The exhibit runs from January 3 to February 2 with an artist lecture on January 11 at 2:30 pm in P201 with a reception to follow at the gallery.

“What I am trying to convey to you is more mysterious; it is entwined in the very roots of being, in the impalpable source of sensations.”  –J. Gasquet, Cézanne

As a mixed-media artist and painter, Somoskey’s work seeks to give form to the complexity, instability, and enigmatic nature of our lived experiences. All of the paintings in Open Fields are grounded in a representation of physical space, which also double as a metaphorical or physiological space. These works reference the varied ways in which we perceive, understand, and navigate our place within the current world and larger universe, speaking to the unnameable things in life that broadly and universally define our human existence. Although each piece is visually dense, Somoskey aims for them to invite a sense of openness in how the viewer comes to find meaning in them.

She builds on the history of painting as a tool to reflect and translate aspects of the world, while also extending the definition of what it can be. Collaged photographic imagery weaves into the language of abstract painting, bringing together moments of clarity and ambiguity that both articulate, disrupt and complicate a singular understanding of the work, akin to our own perceptions of the world. These two mediums have a very rich and separate history, both alluding to different levels of “truth” in their representation of reality. In bringing them together, she aims to create a pictorial space that allows the viewer to question the nature of what they’re seeing, and to dwell in the ambiguity and uncertainty that lies on the surface and within our own minds.

Biography
Emily Somoskey (b. 1991) is a 2-D mixed media artist and painter from Northeast Ohio currently based in Walla Walla, WA. Her work explores the complexity and ever-changing nature of perception through the layered use of oil paint and collaged photographic imagery. Her work has been exhibited throughout the United States, most recently at Eastern Washington University in Cheney, WA and The Painting Center in New York, NY. She pursued a BA in Art Education/Painting at The University of Akron in Akron, OH and her MFA at Michigan State University, in East Lansing, MI. Emily is currently teaching painting and drawing as a visiting assistant professor at Whitman College.

Emily’s mixed-media paintings use a balance between representation and abstraction to explore the ways we simultaneously experience physical and mental space. Using the disparate mediums of painting and collage, she creates a complex and nuanced language that weaves together moments of clarity and ambiguity. Through her work she references the shifting and overlapping nature of our experience with the sensate and psychological realms; giving form to the complexity, instability and enigmatic nature of our lived experiences.