Three Artists Explore the Beauty of Decay in Opening Reception this Thursday, Jan. 10
Opening Reception Jan. 10, 7 p.m.
Takoma Park Community Center
7500 Maple Avenue Free event
In our consumer-oriented society that disposes of everything that isn’t new, decay is a scary word, conjuring images of obsolescence, advancing age and death. But decay can be beautiful as shiny metal rusts and abandoned buildings crumble, leaving relics transformed by time and neglect. Three local artists will explore these themes in The Beauty of Decay, a new group exhibition in the galleries at the Takoma Park Community Center.
Kristina King creates handmade paper, large-scale drawings, installations and animation to explore themes of decay, fragility, turbulence and the ephemeral. Her ragged handmade paper pieces are riddled with holes and frayed edges, resembling a topographical map of mountain ranges or pock-marked craters on the moon.
Untitled (#77) by Kristina King
King earned a BFA in studio art from Denison University and has shown her work at Pyramid Atlantic Art Center, the Alleghany Arts Council, Willow Street Gallery and other venues. She is currently the gallery director at Georgetown Frame Shoppe.
David Mosher photographs himself in deteriorating and abandoned buildings, evoking scenes of melancholy and regret. By sharing very personal and psychological scenes, he engages viewers in exploring their own emotional responses to decay. He is inspired by artists Man Ray, Robert Mapplethorpe and Francesca Woodman, who used self-portraiture to communicate emotions and project different personal identities.
Drawing from personal loss and her own struggles with depression, Chrissy Wilkin’s paintings depict her psychological journey through grief towards acceptance. Her work offers a mandala or spiritual symbol that illustrates how life comes full circle as we continue to live in spirit even after death. She uses different mediums in her work, including marker, charcoal and bleach.
Wilkin has been teaching art since she was 16 years old when she took a mission trip to Haiti to make art with local children. She continues to teach art internationally at summer camps and locally as a teacher at Eleanor Roosevelt High School in Greenbelt, Md. She is a member of the Hyattsville Arts Alliance and the arts coordinator for the New Deal Café, and she displays her work at various venues in Prince George’s County.
This article appeared in the January 2019 edition of the Takoma Park Newsletter. The Takoma Park Newsletter is available for download here.
