OZANEAUX Art Space: 2010

Helen Dennis + Albert Fung

Curated by Nikki Schiro

Orange and purple look very different, they heighten the experience of the other, however, unlike true complimentary colors, they do not optically argue. When we look a little deeper, we find both colors analogous to red. This is a very simple metaphor to the kind of relationship I am interested in as a curator. I like to take work from my peers--dedicated, hard working artists who are on to something--and create juxtapositions that heighten the phenomenological experience of their work and, upon further investigation, reveal their relationships to one another.
Helen Dennis was my classmate at the Hunter College M.F.A. Program. Albert Fung works in a studio across the hall from myself. Each has their own methodical process of layers, control and a fair allowance for lack of control. Helen compresses, Albert builds out. They reconstruct the feeling, experience or idea of a place that is familiar and strange.

Opening Reception: April 1, 2010

Helen Dennis and her work

Helen Dennis was born in the UK and now resides in Brooklyn, NY. She studied her BA (Honors) at the University of the Creative Arts in Canterbury and achieved her MFA at Hunter College. Dennis has been awarded a fellowship from Aljira Center for Contemporary Art as well as a photographic fellowship from The International House, NYC. Dennis had attended art residencies in Beijing, Cyprus and within the UK. She has participated in various exhibitions worldwide and in the US with the support of Queens Council of the Arts, Kent County Council, New Jersey State Council on of the Arts, and South East Arts UK. Dennis has recently completed a public art commission for the Downtown Alliance of New York. www.helendennis.com

Opening Reception at OZANEAUX Art Space

Nikki Schiro and Selena Pisani, photo by Collin Gray

Albert Fung and his son, Rafi

Albert Fung was born in San Francisco in 1970. He studied at Rochester Institute of Technology (BFA, 1992) and Massachusetts College of Art (MFA, 1996). He lives and works in Queens, NY.His body of work consists of abstract landscapes; terrains that shutter something of the familiar but are completely developed of his own vision. Fung has worked for 20+ years in the studio, trying to set down this vision. He has exhibited at a wide variety of venues over the last decade. More recently, his work has been in Armoryfest, at the Clocktower Building in Long Island City, in an exhibition curated by Karen Fitzgerald. Last spring, he exhibited works at the alternative venue Fushing Town Hall in an exhibition curated by Paurl Farinacci, Lilan Engel, Winn Rea and Caroline Sun. www.alfung.com