On the Surface

December 19, 2022 – April 30, 2023
NEW YORK

Wexler Gallery presents On the Surface, an exhibition featuring new work that explores texture within form by Gulla Jonsdottir, Harry Morgan, Trish DeMasi, Edward McHugh, Aleksandra Pollner, Stephen Shaheen, Feyza Kemahlioglu, Patrick Weder, and Andreea Avram Rusu. First shown at Salon Art + Design and Design Miami, these well-received pieces are now on view at our New York gallery. Whether tactile, visual, or both, surface texture plays a significant role in this body of work, adding depth with literal or metaphorical references conjured through the materials, the artists and the viewers. Texture evokes emotions and ideas beyond the obvious superficial qualities of the media employed. On the Surface runs December 19, 2022 through April 30, 2023.

Ceramic artist Trish DeMasi continues her exploration of nature and architecture in her new Simpatico Towers and sculptural furniture pieces. Informed by biomimicry — the philosophy of using organic materials and forms to create harmonious architecture while also solving technical, structural, and design challenges — the surfaces embody the flora and media that inspire them. These monumental pieces reside respectfully with the environment while asking the viewer to take notice and appreciate the importance of nature.

DeMasi and her partner in life and art Edward McHugh — a painter, printmaker and sculptor — recently began collaborating on collage wall works that combine his deceptively simple yet deeply layered paint, graphite, thread, and resin compositions with her intricately textured ceramics. Their first joint piece was shown and acquired during Salon Art + Design.

The visually astonishing, gravity-defying glass and concrete pieces by emerging UK artist Harry Morgan, making their debut with Wexler this year, were a hit of the shows with several pieces being acquired. Morgan, a finalist for the 2019 Loewe Craft Prize, has work in the permanent collection of the Victoria & Albert Museum and leading European institutions.

Alexandra Pollner’s Gleaning series explores our shifting relationship with objects and our environment at this pivotal moment in time, transforming found and donated styrofoam with resin, paint, porcelain, polyurethane, and 14k gold into works of surprising beauty and depth. Design Miami’s Forum Magazine profiled Pollner in their Ones to Watch feature, including her among “three standout talents… each of whom tackles timely topics through conceptually driven, expertly executed works.”

The ethereal veining inherent in the Macedonian honey onyx from which they are carved inspired the forms of Stephen Shaheen’s Nebula illuminated wall sculptures. Shaheen retains the rough natural surface and quarry saw marks in the stone, while masterfully carving out the interior to a depth that achieves a lightness befitting the luminescent interstellar clouds that are their namesake. His designs emerge through a dialogue with the found material.

Gulla Jonsdottir’s new Crater series sofa and coffee table evoke the powerful volcanic landscape of her Icelandic homeland in shape and finish, while the Gaia mirror continues her integration of organic beauty and function. The sofa is covered in an alpaca boucle by noted textile designer Rosemary Hallgarten, and rests on one of her Geo Shearling Rugs, enhancing the Nordic feel. Jonsdottir’s limited-edition furniture pieces are a natural extension of her architectural and interior projects — the latest of which is the new Thompson Hotel in Miami Beach, opening Fall 2023.

A fine artist and skilled craftsman, Swiss-born Patrick Weder brings both talents to his Kavrn series of functional sculptures combining solid wood and hand-molded polished concrete. Undulating stalactite shapes and anthropomorphic gestures are playful yet elegant — encouraging consideration of form and surface while simultaneously inciting curiosity in function.

The Aegean Sea near her native Turkey and mythical stories about mermaids, shipwrecks and treasure hunts were the inspiration for Feyza Kemahlioglu’s latest lighting collection, Treasures Untold, introduced at Design Miami. Formed by columns of intricately hand-carved meerschaum and hand-blown glass that has the colors, textures and remnants of the sea, the collection takes you through the experience of otherworldly underwater discovery.

Andreea Avram Rusu continues to expand her Botanica lighting collection, inspired by the banana flowers she encountered at Portugal’s famed botanical gardens. Weighty and sculptural with surreal flair, the series includes floral blossoms and leaf chains that can be combined to inhabit any space. The flowery forms emerge, even when expressed in abstracted glass and light. Fittingly, the Denver Museum of Art has commissioned a new Botanica installation for their Biophila exhibition in 2024. 

For more information on any of the artists or works on view, please contact Samantha Goldberg at 215-923-7030 or sam@wexlergallery.com.