CoCA’s 19th Annual Juried Exhibition: HYBRID

"Disparity" by Eric Franklin

The elements of the world we live in are increasingly becoming synthesized, mixed and reorganized. New ideas are being combined with existing ones. From cars to food, politics and religion, biochemistry, new technologies and art, we are all experiencing the hybrid

CoCA has presented the Annual since 1989, each time bringing in an independent juror to select and curate the works. This year's juror is Riko Nakasone, director and curator of the Bau-Xi Gallery in Vancouver, BC

Eric Franklin's work seamlessly fuses art, science, and technology to create a unique hybrid form. These neon forms convey our rapidly growing dependence, immersion, and fusion with technology. In “Disparity,” the glowing skeletal human forms are as striking in appearance as they are rich in the ideas they propose.

The tactile and handcrafted nature of Holly Senn’s “Hive” sculpture is alluring, as is her use of discarded library books that create a hive-like structure for the repository or dispersal and dissemination. The hybrid of the natural and animal world with the human sphere adds further levels of meaning to these beautiful organic forms.

Kim McKenna’s dramatized and highly staged painting “Noland” features a house that will soon be engulfed in flames. It forces one to think about the fluidity of the history of painting, while questioning what future hybrid forms will be.

Photographs by Lisa Jacoby, "Reflection 212" and "Reflection 222", are captured by a camera using mirrors, without any digital manipulation, resulting in an androgynous face. This hybridization comments on the fluidity and transformation of our gender roles, perhaps also acknowleding the uneasiness that often accompanies these constantly shifting roles.

Jenevive Tatiana’s application of glittery sequins to somber newspaper clippings conscientiously and deliberately undermines what is normally used to define the opposing spheres of High Art/Low Art, Feminine/Masculine, and Domestic/Work. “Sunday Painting #7” is ultimately both playful and subversive in its obliteration of the human figure and narrative.

Other participating artists include: Liz Haley, Barry Maxwell, Anna Plesset, Counsel Langley, BK Tran, Madeline Courtney, and Sarah Ohman.