ZACH MARTIN

Martin’s work articulates the liminal areas: the blending between states of existence, art and decoration, object and user, and between familiarity and abstraction. His decorative and sculptural forms utilize lacquer, a material produced by the lacquer tree (Toxicodendron vernicifluum), an Asian tree species native to China and the Indian subcontinent that is cultivated in regions of China, Japan and Korea. His influences include the aesthetic styles of current and past species and the geologic memory on earth.

Zach Martin was born 1987 in Woodbury, New Jersey, and currently lives and works in Pawtucket, Rhode Island. He received a BFA in painting from Savannah College of Art and Design. His work has been shown at FR MoCA in Fall River; Fisher Parrish, NADA House, 99¢ Plus Gallery, and Hotel Art Pavilion in New York; and The Pit Gallery in Los Angeles.

JIM STRONG

Jim Strong works with a unique process, which he sometimes refers to as “recordings,” using natural processes to make time and memory visible. The results are both tied to the synesthetic associations of spiritual abstraction in painting but also feel as a system, like some alternative universe of early photographic/alchemical production. The works begin in the creation of jury-rigged cultivation ponds that litter the artists home: pools of pigment and water placed in plastic bags atop everyday objects, family heirlooms, and hand-carved templates. Slowly over time, the liquid evaporates, leaving behind a skin-like residue, compressing the previous three-dimensional topographies into a two-dimensional decal, which is then transferred onto wood or paper and housed in bricolage reliquaries that are significant to the artist’s secret devotional and antinomian values.

Jim Strong is a visual and sound artist based in the outskirts of Philadelphia, PA who employs homespun low-tech processes to create personal languages in painting, musical instrument invention, home recording, anthropomorphic furniture and poetry. Often merging many of these elements into works and environments, which are both devotional and absurd. He operates the experimental music label, COR ARDENS and under constantly shifting pretexts has organized events and workshops in abandoned graveyards, school auditoriums and exhibition spaces throughout the Philadelphia area. He has shown work at Vox Populi Gallery (Phila, PA), The Philadelphia Flower Show (Phila, PA), Platform Project Space (New York, NY) , Rhizome DC (Takoma Park, MD), and The Center for New Music (San Francisco, CA). He has screened collaborative video works at RAUMERWEITERUNGSHALLE (Berlin-Friedrichshain) CPH:DOX (Copenhagen, DK) and Icebox Projects (Phila, PA)

JON WEARY

By combining technical drawings sensitive to scale and proportion with a systematic application of color, Weary’s paintings highlight aspects of each subject that are unseen to the naked eye. Color suggests sequence and highlights relationships within the composition. The subjects he represents are particular to his origins in rural Pennsylvania, he likens the making of this work to a meditation on acceptance and control.

Jon Weary was born 1987 in Carlisle, PA. He attended Temple Rome and received a BFA from The Tyler School of Art. Jon has participated in residency programs at Hudson House, Pressure Club Press, Mt Lebanon Shaker Museum, Arquetopia Foundation Mexico, and Vermont Studio Center. His work has been shown at Pressure Club Press, High Tide Gallery, Crane Arts, and the Woodmere Art Museum in Philadelphia, Able Baker in Portland, Maine, and Mountain Gallery in Brooklyn, NY. Jon is currently based in Philadelphia.