Three Piece Suit

Exhibition

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October 2 – November 28, 2009

Opening Reception: Friday, October 2, 6-10 p.m.

Rebus Works is pleased to present Three Piece Suit featuring the work from Celia Gray, Andrew Hayes and Kreh Mellick. The exhibition opens with a First Friday reception from 6–10 p.m. on October 2. Additionally, the reception features music by the Monologue Bombs and Zapruder Point, the Tacos el Corral truck, and Aviator Brewing Company’s new Oktoberfest brew. The exhibition continues through November 28.

Each working in a distinct medium—Celia Gray, encaustic; Andrew Hayes, metal; Kreh Mellick, ink—these artist all reside in Asheville, North Carolina, and each completed the Core fellowship at Penland School of Crafts. Together they present a fresh view of Asheville arts—from Gray’s dreamy, subtle encaustics to Haye’s steel landscape sculptures of vistas punctuated by telephone poles to Mellick’s beautiful and haunting drawings.

Celia Gray’s soft, ethereal encaustics are rich but quiet, layered investigations of the balance between repair and decay. Through scraping, scaring, melting and rebuilding, Gray’s process includes constant building and wrecking. She sees this process as connected to and inspired by landscape—and the relationship between control and disorder. Gray completed the Core fellowship in 2003, and has since received a Bachelor of Arts in Painting from the University of North Carolina at Asheville. She has exhibited recently at the Upstairs Gallery in Greenville, South Carolina as well as Blue Spiral 1 in Asheville.

Andrew Hayes draws connections between the landscape and stories—and visualizes the feeling of “the road passing under you.” His structures recreate the atmosphere of the open road, with the land a softly polished metal and the interruptions (those poles) jutting up and out, reminding us of far away mile markers or perhaps distant memories. Prior to completing the Core fellowship this year, Hayes received a Bachelor of Fine Arts in sculpture from Northern Arizona University. Recently, he has exhibited at Blue Spiral in Asheville and the Rocky Mount Arts Center.

Kreh Mellick’s drawings are inspired by folklore history and often capture portraits attached to a not-quite-known story. Mellick often draws lithe ladies, sparsely rendered in black, white and red, recreating awkward moments and “ghostly interactions.” The work featured in Three Piece Suit was completed during her recent residency in Iceland. She completed her Core fellowship in 2009, and received a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Illustration from Maine College of Art. Mellick has exhibited at the Space Gallery in Portland, Maine as well at the Cattle Track Compound in Scottsdale, Arizona.