KINK Contemporary brings another engaging exhibition to the Waterloo Arts District with “Into the Syncline,” which opens at 5 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 18.
The exhibition features three-dimensional collaged paintings by West Virginia native Sarah Esposito.
Now residing in Cleveland, the 24-year-old draws from her observations of the Appalachian Mountain ranges. In her formative years, the artist spent much of their time in the mountains observing how the terrain bends, twists and folds around itself. She would capture this in studies while journaling, sketching and painting the landscape.
“Raised in the Appalachian Mountains, being outdoors and experiencing the landscape drove my artistic practice. From traditional painting en plein air, I began to document, through watercolor paintings and sketching, moments in the landscape that I found curious while also familiar,” said Esposito. “I always found a sense of comfort while painting the landscape representationally, like being in the presence of someone that makes you feel safe and who knows you completely.”
When deciding on the title, Into the Syncline, Esposito wanted to choose something that felt the most relevant to how her work is currently evolving. “The definition of a syncline is a downward fold in the earth’s crust, whereas the anticline is the inverse. She became fascinated by the folds in the earth when observing the many layers that make up the mountains, protruding islands from lakes, and many other natural occurrences in the landscapes she has experienced throughout her life,” according to KINK’s press release.
Esposito received her BA in Studio Art from Fairmont State University in 2020 before pursuing her MFA from Kent State University, which she received in 2022.
Immersing herself in the terrain of the Midwest expanded her scope of natural environments. The piece, “Layered Memory” was thoughtfully inspired by the organic shapes in the jagged cliffs, steep inclines and rich terrain of the Ledges, a hiking trail within the Cuyahoga Valley National Park.
Another work, “Unfamiliar Color,” consists of acrylic on linen and plywood and resembles multicolored pieces of shale like one might find along a cliffside or being eroded by a mountain spring. These pieces are brightly colored with rich tonal shifts from burnt orange to a sort of ochre. One of the segments of this piece transitions from a deep crimson to luscious violet.
There is also an element in the piece which reads as mostly green. Upon closer inspection the subtle tones of yellow and blue which are found within these shapes begin to reveal themselves. The organic contours resemble soft, upholstered amoebas slithering on top of one another under a microscope or like puffy stuffed shark fins. There is an implied movement and a kinetic synergy in the way the elements of the composition seem to be caught in mid-morph.
“My artistic practice calls upon my own experience of being in an outdoor space, looking, journaling, and gathering information from different vantage points to contrast the harmony and tension in the landscape,” said Esposito. “In my research, I consider how gravity, plate shifts, and weather formed how I perceive and maneuver through the land. I am interested in the shapes of the land that derive from elements in the landscape and how they interact with each other. I am interpreting the shifts in scale within the shapes in the landscape and acknowledging what natural occurrence may have happened.”
Esposito lives and works in Cleveland and is an adjunct instructor at both Kent State University and Ashland University, teaching Introductory Level Art Appreciation, Drawing, 2D, and 3D courses.
“Into the Syncline” runs through Friday, April 7th.
The exhibition will have additional public viewings on Friday, March 3rd, from 5 to 9 p.m. and for the public closing reception on Friday, April 7th, from 5 to 9 p.m. coinciding with the Waterloo Arts District’s Walk All Over Waterloo events.
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This article appears in Feb 8-21, 2023.