NEW YORK, NY.- As expressed by its title, Under the Radar features eight New York based artists who have yet to surface prominently on the art scene but whose talent will surely rise to the top. The select eight are: Tobias Batz, Aleksander Betko, Dina Brodsky, Maya Brodsky, Talia Segal Fidler, Cobi Moules, Aristides Ruiz, and Mitra Walter.
Tobias Batz’ work, a fusion of fashion photography and street art, is a respectful celebration of the female sprit. It reflects the urban landscape of New York City and its inhabitants. His cutting edge use of photography, body painting, spray paint and experimental methods of digital processing pays homage to Andy Warhol, Frederico Fellini, Man Ray and edgy fashion photographers such as Helmut Newton and Richard Avedon.
Aleksander Betko captures the definition of life in New York City. His paintings are of introspective moments that define the resiliency and strength it takes to live one’s life on their own terms in a seemingly cold and unforgiving city that provides the backdrop to some of the triumphs of the human condition.
In Dina Brodsky's series of paintings "Desert Places," the artist utilizes 17th century oil painting techniques to achieve a range of tonality in which light and shadow, as well as observation and imagination meld concordantly. Like the Robert Frost poem it references, Brodsky's panels explore the beauty that can be found in nature's most isolated places. The artist reveals the dichotomy of feeling that affects one in such settings. In these works, desolation is a siren that tempts our anxieties about loneliness to surface. Although fear suffuses the landscapes, their beauty is never overshadowed.
Maya Brodsky's work is inspired by notions concerning the connection between past and present and how one's memory of the past is formed and changed visually. Her paintings allow the viewer a glimpse into her personal vision and present, which she considers ephemeral and precious. By depicting the specific form of her personal experience, the artist protects it from the obscuring effects of time, implying the existence of something that transcends the particular forms of her subjective reality.
Cobi Moules creates a fantasy world in which only he exists. Throughout, there are many different narratives, coexisting to create an alternate world with a sense of excitement, self worth and play. Through the figure's multiplication and overwhelming presence within the landscape, it takes precedence over the landscape and integrates into it. The landscape, based off the Hudson River School style, is a stand in for the artist's own Christian upbringing, seeking to renegotiate his relationship, as a queer and transgender person, with his religious upbringing and of being seen as 'unnatural' through such Christian lens. The importance becomes the experiences of his multiple and overall presence in the landscape; engaging in different activities: playing, exploring his selves and nature, and thus becoming part of it.
Talia Segal Fidler applies personal experiences and her immediate surroundings into her hybrid compositions. As a collector of “stuff,” she applies what she collects to add textural and decorative elements to her portraits such as jewels, pills, feathers, hair, an old wood palette or a pair of panties. The artist breaks the flat canvas surface and goes beyond simple paint and canvas in order to immerse the work into her everyday life, touching on personal topics such as body image, beauty, consumption, and the passage of time.
Aristides Ruiz’ intricate ballpoint drawings of urban life and every day scenes capture the feelings and presence of a particular aesthetic moment in time, a single episode of a much longer tale. His ‘snapshot’ imagery attests to the undeniable presence of human life within the gritty landscape and their consequence on a broader scale.
Mitra Walter’s small, intimate portraits focus on women and children as she explores ways in which figuration can reveal contextualized perceptions of human nature.
