HIGH ENERGY CONSTRUCTS »

(Christian Cummings, Untitled Statue, 2007, cast plastic, acrylic paint)

you are not here, you are still there and think you are here

Christian Cummings, Michael Decker, Marie Johnston

December 7, 2007 – January 19, 2008

HIGH ENERGY CONSTRUCTS is pleased to present you are not here, you are still there and think you are here, an exhibition featuring new work by three Los Angeles-based artists: Christian Cummings, Michael Decker, and Marie Johnston. The opening reception will be held on Friday, December 7 from 6 to 10 pm, with musical performances by ing and Mad Gregs, beginning at 10:30 pm. The exhibition will be on view through January 19, 2008.

Among a disparate range of materials, methods, concepts, and concerns, the three emerging artists in this exhibition dream up a visually exuberant and formally embellished sense of being. Through individual practices which infuse humor with sincerity, and pleasure with invention, the artists here attempt to construct a space in which perception and recognition are undermined by the imagination. Christian Cummings’ fully corporeal and customized sculptural works and paintings are charmingly discursive – working through deformed and glorified images of food and everyday objects, Christian proposes an Art diet that honors play and innovation over digestion and consumption. Michael Decker’s sculptures are bizarre and elaborate acts of engagement – communicative devices that instigate the exploration of boundless meanings. Michael’s newest work reveals a conflicted relation to craft, as diligence turns to excess, the craftsman’s ideology becomes ridiculous and impotent. Marie Johnston presents figurative sculptures that posit “what might be.” Drawing inspiration from such rich ground as the Cambrian Explosion and Star Trek’s alien life forms, Marie appreciates the unknown as a creative opportunity to expand the conceivable. Using simple materials – rope, newspaper, clay, wire, and foam, she constructs beings found deep in space, and deep in time.

About the artists:

Christian Cummings received his Bachelor of Fine Arts from the California Institute of the Arts in 2004. Christian has exhibited and performed his work at Track 16, Santa Monica, CA, LACE, Los Angeles, CA, the Museum of Jurassic Technology, Culver City, CA, the Santa Monica Museum of Art, and Creative Time, New York, NY. Christian is currently an MFA candidate at the USC Roski School of Fine Arts.

Michael Decker received his Bachelor of Fine Arts from the California Institute of the Arts in 2005. His work has been exhibited in two previous High Energy Constructs projects, Chain Letter and A Warning Shouldn’t Be Pleasant, and has presented with Christian Cummings their Ouija Board “Ghost Drawings” at the Museum of Jurassic Technology, Culver City, CA, the Santa Monica Museum of Art, and Creative Time, New York, NY.

Marie Johnston received her Bachelor of Fine Arts from the California Institute of the Arts in 2005. Her work was recently exhibited in Chain Letter, at High Energy Constructs (August 2006).

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For more information regarding this exhibition please call 323.227.7920 or email info@highenergyconstructs.com.

Gallery hours: Thursday, Friday, Saturday, 11 am – 6 pm.

(Christian Cummings, Everything, 2007, cast plastic, acrylic paint)