MASAAKI SATO Masaaki Sato’s newsstand imagery grows out of an ongoing processing of visual information inspired by living in New York surrounded by it’s vibrant culture. In his paintings, the artist seeks to remove barriers and broaded horizons by exposing the viewer to foreign ideas and notions of perception. With singular concentration and seriousness of purpose, he pointedly critiques but also praises the consumer culture he observes.

LAUREN BERGMAN In this new series of large scale works on paper the artist continues to explore imagery depicting the idealized female. The work probes a loss of cultural optimism and the ongoing irresolution of such post-feminist issues as sexuality versus intellectualism, passivity and acquiescence versus ambition. With references to mid-twentieth century imagery and advertising text the work courts irony and the inner narratives are playful, yet confront the conflicting expectations of contemporary culture and the intricately complex ways in which we form our identities.

ERNEST TROVA While best known for his internationally renowned series of Falling Man sculpture, this exhibit finds Ernest Trova exploring a quite different artistic vocabulary, eschewing the polished engineering of his most famous work for a tough, visceral treatment of hot-rolled steel, oozing white plastic and found objects. While the new sculpture promises to present a fine sculptor in full command of his medium, Trova’s wry new figurative paintings are an equally powerful display of creative confidence, and an equally boisterous defiance of expectations.

TIM LIDDY Based on the illustrated box lids of vintage board games, Liddy’s recent paintings recontextualizes his subject. Painted on copper or steel in the precise dimensions of the original, the metal is then manipulated to demonstrate the exact rips, stain and tears, even the scotch tape that might be holding the cardboard box together, all accumulated from years of usage.

OTHO BRANSON Otho D. Branson’s current paintings (acrylic on paper) show a further development of ideas about dynamics, pattern, variability and perception. He reveals through the use of the color grid, a kinetic ever changing and ambiguous environment, subject to many readings. They question how art should be read and confront the issue of perception.