MARCH ART RAMBLE

FIRST FRIDAY ART SHOW FEATURING:

KAREN CONLEY

&

THAD MCRAE

Join us at Cruces Creatives Friday March 1st for the opening show of Karen Conley and Thad McRae.

Karen Conley is a recent BFA graduate from the Department of Art at NMSU and works in painting and photography.  Thad McRae is currently enrolled in the NMSU art program and works in both ceramic sculpture and painting.

About Karen Conley

Portraits and Vernacular photography form the basis of most of my work. These photographs, common in many cultures are a window into memory, identity and family dynamics. Because they are often disconnected from experienced memory, they are rich in creative possibility having the potential to create a speculative history or new memory. At first glance, they represent the normative idea of a traditional family photo, capturing moments in our collective culture. When I look at them, I do not trust the surface meaning. I know the camera has exposed another possibility and I want to create a story that is at odds with the apparent subject matter.

About Thad McRae

Thad McRae’s practice is not-unlike collage, combining contemporary imagery, both figurative and abstract, with personal totems and iconography. His works function as self-reflection and analysis by engaging with the playful and unexpected. Rarely is he attempting to make the materials what they are not. Instead, the objects created from these materials are read as specifically new in their existence. The ceramics revel in lush textures and vivid colors, utilizing the clay’s plasticity to delineate and restrict, while the two-dimensional renderings seek to emulate stacking and compression through layering. These collage compositions seek to extract a sour-candied joy in their dialogue with the viewer. Thad McRae isn’t here to crack skulls, he’s here to hug it out, bro.