Strange New Worlds: Aliens from Inner Space
Welcome to “Work in Progress,” the Untitled Fine Art blog! Here, we’ll be sharing more personal updates about exhibition openings, behind the scenes interviews with our artists, and more! For our inaugural blog post, it only seems fitting to write about our current exhibition, Aliens from Inner Space. The show brings together the work of three local artists: Neeka Allsup, Benjamin Bradshaw, and Sam Kampelman. Though their backgrounds and approaches vary widely, they are united in their creation of alternatives, alien realities from a far-off past or not-so-distant future.
Neeka Allsup was born under unusual circumstances: to two rogue scientologists in the back of a toy store. From a young age, she was taught to self-analyze and interpret symbolism, and is interested in dreams and their meanings. This exhibition features her “Lucky Charms” series, in which she gessoes gray or black over a painting she is unsatisfied with, then uses the remaining lines to inform the new piece. The “charms,” amorphous and otherworldly, are all connected by a single string. Allsup has been working on the series for 13 years, and her very first “Lucky Charm” piece is presented in this show.
Installation view of Neeka Allsup’s work in Aliens from Inner Space
Benjamin Bradshaw, who refers to himself as an “interdimensional artist,” has a varied background spanning fiber arts, ceramics, metalwork, intuitive drawing, music, and abstract landscape painting. His swirling, meditative paintings featured in Aliens act as a mirror to the viewer’s mind, as well as a portal to the nature of the universe. “The paintings do not try to solve any human issues,” says Bradshaw, “but instead try to provide a calming yet energetic reflection of ourselves in space and time.”
Installation view of Benjamin Bradshaw’s work in Aliens from Inner Space
Sam Kampelman is fueled by a curiosity about the spaces and beings we have yet to discover. As much as his work is influenced by his interest in science, he is also fascinated by the phenomenon that science cannot answer, including human nature, and our relation to the space around us and beyond. Kampelman applies these modes of thinking to his interdisciplinary process, constructing sculptures out of recycled materials to use as reference images. The resulting paintings, rife with arresting colors and jagged points, bring us to a futuristic, almost digitalistic world directly from the artist’s imagination, or perhaps a distant reality.
Our opening on December 9th was a huge success! We had a fantastic turnout, full of both familiar and new faces, and a great convivial atmosphere. We here at Untitled Fine Art are so incredibly grateful for those who came out. You all are the reason we do this, and your support helps make it possible!
We are all aliens in our own way, each with our complex inner worlds and the things that set us apart from others. But as stated so eloquently by the science fiction author Ursula K. Le Guin, “It was from the difference between us, not from the affinities and likenesses, but from difference, that the love came: and it was itself the bridge, the only bridge, across what divided us.”
If you missed the opening reception, don’t worry, Aliens from Inner Space will remain on display until February 10th. You can read the full press release for the exhibition here. And be sure to stay tuned to the blog for interviews with our artists and more!