San Francisco Gallery Mirus Opens ESCAPE VELOCITY Exhibition

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Mirus Gallery announces Escape Velocity, a group exhibition showcasing works by artists Tom Berenz, Steve Budington, John Deardourff, Joshua Dildine, Michael Dotson, Julian Duron, Matthias Düwel, Sarah Emerson, Clark Goolsby, Daniel Healey, Dean Monogenis, Kenji Nakayama & Dana Woulfe, Pepa Prieto, Allison Renshaw, James Roper, Jaime Treadwell and Bas Zoontjens.

Escape Velocity is part II of the Mirus Gallery launch, which opened with Crucible, a group exhibition highlighting the artwork that inspired Paul Hemming to open Mirus Gallery. In Escape Velocity viewers will be welcomed to a second group show that foreshadows the future of the gallery's programming. The opening reception for Escape Velocity was held on December 15, 2012 from 6pm - 10pm. The exhibition will be on view through January 26, 2013.

The term "escape velocity" is used in physics to describe the speed that is needed to "break free" from the earth's gravitational pull. This concept is a metaphor for Mirus Gallery's second show, which is featuring a group of emerging and mid-career artists whose work marks the vision of how the gallery plans to move forward and break ground with its progressive programming.

The work in Escape Velocity spans both medium and subject matter presenting examples from a comprehensive survey of what is to come.

The semi-abstract work of James Roper is constructed from disparate figurative elements sourced from the internet. Saturated colors and meticulous compositions comprise the visual outline of Roper's work but the granular shapes reference various aspects of visual culture at-large and are taken from inspirations as various as tribal arts, staiNed Glass windows, the excesses of Baroque art and comic books. Roper aligns his abstract imagery with the philosopher Deleuze and his breakdown of the binary concept of inside/outside and how that dictates a false notion of the human's perception and relationship to space.

Dean Monogenis, deconstructs the notion of "place" with surrealistic paintings of quasi-landscapes where man-made structures inhabit what resembles the natural world. These environments, while fantastical, still infer the realness of physical space--the structures look like plausible architectural renderings and the picture plane's perspective creates the illusion of a real environment. Ultimately, however, these elements of reality are contradicted by the artist's use of whimsy embodied in neon color accents or graphically-rendered skies, invoking our suspension of disbelief.

In an age of rapid industrial growth and an exponentially expanding global economy, artist Matthias Düwel explores the nature and debris of excess. In his large, monochromatic drawings, frenetic lines and combustible compositions evoke the shadowy shapes and textures of an oppressive encroachment of excess objects. His abstracted images invoke the ruins of a culture that has collapsed inward on itself from the sheer weight of profusion.

Joshua Dildine's point of departure is the family photograph, which is defaced with spiraling, gestural brushstrokes of bright paint leaving the viewer to imagine what is underneath. With these enigmatic works, Dildine provokes his audience into looking at the banal family photograph in a new way with his visceral and energetic paint application as a reinterpretation of human dynamics and our relationship to how we see ourselves.
About Mirus Gallery

Mirus Gallery is a dynamic exhibition space established by entrepreneur, Paul Hemming. The gallery features a program of contemporary artwork by emerging and mid-career artists in both solo and thematically organized group shows. Mirus Gallery will highlight work that emphasizes skill and process and aims to engage viewers on a sentient, emotional and evocative level.
In 2013, the initiation of an artist-in-residency program will pursue the gallery's values of community and collaboration by providing a live-in/on-site studio space for artists to make and exhibit work in a supportive environment, conducive to creativity.

Gallery Hours: Tuesday - Saturday 10-6 at 540 Howard Street, San Francisco, Calif.