Terri Thomas, Hedone

* Terri Thomas, Hedone
* Artist's Reception Friday, Feb 12th, 2010 - 6-9PM
* Exhibition dates: Friday, February 12th - March 8th, 2010.
* Gallery hours: Monday - Saturday 11-7, Sun. 12-6.
* Gallery located on the NE corner of 20th and 7th Ave.
* Subway: C, E exit 23rd @ 8th Ave., 1,9 exit 23rd @ 7th Ave.

Lyons Wier Gallery is pleased to present Hedone an exhibition of recent work by Austin, Texas artist Terri Thomas. An investigation of the taboo, Thomas' manipulated self-portraits and Swarovski crystal encrusted object-trophies explore the motivations and contradictions of physical and material desire. Playful, precisely rendered, laden with sexual implications and symbolism, the work in Hedone combines frivolity, fantasy, escapism and pleasure with paradox, self-analysis, media-influence and artifice.

Thomas uses the theme of hedone, the Greek word for "pleasure" or "delight," to question how we might, as a media driven culture, individually pursue pleasure. Today, hedone, the root word of "hedonism", usually implies a short sightedness and disregard for future consequences. The Ancient Greeks' notion of pleasure was divided. Some believed the highest pleasure was tranquility and could be reached through an ascetic, intellectual philosophy. Others believed that bodily gratifications were the supreme good and they lauded immediate gratification without regard to long-term gain. Through the narrative of Hedone, Thomas explores the origins of our desires through wildness, freedom, beauty and power. Her work is crafted with a glaring precision that often illuminates the irony of these ideas as much as it supports them in their role as things to be desired.

"Thomas' paintings and sculptures are simultaneously appealing and appalling, and mesmerize viewers who feel a little embarrassed for looking so closely at images similar to those more conventionally viewed in private. But Thomas is not embarrassed and frankly reveals herself and in doing so, unveils things about the society in which we live and the secret life of the individual in the context of the cognitive dissonance produced by normative expectations." – Joseph Bravo, art critic, San Antonio, TX.

Terri Thomas received her BFA from the Corcoran College of Art & Design in Washington D.C. Her work is currently included in the exhibition Reflected Gaze at the Torrance Art Museum, L.A. Hedone is Terri Thomas' first solo exhibition in New York.

Melodie Provenzano, It's My Birthday!

* Melodie Provenzano, It's My Birthday!
* Artist's Reception Friday, Feb 12th, 2010 - 6-9PM
* Exhibition dates: Friday, February 12th - March 8th, 2010.
* Gallery hours: Monday - Saturday 11-7, Sun. 12-6.
* Gallery located on the NE corner of 20th and 7th Ave.
* Subway: C, E exit 23rd @ 8th Ave., 1,9 exit 23rd @ 7th Ave.

Lyons Wier Gallery is pleased to present It's My Birthday! an exhibition of new work by New York based artist Melodie Provenzano.

Still-life drawings of toys and figurines are the subject matter included in Melodie Provenzano's artwork, but their arrangements and iconography are the crux of it. These meticulously rendered compositions allow a brief glimpse into the artist's personal world. They function as dreamscapes that offer many interpretations but are based upon root emotions like love, longing, and hope.

Set forth as mock dramas, the paintings tell a tale that oscillates between fantasy and reality, accomplishment and disappointment, understanding and bewilderment. They build narrative momentum as the audience begins to assign meaning to the objects, and unravel the specificity of the icons. Deciphering each painting and drawing, the viewer begins to see the ‘bigger picture' as they assess and assert how the set-ups that are drawn from life actually imitate it.

Melodie Provenzano graduated with a BFA from the Parsons School of Design in 1996. She was recently included in Playing Around at the Brattleboro Museum, Brattleboro, VT and Champagne & Baloney at Jeff Bailey Gallery, New York. This Melodie Provenzano's second solo exhibition at Lyons Wier Gallery.

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Lyons Wier Gallery - 175 Seventh Ave @ 20th St., NYC 10011 - (212)242.6220

gallery@lyonswiergallery.com • Lyons Wier Gallery

For more info on me visit my official website
www.rickyday.net