KNOW FUN Saturday night at Hello My Name is Gallery

Hello My Name Is Gallery
838 Whalley Ave., Apt. 4, New Haven
KNOW FUN
May 17—June 15, 2008.
Opening reception: Sat., May 17, 7—10 p.m.

Press release

On May 17, Hello My Name is Gallery will present KNOW FUN, an exhibition of new work by Meridith Passabet and Jamie Powell. The work in KNOW FUN ranges from abstract painting to photography to sculpture. Both Passabet and Powell make work that, through use of color, scale, and materials, simultaneously evokes fun and the inevitable disappointment that frequently follows the pursuit of pleasure.

Meridith Passabet will show new paintings that merge the formal concerns of contemporary abstract painting with moody atmospherics and areas of bright, pastel color. Passabet's work explores the symbiotic relationship of pleasure and disappointment. In one painting on view, "Wasteland" (Oil on canvas, 2007), Passabet presents an abstracted landscape of heaped gray forms sprinkled with dots and blobs of pastel colors. "Wasteland" evokes a city street littered with post-parade confetti, or Times Square on New Year's Day.

Jamie Powell will show a series of new photographs, silkscreen prints, paintings and sculptures. Powell's work mines abstract painting, kitsch craft and pop culture, resulting in a diverse body of work that is at once bright, accessible and abject. In "Altered State" (silkscreen and airbrush on paper, 2007) lurid hues of purple, green and pink combine, recalling the internal space experienced during a moment of pleasure. The euphoria depicted in "Altered State" is one of cheap thrills—the high experienced after eating fast food, watching bad 80's movies, or drinking too much cheap beer.

KNOW FUN opens on May 17th, with an opening reception from 7 to 10pm. We'll also have performances downstairs by Bludrum, a live music experience to behold incorporating drums, guitar, voice, video, digital sound and audience participation. You've never seen anything like it, you can't deny the bludrum!

You'll also have a chance to enter the first-ever Hello My Name Is Gallery ARFFLE (that's not a typo), featuring one work each by Meridith Passabet, Jaime Powell, John Bent and Jemma Williams. The winners will be announced at 9 p.m.

As always, our events are BYOB/Potluck, and yes, there will be cake!