yearning.

In both clay and canvas, the artworks have an outward physicality coupled with a deep exploration of the self. Nunelly and Freaker paint abstract depictions of people and places, evoking personal responses from the viewer. The juxtaposition of vibrance and darkness, accident and intention, and order and chaos can be examined in Freaker’s work, complicating feelings of longing with warmth. In the same way, Childs’ abstract paintings are characterized by a push-and-pull quality, with colors
and shapes jumping from the canvas, both energizing and contemplative. The works are simultaneously self-contained and outward-looking.

From the cosmic to the earthly, from the abstract to the structured, each artist brings a distinctive voice to this exhibition, creating a tapestry of colors and textures that captivate the senses and bring brightness to these winter months. As visitors wander through the gallery, the hues will surround them, provoke emotions, and open their eyes to the boundless beauty of color in painting and sculpture. eye candy is a celebration of the limitless possibilities that color offers to the art world.

eye candy opens on February 16th until March 29th, 2024 at Skye Gallery Aspen

©2024 Skye Gallery Aspen