Duo Exhibition: Faceplant
Anthony Eslick & Rachel Hayden
Co-curated with Sydney Pfaff of Legion Projects
Dates: January 29 -February 26, 2022
Reception: Saturday, January 29 | 5 PM - 7 PM
Glass Rice in collaboration with Legion Projects is proud to present Faceplant, a duo show of new paintings by Brooklyn-based artists Anthony Eslick and Rachel Hayden. In this show, both artists bare intimate parts of their subconscious, anxieties and emotional states through their work, relying on emblematic faces and icons to guide the narrative.
With an intent focus on surreal humor, Eslick uses images of violence, comedy, cultural iconography, longing, isolation and horror in his work. With a background in design and digital illustration, he uses airbrush and acrylic paint to render bizarre scenes that mimic digital drawing through analog methods. Often taking cues from scribbled notes and dreams, Eslick combines the absurdities of benign images, such as the smiley face, among brightly hued, yet strangely desolate surroundings. By nature, this juxtaposition compels viewers to fall face first into the illogically familiar scenes.
In this exhibition, Hayden continues her practice of finding order within the chaos through painting mystifying and beautiful objects she oftentimes views as prized possessions. By carefully placing each object, she obtains harmony within the composition, being vigilant of never overcrowding the painting. In her most recent body of work, symmetrical moths, anthropomorphized roses, link chains and heavy-eyed, anxious or mischievous self portraits take center stage. The objects are each representative of a feeling or state of mind - the moth as an alluringly quiet transformation, the friendly flowers as companions to lonely human figures and the chains placed as borders as a means of protecting the contents of the painting from escaping a fleeting, magical moment. Hayden’s paintings allow viewers to come face to face with her idiosyncratic lexicon of images.
In tandem, the artists' work in Faceplant complement and contrast each other in sync; creating a balanced ebb and flow of unease, charm, loneliness and humor as you move about the exhibition.
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The gallery will be open on opening day from 4 - 7 pm for walk-ins to the general public. Private appointments can be made on our website to see the exhibition after the opening reception. Masks are absolutely required inside the gallery. Thank you for your cooperation in keeping us all safe!