The Catskill Art Space (CAS) exhibit May 4 showed  pieces by four artists, each with unique techniques and messages.

Debra Pearlman photographs the spontaneity of children at play, and then processes the images in a manner that pushes the boundaries between photography and sculpture. The pieces shown here are UV prints on aluminum, which is processed in a lab, and then bent so that the piece represents a physical gesture. They are reaching, grasping, somersaulting, or suspended in air.

Ms. Pearlman works in Brooklyn, and claims her most effective teacher has been Leon Golub, who taught her to “push the edge”. She can be reached at debrapearlman1@gmail.com; Instagram: @debra.pearlman.

Amy Yoes constructs sculptures of wood, ceramic parts, fabric, styrofoam, and false eyelashes, which are painted, and either encased in a wood and glass frame or set in open space. She often uses monochromatic/dichromatic tones because of the focus on form that the limitation creates, and calls the pieces a “special conundrum”. She invites the viewer to form their own interpretation and react according to their interests and situation. “Meaning is fluid and changes over time”. Her favorite era is the 80’s, when there was an emphasis on graphic images. 

She teaches at the Art Institute of Chicago where she teaches screen-printing on fabric, and loves switching to various media.

Samantha Modder grew up in Sri Lanka and gained an MFA at Wahington University in St. Louis. Her mother is from Nigeria, where the Yoruba language is spoken. “Jagun”, the repeated title word in her display, in Yoruba, means “warrior” or “fight war”. Her wall drawings, which are originally done in ball point ink, and then digitally processed and transferred to wallpaper panels, depict women wearing ceremonial headdresses. It depicts layers of figurines on the hats, which is a common theme of ceremonial masks.

Another scenario depicted in ink is “Field of Lost Hair Ties”, which tells the story of a woman using up her entire package of hair ties, and yet when she goes to the local store for more, finds there a pile of ash. Her world is gone. 

The two scenes in the same exhibit are separate chapters in the same book, according to the artist, with the main message of” how our imagination helps us process the world”, similar to the manner a child questions everything it confronts. The display also comments on our contemporary condition, confronting questions of power and exploitation.

Lenore Malen’s photography is predominantly a display of images of friends in the art world who joined a utopian society she formed twenty years ago. It was meant to be a parody on the Societe d’harmonie universelle formed by German hypnotist-philosopher Franz Mesmer. He was a well known proponent of healing powers through “animal magnetism” and, receiving support by Marie Antoinette in pre-revolution France, formed an Institute which trained practitioners.

Lenore and her friends travelled in Europe with her satirical communal project, during the period of the popularity of communes (such as Oneida, in NYS). Her photo of three figures with aluminum headdresses in the desert is meant to be a gentle satire of the pseudo spirituality of a cult. Her photo of a man standing on a cliff overlooking the Grand Canyon points to the enormity of the landscape beside the man’s curiosity and vulnerability. She can be reached at lenore.malen@gmail.com;  and www.lenoremalen.com.

The exhibit is on display through June 22, Friday and Saturday 11 a.m. -5 p.m. and Sunday 11 a.m. - 3 p.m. The Catskill Art Space is located at 48 Main Street, Livingston Manor, NY 12758.  Contact them at sally@catskillartspace.org or 646-696-1044.