Gritty Rituals

Gritty Rituals is an exhibition that joins three artists: Lauren Comito,  John O’Connor, and Peter Schenck. Each artist brings an almost  religious reverence to their imagery, but their laser focus is aimed  squarely at distinctively secular iconography: the human figure, post 

consumer waste, advertisements, art history and text based narratives  that reflect life’s absurdity. Rich color, compositional density, repetition  of personal symbols, and mix of high and low culture can all be found in  their work. Monk-like in their devotion to their craft and imagery, each  artist toils not for the lofty goal of a heavenly afterlife, but to embody and  redirect the gritty aspects of the modern world’s physical and visual  assault on ourselves.  

Each artist fuses the complexity of contemporary daily life with deep  investigations into defining moments of art history. O’Conner’s works on  paper manifest the color intensity and detail found in medieval  illuminated manuscripts. He painstakingly renders his images in color  pencil with the dedication of a 15th century old master, fusing them with  high octane 21st century commercial logos, car advertisements, and  intentionally nonsensical narratives. Comito and Schenck look to  cubism and 20th century abstraction, but intertwine those daunting  subjects with their own low brow aesthetics of cartoon figuration and  1980’s graphic design. While humor abounds in Comito and Schenck’s  visual world, there is a dramatic tone in their work as well, as if their  irreverent figures and structures are armoring themselves against the  precarious world we all inhabit. 

Lauren Comito's art transforms the overlooked into the profound.  Drawing inspiration from everyday objects such as discarded  packaging, she begins with abstract forms that evolve into complex,  meaningful structures. In Comito's work, these ordinary items serve as  potent symbols of impermanence and serve as a connection to our  consumer society. Through symmetry and repetition, she constructs  figures that emerge from abstraction, inviting viewers to engage in  pareidolia—perceiving faces, watchful eyes, portals, and more within  her compositions. Her colorful, totemic, Rorschach-like figures explode  onto the canvas, confronting viewers while offering a playful  counterpoint to their serious undertones. Comito creates celestial  beings and intricate structures that are deliberately convoluted and  challenging to decipher, prompting us to question the psychic impact of  our contemporary landscape on our consciousness. 

John O’Connor transforms disparate forms of information and data  through idiosyncratic processes, creating abstract shapes, forms,  patterns, and text. O’Connor utilizes text in myriad ways: from jotting  down miniscule process notes to rendering visually complex cursive and  block letters in his own invented fonts. His works give visual form to  fraught moments when an individual's intentions and desires are  affected, opposed, or concretely influenced by a more powerful natural,  political, or psychological force.

Peter Schenck’s paintings abstract and stretch elements of the classical  still life and portraiture, serving to illuminate the ephemeralness of life.  Schenck also focuses on the inward life of the studio artist. Paint  brushes, palettes, skulls, pedestals, paint tubes and the artist himself all  jostle for attention in his world of gallows humor. He manifests the  anxiety of art historical influence, but the ecstasy as well, implementing  Picassoid figures, Gustonesque landscapes, and mid century  abstraction in a frequent painterly loop. The understanding of painting in  the wake of such powerful artists is palpable, but no less so is  Schenck’s obvious delight in adapting their discoveries to his own  purposes. 

In "Gritty Rituals," Comito, O'Connor, and Schenck engage in a powerful  act of psychological sublimation, transforming the mundane into the  extraordinary. Their works serve as complex defensive mechanisms,  deflecting, digesting, and reinterpreting the bombardment of modern life.  Through meticulous craft and inventive composition, each artist creates a  visual language that both confronts and transmutes our daily experiences.  This exhibition invites viewers to witness how art can process the  psychological weight of our contemporary landscape, offering new  perspectives on the objects, information, and cultural icons that surround  us. "Gritty Rituals" ultimately reveals the profound in the everyday,  challenging us to reconsider our relationship with the world we inhabit and  the inner landscapes we cultivate.