4 BECAME 1

Junior Thesis Show

The Crossley Gallery is pleased to present an exhibition of new work by Melvin Gomez, Mandy Fulton, Júlia Galvão Ramos, and Sarah Kocab. 4 Became 1 showcases work that examines human behaviors from inside and outside perspectives, shown through various mediums such as painting, prints, and mixed-media installations. The artists focus on figures in various settings; undergoing specific processes, and coming to terms with unfamiliar and uncomfortable states of mind. We invite viewers to experience our interpretations of intro and extrospection.

The work of Melvin Gomez is based upon the concept of the human condition, being able to create a line of work that consists of four paintings. Melvin's creative process helps him to articulate and paint his emotional response in relation to experiencing emotions as a human being. Mandy Fulton’s work is highly based around experimentation and explores ways in which a medium reacts to different surfaces by focusing on textures, colors, and movement. Júlia Galvão Ramos explores the usage of repetition in different ways and explores contrasting different textures and colors. Through her paintings, Sarah Kocab explores compositions of bright and colorful patterns and incorporates various figures interacting with those environments.

Melvin Gomez

The overall theme in my work is the human condition. The aim of my paintings is to represent the universal expression of human emotions, feelings, and desires. My inspiration comes from both past experiences and emotional events that I face in my daily life. Using paint as a vehicle for this exploration, I manipulate the materials and textures with each brushstroke. In these paintings, balance is crucial. Complex details are balanced against loose brushwork in the background, and personal imagery is balanced against references from classical artwork. In compositions such as Van Gogh’s Landscape, painting is a means to express my own desires while also studying and recreating the mark-making from Van Gogh’s Wheatfield with Crows. By incorporating Van Gogh’s original piece within my painting, I’m forced to leave my
comfort-zone and to harmonize my personal experience with the creativity of another artist. My creative process helps me to articulate and paint my emotional response in relation to experience emotions as a human being.

Sarah Kocab

Being able to work with different forms and putting them into colorful spaces is an idea that I am beginning to explore in my artwork. I use a lot of reference photos of figures, hands, mouths and skeletons without giving any real identifiers to who are in the paintings. It refers back to how I want to branch out and continue to learn more about who I am and experiment with the infinite possibilities of where life can take people. These environments that I create around the figures are references to earlier sketches that were made at the start of lockdown, and symbolize a form of therapy for me as I attempted to cope with being isolated for months at a time. I also enjoy the use of bright colors in my work in order to make them really stand out and create a sense of livelihood. Using these elements and coping skills has also helped me with
focusing more on my intuition and natural rhythm when working on my art instead of putting on the additional stress to make my art look a certain way, and that in itself is experimentation.

Mandy Fulton

Within my work, you will be exposed to mediums such as gunpowder, colored smoke, and paint. After sparking a fuse, the work allows a viewer to focus on the visuals created from my process rather than just experience the excitement it can hold. Various papers and textures are used to capture the traces of smoke and effects of gunpowder being lit. Mixing these mediums with paint creates different textures and layers on the surface. Having a sense of what the work will result in, drives me to carefully consider the placement of the materials, while still never being fully assured of what will happen, as there is also a limited amount of time when a fuse is lit. Heavily influenced by experimentation, chance, and timing, this work embraces a bold process to create exciting compositions.

Júlia Galvão Ramos

I use my art to discover myself, I constantly use experimentation to push my work forward. My work is a blend of color juxtaposed with the lack of color. While I was exploring that idea of death and my fear of death, I came across theories about the afterlife. The idea that nothing exists fascinated and scared me at the same time. The meaning of the word nothing also intrigued me and I decided to explore it through my work, meanwhile trying to understand the meaning of the word. While exploring the idea of nothing I was drawn to the idea of repetition with it almost being a meditative process. I have been experimenting with black gesso, stamps, cutouts, and playing with the idea of gloss vs matte. Through experimenting I allow myself to
follow my artistic intuition and not use my conscious mind to think about my work. And this allows me to understand who I am as an artist with a clear mind. I was also highly influenced by COVID and how it affected all of our lives.