August 16th - September 14th, 2006
Artists reception: Saturday August 19th, 6pm - 8pm
déjà vu invites you to challenge your view of the human form. Life, death, presence, absence, strength, vulnerability, loss and fear are rolled into this deeply private spiritual group exhibit. On display is the hand printed black and white photography of Janeyce Ouellette and manipulated leather sculpture of Kelly Steinauer.
As a photographer Ouellette will often hear feedback about the noticeable absence of people in her work. Their very absence, however, notes, like negative space, their presence. Implied, anthropomorphized, or subject matter touched by human hands, now long gone, individuals are indeed present, spiritually, if not physically.
Her education and background is in both psychology and art. As a clinical social worker, Ouellette has maintained a fascination with the integration between psychology and the therapeutic aspects of art. The creative process is deeply integrated in her professional practice, just as it is in her personal life.
This body of work resulted from her direct support to others as they coped with their loss and grief in San Francisco during a time besieged by overwhelming, and relentless loss from AIDS. Within her professional caregiver role, ironically, she found herself without opportunity to process her own grief. Photography has become her own creative expression of honoring those no longer physically in this world.
Like life itself, photography captures an elusive moment in time; shadows and light in black and white reflect the interplay between life and death. Its absence falls somewhere within the gray, as psyche converge with objects, they transform from form to spirit. Her work is a deeply private and spiritual process; she rarely chooses to show her work publicly.
Janeyce Ouellette
415.731.0380
Professional designer and sculptor Kelly Steinauer, prefers to work in leather because of its qualities of strength, malleability, and its resemblance to human tissue. She manipulates and molds leather with water to explore the endless textures and forms of the human body. Some of her unusual techniques include the incorporation of found objects and the application of a rusting process to the leather.
Influenced by armor, exoskeletons and anatomy, Steinauer explores fear and safety by transforming leather into aged metal and skin-like sculptures. Internal organs, featuring found metal fixtures, look like abandoned car parts with rippled cellular textures. A helmet made of rusted leather scales curls in on itself like a crustacean hiding from a predator. A set of skin-covered teeth appears to grind quietly in a cage.
Steinauer's sculptures blur the boundaries between the organic and the mechanical, and expose the body from the inside out. Utilizing the visual and structural elements of armor and anatomy, she is exploring the dichotomy of personal safety and fear.
“I have encountered and explored my fears of being attacked in remote hills of Oakland where I spend a large amount of time running alone on trails. These fears get blurred with contrasting feelings of strength and invincibility that come from exercise, movement, and breathing fresh air. I seek to capture these seemingly contradictory experiences in my work to encourage viewers to question their own ideas about safety and strength, vulnerability and comfort.”
