Shatto Gallery is pleased to present Spatial Harmonies, a four person exhibition of painting, photographs, and mixed media works by artists Edward C. Alfano, Magda Audifred, Lesley Krane, and Magdy Rizk. The four artists participating in this group exhibition transcend materiality in their respective practices through analog and digital media. Handmade and machine-assisted, their collages, paintings, and photographs use abstraction, landscape, and symbolism in layered compositions composed of extraordinary and profane visual elements. While the artists’ approaches and conceptual agendas differ, the elegance of expression in their new and recent work manifests an ineffable affinity in their conceptual exchange. 

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Edward C. Alfano uses black & white photography to produce images that emphasize a timeless harmony, transcend the moment captured and embrace the possibilities. Alfano’s concentration on light and shadow is enhanced with infrared film, which heightens abstraction and stimulates the imagination. The work considers both human-made and natural subjects, the intersections of past and present cultures, and a hyper-visual orientation to encourage contemplation and exploration, being mindful of matter, space, and time.

 

Magda Audifred works in a variety of media, including ceramics, painting, and printmaking. Porcelain, stoneware, and low fire glazes; etching using hard and soft grounds, and aquatint; and acrylic and oil on canvas invite experimentation and yield vividly crafted works that function as transformative vehicles to evoke particular concepts, dreams, feelings, moments, and places. Audifred considers art to be a blessing of consciousness, a physical manifestation in which imagination and concept establish a unique human bond between artist and viewer.

 

Lesley Krane explores domestic discards and environments for her collages and color photographs. Her work embraces a hybrid approach; analog and digital processes coexist in the service of concept. Influenced by notions of domesticity, Krane considers alternative photographic processes from a subjective point of view, photographing interiors and their surfaces using blur and pre-fogging techniques. Reductive abstract compositions, whether hand stitched or lens-based, colorful or muted, become visually detached from their original context and emphasize a psychological space beyond their physical dimensions or practical function.

Magdy Rizk studies the interplay of the profane and the divine in his artistic exploration. The visual narrative unfolds as a commentary on the juxtaposition of worldly indulgence and spiritual awakening. Rizk attempts to weave a visual landscape that exposes the viewer to various levels of human progression and integrates chaotic depictions of over-consumption and materialism with the order and abstraction hinted at in sacred geometry. Rizk invites reflection on the interconnectedness of base desires with sublime patterns of a mysterious universal order.

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Curatorial Team

Yujin Iris Jeong   |   Suzie John   |    Seohui Chi