October 7 – November 19

Tasha Depp: Shifting Grounds

(Eva Melas and Paula Lalala, co-curators)

Tasha Depp is a representational painter. For over 30 years, her work has explored our relationship to the environmentally challenged earth. She finds trash to be a most appropriate ground on which to paint; its unfortunate permanence is also its archival longevity. Her paintings combine found surfaces, (and sometimes traditionally stretched canvas) with representationally painted imagery, creating objects that defy categorization as either painting, sculpture or video.

This exhibition will include her mural “Terminal Moment” painted on surfaces removed from Albany Airport as part of their recent renovation. Similar large works will be interspersed with medium and small pieces painted on trash surfaces. Some of the 3-D wall pieces demand specific orientation of the viewer in order for the painted image to present “correctly,” as seen in “Carapace” which only comes together as a painted rectangular image when one stands directly in front of the piece. Thematically similar pieces such as the “Connectivity” paintings of computer cords, adaptors, etc will be hung in salon style groupings. The “Video Paintings” can be shown throughout the gallery, independent of walls, with the monitors on pedestal bases. The video (back)grounds are looped; the sound will be low and continuous throughout the gallery.

A fluidity of viewpoint is mandated in a society drowning in information and growing less certain about what the future will bring. Tasha’s work speaks to this moment through calm observation and humor.