Transformation : Rcnstrctn Exhibition

Transformation : Rcnstrctn Exhibition September 10 – November 7

Five young artists from Shreveport, LA have used photography, oil, acrylic, SFX makeup, and watercolor to transform and capture themselves and others in order to RECONSTRUCT society’s views of sexuality, privilege, and individuality. Each of their works is a collection of personal transformations. This body of work explores the relationship between our perceptions of one another and the invisible stories that may underpin who we are. They have aimed to RECONSTRUCT common depictions of regular folk in order to remind us that, underneath our facades, we carry stories of all sorts.

EXHIBITION DATES:
September 10 – November 7

CLOSING RECEPTION:
Wednesday, November 7 5:00-7:30 PM
(During the November Artwalk)
Drinks and light refreshments will be served!

ARTIST BIOS:

STEPHANIE FERNANDEZ
Stephanie Fernandez is a psychedelic/surrealist/horror/drag SFX makeup artist, canvas artist, and photographer located in Shreveport, LA. Her art is born from an untraditional beauty that lives in her dreams that can only be represented through explosions of color and the macabre. A concoction of horror motifs, drag make up influences, psychology, and feminism come to inform Stephanie’s psychedelic transformations. For her, her work is the physical manifestations of the fears and inequalities that plague our lives. They are creepy, anxious feelings framed in color that fall snugly into the niche between special effects cosmetics and fine art.

KEI THOMAS
Kei Thomas is a photographer inspired by contrast, drama, femininity, and exploration. He has always enjoyed capturing and collecting things that have felt special to him. As a portrait photographer, he says that he feels most like a collector. He is of the belief that unique interpersonal moments are every bit as collectible as items more tangible. Whether these moments are forged by chance or crafted from scratch, they must preserved.

JOCO
Johnathan Courter, AKA Joco, is a multidisciplinary artist from Shreveport, Louisiana. He attended 4 years of the BFA program at Louisiana Tech University with a focus on photography; there he discovered his interest in oil painting. Since school, Joco has been exploring oil paint and experimenting with the abstraction of colors and textures; drawing inspiration from music, movies, fellow online artists & his own emotion filled subconscious.

AIDEN POLING
Aiden Poling is a native of Shreveport and an active member of the SBC theatre scene, both onstage and off. Although much of his life is dedicated to the stage, he is an avid visual artist as well, and earned his BA in both Theatre and Studio Art after graduating from Centenary College in 2017. Having always been drawn to the human form, his artwork has a tendency to lean towards portraiture and figure studies as subject matter. Aiden hopes to expose snippets of the unseen aspects of the human experience through his artwork–the raw parts of ourselves that we often leave guarded and hidden, the facets of our personalities that sometimes don’t make sense– and make them visible for all to see.

KARMEN REED
Karmen Reed is a young Shreveport artist who primarily works with watercolors. She likes to feature family, friends, and empowering painting of men and women like herself.