Mahan Gallery is pleased to present Pallid Spell, an exhibition of paintings by Kelsey Henderson and photography by Ben Grieme.
Kelsey Henderson’s work is a brutally honest study in perception and attraction. Her painting style is comprised of seemingly invisible layers which connect to her subjects like skin. Lying at the heart of her work, the emphasis on the skin enables the artist to continue exploring the idea of the Platonic Crush, an attraction to beauty devoid of sex, ignoring gender and embracing physical and emotional flaws. Using a desaturated palette, these excruciatingly pale portraits become almost translucent; the artist’s perception on and through the subjects’ skin. Bruises, scars, veins and tendons shine through, not as imperfections, but emblems of beauty. Describing these obsessions, the collection of crushes, Henderson says, “The people I select are neither flawless nor of a conventional charm; rather, their raw and real beauty creates a uniqueness which draws interest to my paintings.”
Henderson was born in Massachusetts in 1982 and received her BFA in painting from the Rhode Island School of Design. She has shown nationally and is currently living and working in Brooklyn, New York.
Ben Grieme frames the foundation of his artistic inspiration and aesthetic around his formative years growing up in the midwest. Days made up of skateboarding behind grocery stores and nights spent traveling with bands as they played house shows. Spending years around other creatives he uses his personal history as a creative reservoir. His current series of work documents the south and midwest through portraits and landscapes.
Grieme was born in Ohio in 1979 and received his BFA in photography at the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, CA. He has shown across the country and is currently living and working in Brooklyn, New York.
The Mahan Gallery presents the work of contemporary artists in a variety of media, including painting, photography, and sculpture. Gallery hours are Tuesday – Saturday, 11am – 6pm and by appointment.
Curator(s)
Kelly Cousins, Jacquie Mahan
