EAST HAMPTON, NY.- In the world of Roald Dahl children’s imaginations save them from trouble, create worlds of wonder, find alternative meaning in the mundane, and transform ordinary life around them. Through this lens begins this exhibition.

Each of the artists create works that open a space for the viewer to translate their own interpretation and finish the storyline. Often balancing on the line between figuration and abstraction, the final reading of a piece is at the whim of those that view them. In James and the Giant Peach, the peach in James’ backyard grows and becomes his means for escape, shelter and conduit to a new life. Art has the ability to allow these same transformations.

In the work of Bernhard Buhmann and Tracy Thomason abstract compositions move between references to bodily movement and mechanical instruction. Elements of each artist’s paintings defy singular definition or identification.

Justin Fitzpatrick, Emily Furr, Kristina Lee and Dana Lok play with the surreal and alter the representation of physical objects to give them multifunctional identities. In Fitzpatrick’s work, the body of a bird becomes a cop car on a chase. Lok’s objects vacillate between futuristic machinery and abstract landscape. Furr turns the ordinary into the erotic, while Lee’s biomorphic shapes push the boundaries of body and water.

Matthew Chambers, Ryan Wilde and Johannes VanDerBeek’s works physically confront the viewer. Chambers rips apart former figurative paintings and sculpts them over stretcher bars to create minimally elegant wall works. Wilde similarly uses the wall to hang her felt and faux hair sculptures that allude to disembodied parts of the human form. While VanDerBeek’s freestanding sculptures relate to the body in terms of scale, they are more symbolic and archaic in the way that they represent the figure.

Together the show examines the joy and magic that time with art can instill within us. The transformative powers that certain works bestow upon the viewer give clues about intention but never reveal the entire story.

Bernhard Buhmann (b. 1979, Bregenz, Austria) received a MA from the University of Applied Arts, Vienna and a MA in Sociology and Communication from the University of Vienna. Solo exhibitions include Marinaro Gallery, NY; Carbon 12, Dubai, UAE; Galerie Lisi Hammerle, Bregenz, Austria and Strabag Kunstforum, Vienna. He has been in group shows at Kunsthalle Wien, Vienna; Forum Frohner, Krems, Austria; Landesmuseum Ferdinandeum, Innsbruck, Austria; Sharjah Art Museum, UAE; Muzeul de Arta, Cluj-Napoca, Romania and the Museum of Contemporary Arts, Bucharest, Romania. The artist’s first monograph, Bernhard Buhmann: Amphibian Figures, Knights, Clowns and Beaked Creatures, was published in 2015 by Distanz.

Matthew Chambers (b. 1982, Boise, ID) Solo exhibitions include UNTITLED, NY; Zabludowicz Collection, London; Rental, NY; Angstrom Gallery, Los Angeles; Praz-Delavallade, Los Angeles; Zach Feuer Gallery, NY and Feuer/Mesler, NY. He has been included in group exhibitions including the Saatchi Gallery, London; Hezi Cohen Gallery, Tel Aviv, Israel; Marlborough, Madrid, Spain; Brand New Gallery, Milan, Italy; and The Rubell Family Collection, Miami, FL.

Justin Fitzpatrick (b. 1985, Dublin, Ireland) lives and works in London. He holds an MA from the Royal College of Art, London, UK and graduated from St Oswald’s School of Painting, London. Solo exhibitions include Foxy Productions, NY; KevinSpace, Vienna, Austria; Sultana, Paris; and the Barbican Arts Trust, London, UK. Group exhibitions include MHKA, Antwerp, Belgium (2019); V22, London, UK; Mathew NYC, NY; Seventeen, London, UK; Musée Estrine, Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, France; DRAF, London, UK; Jakob Kroon Galerie, Stockholm, Sweden; Westminster Waste, London, UK; and “Bloomberg New Contemporaries,” ICA, London, UK.

Emily Furr (b. 1978, St. Louis, MO) received her MFA from Hunter College, NY in 2018. She has had a solo show at Sargent’s Daughter, NY and been included in exhibitions at Marinaro Gallery, NY; Galerie Maria Bernheim, Zurich, Switzerland and Collar Works, Troy, NY.

Kristina Lee (b. 1986) received her MFA from Columbia University. She has had solo exhibitions at Rear Window Galley, NY and Garis & Hahn, NY. Group exhibitions include exhibitions at Marinaro Gallery, NY; Signal Gallery, Brooklyn, NY; and Thierry Goldberg Gallery, New York, NY.

Dana Lok (b. 1988 in Pennsylvania, USA) received her MFA from Columbia University, New York in 2015 and her BFA from Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh in 2011. She has had solo exhibitions at Chewday’s, London; Clima, Milan; and Bianca D’Alessandro, Copenhagen, DK; Group exhibitions include shows at Teen Party, Brooklyn, NY; American Medium, NY; Miguel Abreu Gallery, NY; Room East Gallery, NY; and Judith Charles Gallery, NY. Lok was included in New American Paintings, Northeast Issue #128, curated by Laura Phipps.

Tracy Thomason (b. 1984, Maryland, U.S.) received an MFA from Cranbrook Academy of Art and a BFA from the Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore. Solo exhibitions include Marinaro Gallery, NY; Cuevas Tilleard Gallery, NY; and a two-person exhibition with Peter Halley at Teen Party, Brooklyn, NY. Select group exhibitions include Brennan & Griffin, NY; Andrehn-Schiptjenko, Stockholm; Asya Geisberg, NY; James Fuentes, NY; 106 Green, Brooklyn, NY; Dan Devening Projects, Chicago, IL; and Blyth Gallery, Imperial College London, UK.

Johannes VanDerBeek (b. 1982, Baltimore, MD) graduated from Cooper Union in 2004. He has had solo exhibitions at Paris London Hong Kong, Chicago, IL; Marinaro, NY; Halsey McKay Gallery, East Hampton; Zach Feuer Gallery, NY; and Brand New Gallery, Milan, Italy. His work has been featured in High, Low & In Between at White Flag Projects in St. Louis, A Disagreeable Object at Sculpture Center, Long Island City, National Projects at PS1/MoMA, Amazement Park: Stan, Sara and Johannes VanDerBeek at the Tang Museum at Skidmore College, Personal Freedom, Portugal Arte 10 Biennial and Trapdoor, an exhibition organized by the Public Art Fund at MetroTech. VanDerBeek lives and works in Brooklyn, NY.

Ryan Wilde (b. 1980) is currently pursuing her MFA at Queens College. Before transitioning into art, Wilde was an internationally recognized hat designer. She designed for labels ranging from Patricia Field to Henri Bendel. Over the past decade her hats have been featured in magazines such as Vogue and Forbes. In 2016 she left the fashion industry to pursue sculpture. Her current work utilizes the millinery process to create art objects that resemble hats without any of the familiar functionality. She has been included in exhibitions at the Spring Break Art Show NY; AIR Gallery, Brooklyn, NY; Marinaro Gallery, NY; and the Knockdown Center, Queens, NY.