Lane Hagood: Old Book Smell

Opening Saturday, May 8, 8-10pm

through Saturday, June 19



Above image: Diseased Writer

from Lane:
“Old Book Smell” is a show of a group of drawings that reflect my interest in the lives of thinkers and books. Philosophers, poets, writers, artists and bohemian wanderers are what obsess me. I tend to romanticize these people and spend most of my free time sifting through bookstores looking for books chronicling the lives of these restless souls. The book as an object is something that I think of all the time. I love holding a book in my hands and digging my nose deep into its contours attempting to escape into a world that once was. To me a book is like a mask. It conceals the world and all of the monotony that everyday life brings. A book takes me away into another world where I dwell with my idols and listen to the wisdom of my heroes.

To see more of Lane's artwork, please visit:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/yar
http://rippedosaurusflex.blogspot.com/
http://sketchklubb.com/

Sarah G. Sharp: Family Crests for the Disenfranchised

Opening Saturday, May 8, 8-10pm

through Saturday, June 19



From Sarah:
Whether by force or by choice, whether on the outside of a large family or a small town, there is a symbiotic relationship between the dominant culture and the edge-dwellers of any group. Every group of insiders needs a group of “outsiders” in order to define itself. Somewhere in the space between acceptance and rejection lies a complicated liminality where dogmatic group think, seductive/mythic language, and hidden motivations can be revealed. I make sculpture, drawings and video that explore the construction and expression of individual belief systems, often scripted by a larger “community.”

My recent work draws on vernacular architecture, analog communication structures, and the inspirational landscape imagery to address the magical thinking required to maintain strict belief structures in the face of contradiction and improbability. A current series, Family Crests for the Disenfranchised, imagines heraldic imagery for outsider. I often use domestic materials like contact paper, linoleum, aluminum tape and salt, which I transform into images and objects that are familiar, funny and fantastical.

To see more of Sarah's artwork, please visit:
http://www.sarahgsharp.net