ColorWise
Sculpture by Craig Schaffer and Paintings by Khalid Thompson
Exhibit Dates: April 26 – August 13, 2022
Opening Reception: Wednesday May 4th, 2022, 5-8 PM
At 1111 Pennsylvania Ave NW, Washington DC 20004
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l-r: Afro Psychedica by Khalid Thompson; Acrobat by Craig Schaffer; A Love Supreme, by Khalid Thompson; Very BZ, by Craig Schaffer
Much of Craig Schaffer’s work is inspired by fractal mathematics, the infinitely repetitive building blocks of all elements of life. In his sculptures, Craig explores the shapes created by the stems and leaves of plants as they reach for the light, the convoluted unfurling of clouds, the formation and fracturing of mountains, and the jaggedness of the coastline of the seas. Real life is nonlinear and reflective, so the spiraled paths carved in our consciousness by these natural processes are mirrored in Craig’s work. His sculptures are dynamic and powerful meditations on the reality of repetition in nature and life.
Craig Schaffer received his B.A. from the University of California, Santa Cruz and his M.F.A. from the University of Pennsylvania. Craig has completed public commissions for the Princeton Institute for Advanced Studies, the Mathematical Association of America, Brown Tower Mathematics Building at Ohio State University, Baptist Hospital Desoto in Memphis, the Hualien Cultural Center in Taiwan, the Leo Yassenoff Jewish Community Center in Columbus, and the Robins Center for Philanthropy.
Khalid Thompson has a broad creative style and uses various techniques to apply paint to his canvases, as well as performing “live” paintings in collaboration with musicians. In the artist’s words, “I see a relationship between sound and color, I mean, there’s an obvious relationship. I think that what I attempt to do when I’m performing live is to kind of get visual jazz. Something that has a musicality of feel that is encoded on the canvas. That you can feel the spontaneity, that it was done very in the moment so it’s almost like a recording of the experience. So, it was just about tapping into that connection between music and paintinI express the intensity of my feelings primarily through color and secondarily through stroke. By applying contrasting colors with vigorous strokes and various images of reconfigured media, I strive to cultivate a visual scape that electrically charges the space and viewer experience. It is very important to me that my art generate a continual dialogue with the audience. I always tell people that I want my work to “live” on their walls, meaning that every time a person repeatedly engages with my art they see and feel something new. I want them to connect with and sense the sparks of my creative process.”
Now celebrating 44 years in the nation’s capital, Zenith is recognized for its unique mix of contemporary art in a wide variety of media, style, and subject. The gallery provides high-quality acquisition, art consulting, commissioning, appraisal and framing services, through its gallery/salon/ sculpture garden off 16th Street at 1429 Iris St NW, WDC 20012. Zenith also curates rotating exhibits at the Eleven Sculpture Space at 1111 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, WDC 20004.