E.E. Ikeler’s “Sign” at Kent Place Gallery

The Kent Place Gallery is pleased to present an exhibition of artwork by E.E. Ikeler from January 6 through February 3, 2017. There will be a reception for the artist from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. on Friday, January 6.

Ikeler’s works in this show are, in a sense, both signs and paintings. Their visually lively surfaces are embedded with words, simultaneously provoking different ways of seeing.

Ikeler says of the work, “My practice includes text-based work made using non-traditional painting techniques. Perhaps ironically, the motivation to make text work comes from my skepticism about language, naming, and legibility. I wonder what it might feel like to experience the world without language. I use the layout of the text to structure the composition of a painted image. The initial experience of the work is often primarily visual and sensual; you might not see the words at first.”

The artist found language as a subject while on a research fellowship at Yale’s Beinecke Library. Studying the aesthetics of do-it-yourself design in LGBTQ magazines in the library’s collection from the early 1950s to the present led to the discovery of a pervasive use of punning and allusion. “I’m fascinated by the idea that language can be used to hide a politic in plain sight; that words can be inhabited differently and that the way we use language is always contributing to how society shapes and reshapes itself,” added Ikeler.

“Ikeler’s work is striking for its urgent, surprising and witty condensation of enquiry and resistance into the sensory experience of scintillating color and pattern,” said Kent Place Gallery Director Ken Weathersby.” It’s a play of different languages. This winding together of difference loses nothing of its physical and optical interest by playing with words. It seems to me that we are in a time when a critical posture toward our culture and a maintaining of the sensory joy of art are both more needed than ever. For me, Ikeler’s works here speak with the same voice to both those needs.”

Ikeler received an MFA from the Yale School of Art in 2016, and holds a BFA from Cooper Union School of Art, NYC. Recent solo shows include “E.E. Ikeler” at Jeff Bailey Gallery in Hudson, NY, and “L.H.R.” at Limbo in Brooklyn, NY. Group shows include exhibitions at Mulherin NYC, Two Chairs in South Windham, NY, Abrons Art Center, NY and Artspace in New Haven, CT, among many others.

The Kent Place Gallery is on the campus of Kent Place School, 42 Norwood Avenue, Summit, NJ. Gallery hours are Monday through Friday, 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. For more information call (908) 273-0900, or visit www.kentplace.org/gallery.