May 6th – June 3rd 2016

PRESS RELEASE
CARDOZA FINE ART
Contact- Pablo Cardoza
t: 713-386-9708
e: cardoza.fine.art@gmail.com
WEB : cardozaartgallery.com

Portals and Prophecies : A solo show featuring new paintings by Melinda Laszczynski

Cardoza Fine Art 1320 Nance 77002

May 6th- June 3rd

Opening June 3rd  7pm – 10pm

Gallery hours Fri-Sun 1pm-6pm

Cardoza Fine Art is pleased to present Portals and Prophecies, an exhibition of paintings by Houston-based artist Melinda Laszczynski. The works in the show use both traditional and nontraditional materials, including latex, acrylic, graphite, paint skins, and holographic films that act as windows and entryways into another world. These paintings, described by the artist as “portals,” reference the body in an attempt to entice the viewer to be transported into the work. Their reflective surfaces further this otherworldliness and provide opportunities for obstructed self-reflection.

Other works in the show flirt the edge between hard-edged and messy abstraction, poking fun at full-bodied machismo gestural movements. These paintings are created using quiet color palettes and subtle gestures that form thick, impastoed layers of paint resembling over-iced cakes. This resemblance is furthered by the way the paintings spill over the surfaces of their panels, forming chunky layers of build-up indicative of Laszczynski’s painting process. What these pieces lack in otherworldliness, they make up for in lushness and tactile pleasure. 

Portals and Prophecies combines two facets of Laszczynski’s practice: the desire for escape into another world, and the feminist critique of abstraction. When butted up against each other, these two kinds of paintings both play off of each other and completely contradict one another. It is in this middle ground, where gesture merges with escapism, that the artist truly is able to transport the viewer. 

Melinda Laszczynski received her MFA in Painting and Drawing from the University of Houston in 2015 and her BFA in Painting from the Cleveland Institute of Art in 2010.  She recently had solo shows at galleryHOMELAND and Matchbox Gallery in Houston, TX. She has participated in group shows at multiple venues across Texas, including Galleri Urbane (Dallas), Lawndale Art Center (Houston), and was recently included in the 2015 Amarillo Museum of Art sculpture biennial. She has also shown at Forum Artspace in Cleveland, OH and SOHO20 in NY, NY. Her work is included in the collections of University Hospitals in Cleveland, Ohio, and UT Tyler in Tyler, Texas. Laszczynski was featured in New American Paintings MFA Annual #111 (2014) and #123 (2016).