Zenith Gallery Presents
New Works by Gallery Artists | Jonanthan Bessaci, Ram Brisueno, Chris Hayman, and Khalid Thompson
Now through October 22, 2022
At 1429 Iris Street NW, Washington DC, 20012
*Masks and Proof of Vaccination required*
L to R: Washington Bill III by Joanathan Bessaci; Strength to Dreams by Ram Brisueno; Free Vibration by Khalid Thompson; and Blue Twist by Chris Hayman
Joanathan Bessaci moved to the District of Columbia from France, where he was born and grew up. He currently works with antique maps (from roughly 1920 to 1970) which he uses because of their color and texture but also because, they symbolize the roads people travel and their journeys and struggles for a better life. He uses maps as his medium because he spent his childhood around these objects in Lyon’s largest flea market where his family members had stands. As an immigrant working in Washington D.C., he brings a unique multicultural perspective to projects. “My work presently consists of cutting portraits and other images into several maps and layering them to create depth and texture with the geographic specificities of each map”
Ram Brisueno’s work uses a variety of mediums, materials, and objects to create narratives that relate to personal identity and social perceptions with an emphasis on highlighting textures, color and form. His work brings together, with attention, to both surface and concealed images and meanings revealed through intuitive responses allowing a compositional unity that creates themes of mythmaking and personal identity. An artist he admires, Felix Gonzalez-Torres, put it simply “Above all else, it is about leaving a mark that I existed: I was here. I was hungry. I was defeated. I was happy. I was sad. I was in love. I was afraid. I was hopeful. I had an idea, and I had a good purpose and that’s why I made works of art.”
Chris Hayman concerns herself with space. She is interested in how forms are energized by the space around them, especially when incorporated into paintings with vivid contrasting color and thick painterly textures. Inspired by the natural world, Hayman believes in a process of constant investigation. Trained early on as a classical pianist, Hayman has been greatly influenced by music in her life. Actively involved in theater and dance at the Conservatory of Music in Cincinnati and Baltimore, her creative talents eventually led to her primary focus as a visual artist.
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 painting. I 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, appraisals, 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, Washington DC 20004.