Roq la Rue Gallery

Presents

Ronald Kurniawan

Femke Hiemstra

David Ho

Opening Friday February 9th 6-9pm

Show runs through March 3rd

Click on images or artist's name for gallery.

Roq la Rue is pleased to present a show by three artists who all work very differently yet share a commonality in their use of lively and fantastical subject matter. All artists explore the ideas of the enigmatic and the ways our minds try to map the unknowable, whether it be the question of life after death and the idea of redemption, the maps the human brain imposes on nature via language, or an untold story.

Ronald Kurniawan’s paintings are inspired by ideograms, syllables, letterforms, beasts and heroic landscapes. With a belief (or hope) that the sublime could co-exist with the mundane, he creates a visual language where wilderness and civilization merges happily together in a surrealistic,riotous jumble. He paints realistic natural environments and then breaks up the tranquil scenery with vibrant juxtaposed imagery taking the shape of icons, letterforms, and unusual wildlife...everything interacting on several planes, with the letter and structures sometimes substituting the wildlife itself. These works explore the notion of symbols and language as a grid we use to map the world around us.

Femke Hiemstra’s meticulously tight, jewel like mixed media paintings are homes to a dark fairytale land where inanimate objects come to life and frolic with animal neighbors. Lollipops become ship captains, Strawberries become giant wrestlers, and vegetables become Halloween gods with lantern eyes. Femke, like Ronald, also uses typography in her work, using words from various languages and letters in her paintings to further enhance the narrative while still retaining a playful sense of mystery, or as a visual device to frame in the scenery, as if you were looking at her world through a secret window. Drawing from a range of influences, from firework wrappers to Japanese woodblock prints, Femke’s use of both pop culture detritus and child-like fantasy create a vibrant playground for the imagination, with each piece looking like a cover for a fantastical adventure book, which is left up to the viewer to imagine the story inside.

David Ho’s work is created digitally, yet has the feel and look of aged watercolors. The series he is exhibiting,” Candice the Ghost” is a short departure from his more dark and sinister work. The series is devoted to a story about a little girl who dies and becomes a ghost. Her desire to become human forces her to look upon the human race with jealousy and rage - a kind of love/hate relationship. But with help from the gods, she ultimately learns to control her inner demons, attain inner peace and help mankind. This parable uses Eastern imagery and philosophy as it’s map, though the journey Candice must make will look familiar to anyone who has looked inward at the dark side within.