Savage Whiskers
Alexis Mackenzie & Jessica Cusik
Opening: Saturday May 17th (6-9pm)
After party: The Uptown 17th & Capp (9-2am)
Alexis MacKenzie's collages feature intricately detailed juxtapositions of images from vintage printed media. Jessica Cusik works in graphite and gouache, building layers of delicately hand-rendered elements anchored in classic technique.
Their work explores the mysterious ways in which seemingly disparate elements are related, eliciting fresh narratives from images rooted in the past.
Alexis Mackenzie
My general intent, throughout all my work, is to portray the world as
a flawed thing of beauty - a place that shines brightly, but has a
dark side to match.
Everything you see here is composed by hand - cut from books I've been
collecting for years, and painstakingly pieced together as seamlessly
as possible. Technically they are collages, but I've never enjoyed
describing them in those terms... I feel like there is a general
concept out there of what collage is and tends to look like, which
doesn't apply to what I do at all.
I have lately been creating larger and more intricate collages; in my
future works I hope to continue expanding my complexity and scale, and
creating what I believe are fresh perspectives on the surreal and
grotesque.
Education: Tufts University / School of the Museum of Fine Arts.
Bachelor of Fine Arts, 2003.
Jessica Cusik
A native of San Francisco, Jessica Cusik grew up with stories of the
Barbary Coast. In the fourth grade she and her classmates were given
the task of creating a life size model of a pioneer boom town which
had the lasting effect of cementing her fascination with "all things
old timey." Inspired by research into the lives of pioneers and
fortune seekers, she uses graphite and gouache, building layers of
delicately hand-rendered elements which she assembles through collage.
Her work explores the ways in which seemingly disparate times and
elements are related, eliciting new narratives from images rooted in
the past.
When not drawing Jessica can be found laying in ice plants on Treasure
Island, sailing with her husband to be, playing the steel drum and
reading Herbert Asbury's "The Barbary Coast."
Education: California College of The Arts, (CCA)
BFA, 2005
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