Stranger Factory Presents: Andrew Bell & Kelly Denato’s THE GREAT ESCAPE, April 6th

Ladies, gents, freaks, geeks and neighbourhood gentle giants! I hope you’ve been saving your pennies because April is turning into quite the big deal here in CP land. You’ve been hearing plenty about Circus Posterus’ Japan group exhibition, Monsters & Misfits II, along with Amanda Louise Spayd’s solo show, Forgotten Finery, at Rivet Gallery. But it doesn’t stop there: crashing smack-dab in the middle of the action is The Great Escape from Andrew Bell and Kelly Denato, kicking off April 6th at Stranger Factory. The dynamic duo are blowing into town to show off their newest 2- and 3-dimension works and given the WIPs and teasers that have been circulating around the web these past few weeks, it’s going to be a doozy (fingers crossed for no site crashes this round!). Here’s a snippet from the press release:

The debilitating feeling of heartbreak; the self-destructive spiral of past emotions and memories; the overwhelming feeling of social suffocation — they’re the less gracious experiences in life that we all inevitably encounter and Andrew Bell and Kelly Denato bring them to the fore in The Great Escape – an exhibition of new drawings, paintings and sculptures from the Brooklyn-based artists.

Combining tragic humor and delicate elegance, the artists wade the terrain of a new reality: a reality of pushing forward after shedding the skin of a previous life – be it a love left behind or old fears and insecurities now put to rest.

Many creatures in nature possess innate defense mechanisms – poison, quills, ink, spots, stripes, white winter coats. People on the other hand must create them. Oftentimes it’s not a predator we are trying to evade but ourselves; we are bundles of electricity, blood, and spirit – constantly moving, feeling, thinking, sweating, breathing. Our bodies are both containment and confinement.  The circumstances that keep us contained, confined, and safe are as thin and delicate as ribbons. – Kelly Denato

Very exciting stuff is in store for us next month! Enjoy the handful of Great Escape preview images below and stay tuned for more sneaks in the coming days!