The Dominant Planets Of
April 7 - May 12, 2007

High Energy Constructs presents The Dominant Planets Of - a group exhibition of paintings and drawings by Searcy Benson, Kadar Brock, Kent Hammond, Paola Ochoa, and April Street. The Dominant Planets Of brings together five emerging artists who work with extraordinary freedom, mixing ideology and tradition, as well as engaging with archetypal and personal dialogues of social, political, and art historical concern.
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Searcy Benson lives and works in San Francisco, where she delves into the afterlife to find her subject and object matter. Presenting a recent series of works on synthetic vellum, Searcy Benson’s artwork is currently informed by the act of pet channeling. Benson’s brightly hued paranormal dead pet portraits are extra-communicative, evidenced by her compelling combination of a visually articulate style and the intricacy of reading spiritual energies.

Kadar Brock is a New York painter based in Brooklyn. His vibrant and diligent paintings (of oil, acrylic, and spraypaint) are a dynamic conflation of Minimalism and Abstract Expressionism. Inspired by spiritual practice, esoteric philosophy, and the discipline and discourse of abstract painting, Kadar Brock presents a new large-scale physically charging, object-like vortex of a canvas, entitled “Things can only get better.” Brock is a graduate of The Cooper Union, has exhibited his work in Dusseldorf, Miami, New York, and Toronto, and is currently represented by BUIA gallery in New York City.

Kent Hammond lives and works in Los Angeles. He is a graduate of Claremont College, with an MFA in Painting and Sculpture. Dealing with issues of intention, truth, and scale Kent Hammond’s artworks subtly fuse together collage, painting, and sculpture. Drawing on a range of current events, influences, and subjects, as well as using found and invented imagery and slogans, Hammond composes moody, autonomous wall reliefs of poetic and synthetic dimensionality, displaying discreet doses of empathy and candor. He has recently exhibited in Los Angeles at Compact/Space, Market Gallery, Me & You Variety Candy.

Paola Ochoa lives and works in Brooklyn. Originally from Medellin, Colombia, Ochoa received a BFA in Animation from the Rocky Mountain College of Art and Design. She has exhibited her painting, drawing, and video works in Denver, Miami, and New York. For this exhibition Ochoa presents ink drawings on mylar, from a recent series entitled, “Second Nature,” which theoretically and biologically investigates the hardening of nature into history/history into nature.

April Street makes paintings that are watery and space-like wonderscapes caught in states of advance, recession, and stillness. Precariously balanced by form and desire, Street creates curiously layered paintings that combine saccharine-like colored stains and symbolic abstractions with ambiguously structural narratives. April Street has exhibited her painting and sculpture in Chicago, Austin, and Abingdon, VA, as well as, in Nashville, TN where she exhibits annually at “Artrageous” – a benefit for AIDS education and services. As well, Street’s collaborative video work, “Imaging Appalachia, Virtual View,” received a NEA Project Grant. April Street’s educational background includes: The Art Institute of Chicago, East Tennessee State University (BFA), and bronze-casting and Art History in Italy. April lives and works in Los Angeles.
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April Street, the specter under light concealer, 2007, acrylic on canvas, 68″ x 84″

Paola Ochoa, Second Nature 1, 2007, acrylic ink on mylar, 34″ x 22″ (from a series of 5)

Kent Hammond, Mondale, 2006, oil, fabric on canvas, 53″ x 44″

Kadar Brock, Things can only get better, 2007, oil, acrylic, spray paint on canvas, 96″ x 84″ (diptych)

Searcy Benson, Taco Serene, 2007, spray paint, acrylic on synthetic vellum, 22” x 30”