Sympathetic Magic
Group Show

Sympathetic Magic delves into the numinous and explores how different artists come to terms with the unseen through works that explore the bridge between the physical world and an invisible universe of memory and mystery.

The exhibition is about magical presence, about how the otherworldly manifests itself in each artist’s process.

Participating artists
Mara Alper, Desirée Alvarez, Jermaine Amuquandoh, Susan Austad, SoHyun Bae, Andrea Cohen, Elisa Decker, Mary DeVincentis, Gwen Fabricant, Mary Frank, Ana Garcès Kiley, France Garrido, Janet Goldner, Nancy Goldring, Ruth Hardinger, Erica Harris, Aristides Klafke, Pavel Kraus, Henrietta Mantooth, Brad Melamed, William A. Mills, Elaine Norman, Isabel De Obaldía, Chris Piazza, Kesler Pierre, Olga Spiegel, Sylvain & Ghyslaine Staëlens, Renée Stout, Marianne Weil, Tamara Wyndham, and Charles Yuen.

Individual pieces radiate a sense of transformative magic and remind us that magic is in the making and arises from alchemical processes, unseen forces, and dreams. Amulets, fetishes, and offerings capture the essence of shamanism through human interaction with plants and animals.

Some works have been designed for rituals to call down the gods, such as painted Haitian vodou altar bottles, and cornmeal vèvès drawn on the floor; photographs taken during ceremonies record moments of ecstatic trance.

Many images bear witness to the presence of an intangible magic and serve as portals to another world. Layered like double-exposures, they transport the viewer to an imagined realm.

Illumination from within transforms wire mesh and painted papier-mâché sculptures. Microcosms of the larger ever-changing universe, they invoke nebulae, icebergs calving and melting, or volcanic eruption.

Sculpture, paintings and wall-hung works emphasize the sensuality of materials, shifting the focus to the alchemical process of their creation. A Kabalistic Tree of Life on newspaper conjures a ghostly ward imbued with mesmerizing power. A small naked figure stands at the opening of a jaguar’s ravenous maw.

Gallery Event
Poetry and Music
April 8, 2018 Sunday 4PM – 6PM

For further information
Elisa Decker:
Telephone: 212-691-8266
Email: elidecker2@gmail.com