Library Street Collective is pleased to present a group exhibition featuring Rema Ghuloum, Maya Hayuk, Anna Kunz and Jason REVOK, titled Always the Sun and on view through September 4, 2024. Always the Sun is a commanding display of abstract paintings that invite an immediate visceral connection with viewers.
Always the Sun demonstrates how these four artists imbue distinct interplays of shape and chromatic intensity to yield emotional and ethereal effects that guide the audience to think expansively about the limitlessness of abstraction beyond the confines of the compositions themselves. Utilizing a range of materials—from ink, to acrylic, to spray paint—, Hayuk’s works exhibit harmonized structures built up through the composite arrangement of color and form. The same symmetrical quality is apparent in the work of REVOK, whose handmade tools enable a precise production formula while simultaneously maintaining a level of compositional unpredictability. Ghuloum’s approach to painting is highly intuitive, often driven by the act of discovery and response to the medium itself. This process can result in complex surfaces that reveal traces of the artist’s hand and the passage of time. While Ghuloum begins her pieces on the floor before moving them to the wall, Kunz paints her canvases on the ground entirely, the physical act of production lending itself to the painting’s achieved liveliness. Through these various methods, color and shapes are layered and stained to create an ecosystem that evokes an immersive viewer experience, where the absence of contained boundaries captures sensations of movement, rhyme and rhythm.
With a focus on direct energy transmission through the use of vibrant color and the absence of realism, the artists aim to engage in a dialogue about human connection, respite through beauty, and the spiritual dimensions of art-making. "Painting is both a communal and solitary act," Ghuloum explains. "There's something deeply humanist about it, something that connects us to each other. This show is about that connection, about creating a space where our individual energies can resonate together and with the audience." The artists yearn for unity amongst themselves and their viewers, but also reflect on the concept at a global scale. With considerations of injustice, war, climate catastrophe and more at their forefronts, each piece stems from the collective desire to explore the meaningful and vulnerable aspects of abstract art in today’s sociopolitical context. While the paintings are not overtly political, they touch on deep moral and ethical questions that reflect the artists' ongoing grappling with themes of existence, belonging, and the human condition.
The title of the show comes from the breakout, post-punk underground hit song with the same name by The Stranglers. Something to be worshiped and revered, the sun is humankind’s ultimate unifying force and the perpetual source of our most basic energy. As a symbol of light and joy, it is a steadfast and reliable reminder to always keep perspective amid the challenges and pain of daily life.