chashama and + aRt are pleased to present, An Island Now Peopled, a two-person exhibition built around a central collaborative sculpture by Abby Goodman and Cindy Stockton Moore.  The artists’ shared interest in the danger and lure of the natural environment is reflected in their individual bodies of work and in the large-scale construction they will be assembling together on-site.

This elaborate, makeshift structure will be a tiered observation platform built entirely from reused, donated and found materials.  The intuitive process of assembly will take place within the gallery walls over a five-day period in which the artists will respond to both the materials at-hand and the space.  Over the course of the exhibition, viewers will be invited to climb onto (and into) the wooden construction  providing an additional performative aspect.  The title of the piece, “An Island Now Peopled” references Robinson Crusoe, whose spirit of material invention and self-sufficiency pervades the duo’s collaborative process.

In the surrounding gallery space, Abby Goodman will present Anima, an ongoing series of paintings and sculptures. Comprised of organic and man-made materials, this series focuses on the intersection between man and nature.  Complete with beautiful beasts, barren landscapes, and a cavalcade of misfit champions, Abby’s illusive world addresses the human condition and its effect on the human spirit. This imagery acts as a harbinger, yet functions as a symbol of hope.

Cindy Stockton Moore will be exhibiting the Actum Agere series of works on paper. ‘Actum Agere’ (to do what has already been done) is an accumulation of sifted images, in which paintings are abbreviated, reevaluated, unpacked and sorted.   Culled from a series of cult films and staged photographs, each loosely painted component shows a fragment of an unfolding but evasive narrative.  Themes of unease within nature, impending danger, and vulnerability connect the disparate scenes.   In addition to this gridded grouping of over fifty watercolor and gouache paintings,  large-scale encaustic paintings further build on this concept while incorporating the intricate woodwork of the collaborative sculpture.

Abby Goodman and Cindy Stockton Moore have worked in collaboration over the past twelve years. Their most recent projects include ‘Fort Tree’ (2010) and  ’Salvage’ (2009) which were featured in Figment’s season long sculpture garden on Governors Island, New York, NY.  Working almost exclusively with found, donated, and discarded materials, they create objects of curiosity inspired by fantasies of self-sufficiency. At the core of their large scale whimsical sculptures is a shared respect for materials, a commitment to reuse, and an underlying belief in the possibilities of communal effort.

Abby Goodman, a Brooklyn-based artist, creates an autobiographical pastiche inspired by daily life experience, dreams, and journeys.  She was recently chosen as a featured artist in the Bombay Sapphire Artisan Series curated by Rush Philanthropic Arts Foundation in NYC, as well as featured in the Dumbo Arts Festival through Brooklyn Arts Project, and Water’s Edge at Chashama 461 Gallery in Harlem. Abby Goodman is a current resident of the Chashama Residency program in NYC. She received her MFA in Sculpture from Syracuse University in 2002.

Cindy Stockton Moore is a Philadelphia-based artist who finds resolution in repetition.  Her work has recently been featured in the exhibitions Fahrenheit 180 at Ann Street Gallery in Newburgh, New York, Restricted Geography at 621 Gallery in Florida, The Object Direct at Heskin Contemporary in New York, and New York, New Work at Mississippi State University. She received her MFA in Painting from Syracuse University in 2001.