Thinking & Touching Time

Michael Ambron, Yevgeniya Baras, Paul Demuro, Austin Lee, Larissa Mellor, Dustin Metz, S.E Nash, Dona Nelson, Mike Olin, Nickola Pottinger, Eric Schnell, Winnie Sidharta, Paul Simmons, Nicholas Sullivan, Lauren Whearty Ortega y Gasset Projects is pleased to present Thinking & Touching Time curated by Brooklyn-based artist Zahar Vaks. This exhibition is the first in our new space in the Gowanus area of Brooklyn. A journey into tactility, the works in this exhibition engage sensuality and touch, as related to time. Non-verbal modes of communication such as body language and physical contact are explored as manifesting in painting, drawing, collage, and sculpture. Eschewing a linguistic explanation as a stand-in for the experience of the work, the curator’s notes point to the intended effect: It is important to take time and make something. At times it is valuable to be a romantic. Leave room for imagination. This show addresses the passage of time by the various material narratives of the artists. This is actualized through the way the surface is built; the way the color is layered. There may be a mode of observation. An example of recording in real time or a recall from memory. Sometimes the timing in the work is structured and specific, other times it may feel elusive or timeless. This allows for multiple meanings. There is potential for narrative simultaneously fused with the possibility of a non-verbal experience. Zahar Vaks was born in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. He moved to the United States after the dissolution of the U.S.S.R. He received his BFA from Tyler School of Art and his MFA from The Ohio State University. He has shown in Philadelphia, New York, Columbus, Vienna, Galveston, and Hammond, Indiana. He participated in the yearlong Galveston Artist Residency in 2012-2013. He currently lives and works in Brooklyn, NY, where he is a Chashama Studio Resident. Ortega Y Gasset Projects is a gallery and curated project space in the Gowanus neighborhood of Brooklyn. Comprised of artists currently living in Illinois, Ohio, Tennessee, Maryland, Connecticut, and New York. O y G operates as a cross-country collective and an incubator for dialog and artistic exchange.