Upcoming Exhibitions
From the Ground Out
Luke Zender
October 07 - 14 2017
Gallery Hours
Monday - Friday 9:00am - 5:00pm
Artist Statement
Given the opportunity to connect with Mother Nature, our first mother, awakens the ability to access our uninhibited, playful, childlike selves. Embracing playfulness invigorates a cathartic feeling within us, allowing us to revisit our most hidden memories, our shames, our traumas. By tapping into this brief playback, we are able to retrospectively analyze our inner workings and plant the seed for a process of healing to begin.
This installation, comprised of nine visual components in conjunction with a movement exploration, represents an evaluation of my specific memories and feelings in an effort to find queer self-acceptance. In my attempts at reconnecting with Mother Nature, these memories have resurfaced, allowing me to embrace the spirit of playfulness, creation, and self-reflection.
The elements of my healing process are comprised of solitude, meditation, patience, and love, holding up the mirror to everything that makes me who I am. Through this queer looking glass, I have discovered a confidence allowing me to catalyze the beginning of a deep, full-body recovery. It is a transformation representing my journey through movement and play to embrace my pain and blend it into my art.
On this journey, I have come to appreciate the importance of embracing a sense of play to embrace a desire to heal.
Biography
Zender has migrated home to the mountains and solitude in an effort to find a deeper understanding of himself. He loves to use any and all mediums in order to express himself, though by trade he is a dancer and teacher. As an artist Luke celebrates the human experience and desires to draw out the truth in himself. The queer perspective is not only inevitable in his work but very important. Through empathy and research he plans to continue to create and share his experience.