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Arts & Entertainment

Effable: Acessible Art with a Simple Emphasis on Beauty

Effable opens a successful show at the Hygienic Art galleries featuring four local artists.

A little over a year ago Kim Abraham approached me about potentially collaborating on an art show that would feature her paintings and my photography. We discussed several ideas including installation pieces and photo poetry among others. Eventually we realized that we didn’t need to make a big production, that it would be best to simply create beautiful things for the sake of their beauty.

In the end we produced a show titled “Effable” which opened up at the on Saturday featuring a total of four local artists. Along with Kim and I, Troy Zaushny, a painter and print maker and Bart Jeczmienny, an illustrator contributed to the body of work at the show.

The purpose of the show is to present beautiful art that is also accessible. The show is not trying to blow anyone’s mind with deep meaning or a complex message it simply strives to be beautiful and fun.

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Kim Abraham, the progenitor of the idea behind “Effable” produced paintings and collages in vibrant bold colors. With her work she implores everyone to see the beauty in things as they are and as they change (which is inevitable). Much of her work is based on Galapagos, a novel by Kurt Vonnegut. She paints what our world might look like after we have flooded ourselves off of the coastline. Abraham even used pages torn from the book as part of the colloguing in the work.

Kim also uses images from the works of other artists in the show such as parts of my photographs of butterflies and reproductions of others.

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Jeczmienny’s involvement in “Effable" marks the first time he has displayed his work publicly. His work is of spontaneous and surreal depictions of his imagination illustrated in pen, color pencil and marker. He had been working with Zaushny for over a year and is thrilled to be involved.

Bart was also the creator of the original piece from the “Birds” series in the entrance of the gallery. His marker illustration influenced a painting by Kim, which was reproduced as a print by Troy and finally as three shadow box dioramas by myself.

My body of work involved breathing new life into older photographic works by changing the presentation. I did this by creating 3D representations of the photographs in shadow boxes. Another new way I presented my work was as metallic prints in very minimalist floating frames. This type of presentation allows the image to really pop and speak for itself.

Troy Zaushny refers to our style of taking directly from each other’s work as informed art because of the way that our constant dialogue about our own progress had a direct influence on the product of others. His body of work, although small at this show is incredibly diverse and well informed reflecting on the works of all of the other artists. 

His “Love on the Wing” is part of the line of work influenced by Bart.  His “Dragons Flew” video painting was an older work that he decided to revisit after being informed of my “Dragons Perch” shadow box. Finally his engraved poly-fresco piece on panel “Bee” depicts a fish that can be a reflection on Kim’s Galapagos series.

Make sure to visit “Effable” at the Hygienic Art. Go through twice to catch the artists' references to each other’s work or just to enjoy the beauty. The show is ongoing until July 30. For more information on the galleries please visit Hygienic.org.

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