PROJECT Gallery Presents FIGURATIVELY SPEAKING

WHEN:          Opening: Thursday, October 10, 7pm – 10pm

         Exhibit runs through: November 10

WHERE:        PROJECT Gallery: 1553 North Cahuenga Blvd. Hollywood 90028

WHAT:           PROJECT Gallery is proud to present FIGURATIVELY SPEAKING; a group exhibition featuring Brian Batt, Erin Hammond and Christina Angelina and their unique and vastly varying styles of figurative work through: (respectively) reconstructed portraiture collage work and pointillism, expressive emotionalism and eclectic romanticism, and the examination of raw beauty in the unexpected.

ABOUT THE ARTISTS:

BRIAN BATT

Brian Batt is an east coast native currently based in New York City. He took his first painting course while still in junior high at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts and would go on to graduate from Hartford Art School in Connecticut as an illustration major. Immediately upon graduation, portrait requests started coming in. References were often photos of family members that had passed away, occasionally, children that had died tragically young.   When the paintings were finished, the surviving family members would be overwhelmed with emotion, reeling from likeness and spirit that were captured. The power in these moments had a profound impact on Brian and led him to pursue portraiture more seriously.

He began painting in the pixelated/mosaic style that Chuck Close trail blazed, interpreting the technique through his own style.   Pointillism or Pixel Pointillism involves applying distinct dots or squares of pure color in patterns to form an image. Whether working in photorealism or pointillism, Brian combines aspects of classic portraiture with pop cultural iconography. He explores the idea of an image consisting of thousands of smaller shapes, each shape being essential to the larger picture. His paintings have landed on the walls of John Krasinski and Reese Witherspoon and his work is regularly commissioned for important galas and charity events.   For more information on Brian please visit: http://battstudios.com

 Keith by Brian Batt

  

ERIN HAMMOND

Erin Nicole Hammond was born in Milwaukee, WI. She grew up mainly near the cornfields and lakes near the border of Illinois. She studied Fine Art with an emphasis on painting and sculpture at a university in her community; University of Wisconsin Parkside. She has lived since then in the small town of Caledonia right outside of downtown Racine, until recently making a move to Los Angeles.

Being a girl of many traits, collaborating painting, acting, and modeling Erin has has been known to express a sort of fashion statement through her work as well as an eclectic sense of style in her pieces. She loves to get away and create and cites the existence and process of life, often conveying both the surreal and unflattering parts of life and portraying women as her subject. A lot of her work is created first by writing as odd as that sounds which later turns to sketching, and later into visual understanding. She has graced gallery walls nationwide and her work held in private collections throughout the U.S. For more information on Erin please visit: http://www.erinhammond.com/artist/

Hanna by Erin Hammond

CHRISTINA ANGELINA

Fine artist, street artist, photographer and producer: Angelina’s unique talent lies within every image she constructs, in every single stroke of her brush, in every color she mixes, in every mystical story behind her work.  Her education varies from a BFA in Art in from UCLA to NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts and the Art Center College of Design.  Most recently, Christina completed several paintings and window dressings exclusively for Christian Louboutin at Neiman Marcus Beverly Hills (the paintings have now become part of Neiman Marcus’ permanent collection). In September of 2011 she created the cover art for Rodrigo Y Gabriela’s latest album, “Area 52”.  Angelina has also appeared as herself in several documentaries, films and most recently the music video for Van Hunt's latest single, "Eyes Like Pearls," which debuted in December on Rolling Stone. Angelina is a process-oriented artist and her objective is to find the temporal and raw moments that define a lifetime and then cram all the details and nuances into one image. When she isn’t bound by professional commitments or finishing a painting in her studio you can find her wheat-pasting her drawings to the beautifully weathered and sun-stained city walls. For more information on Christina please visit http://www.christinaangelina.com