Sloan Fine Art is pleased to present “Just Off,” a group exhibition curated by Peter Drake and Alix Sloan in the front gallery and “Always Moving,” a solo exhibition by Ryan Scully in the project room.

The most profoundly uncanny moments in life aren’t recognizable as such. They are like a ringing in the ears or a frame permanently askew, the missing object on a mantelpiece that lets you know that the scene has been disturbed. For “Just Off,” curators Peter Drake and Alix Sloan have brought together eleven uncannily like-minded emerging artists. With disconnected gestures, anatomical drawings of non-existent creatures, detritus still lives that remind one of ceramic figurines and everyday environments disrupted by unsettling forces, their imagery is similarly, subtly, disquietingly unhinged. The collected works are at their core familiar and beautiful but together they are undeniably and intriguingly “Just Off.”

“Just Off” is curated by Peter Drake and Alix Sloan. With works by Jean-Pierre Arboleda, Miriam Berger, Dina Brodsky, Lisa Lebofsky, Amy Mahnick, Roberto Osti, Lauri Panopoulos, Nic Rad, Jean-Pierre Roy, Melanie Vote and Mitra Walter.

Peter Drake is an artist and curator living in New York City. Curated exhibitions include “Normal” at Linda Warren Gallery and “The Burbs” at DFN Gallery.

Ryan Scully grew up in the shadow of the DOE Hanford Nuclear Site in Richland, WA. The unique influence of dependence on a controversial industry, a striking desert landscape and the ominous importance of resources deeply impacted the young artist’s development. In “Always Moving,” his canvases are populated with rough landscapes and amorphous characters in a state of anxious flux. Rocky overhangs struggle to break free. Threatening clouds sweep in and out of frame. Multiple inhabitants scurry towards perceived safety or to join in a group offense. These elements share an unsettling yet cooperative relationship. They are in a state of push and pull, an ever twisting but also evolving relationship in which life and it’s environment struggle against each other yet ultimately become equal and find space to co-exist.

Ryan Scully earned his BFA from Central Washington University and his MFA from the New York Academy of Art. His work has been exhibited nationwide and will be included in “New American Paintings, No. 86” on newsstands Spring of 2010. He lives and works in Brooklyn.