We All Shine On

Why in the world are we here
Surely not to live in pain and fear
Why on earth are you there
When you’re ev’rywhere
Come and get your share
Well we all shine on
Like the moon and the stars and the sun

~Instant Karma (We All Shine On) by John Lennon

By Elin Spring

I walk into an effusion of Edie Bresler’s blue and white human silhouettes dancing across the gallery walls, wrapped around its corners, floating from the ceiling. In the intimate gallery beyond, Yorgos Efthymiadis’ hushed landscapes mesmerize with formal symmetries bathed in mystery. On the opposite side of the gallery, creatures reincarnated by the late sculptor Joseph Wheelwright prance to life, fashioned from sticks, stones and bones. From the earth to the heavens, Gallery Kayafas reawakens a feeling of connectedness in celebratory and thought-provoking works that offer inspiration during these dark days. On view through January 18^th, 2020, there will be an Artists’ Reception on First Friday, January 3rd, 2020 from 5:30 – 8:00pm.

“Stagnant Water, 2017” by Yorgos Efthymiadis (courtesy of the artist and Gallery Kayafas).

Sculpture from “Sticks, Stones & Bones” by Joseph Wheelwright (1948-2016), courtesy of the Estate of Joseph Wheelwright and Gallery Kayafas.

“4+2 participants (2+2 days, 2+2 places), 2019” Ten unique cyanotypes on archival vellum by Edie Bresler (courtesy of the artist and Gallery Kayafas).

The joy in Edie Bresler’s work is infectious, and in a way, inherent to its very design. She invites participation, whether in her cyanotype groupings of reaching hands or in her invented histories, intricately embroidered onto found “anonymous” B&W studio nudes dating from 1843-1910. Bresler infuses both bodies of work with the spark of connections, between old methods and new discoveries, and between being lost and feeling found. The deep cerulean blues of her cyanotypes pop with shining whites made by groups of people striking aspirational gestures while lying across sheets of vellum coated with light-sensitive emulsion. The groupings of prints become constellations of reaching bodies, arms outstretched with stellate fingers extending, grasping, touching. The inclusion of linear, spiral and amorphous objects accentuates the appearance an interstellar network linking us all together. Even the tiny silver magnets securing prints to the wall glitter like so many distant stars.

“5+4 participants (2+3 days, 3+3 places), 2019” Eight unique cyanotypes on archival vellum by Edie Bresler (courtesy of the artist and Gallery Kayafas). Installation photo by Elin Spring.

“Anonymous man 1880, 2018” Unique cyanotype on Japanese Kozo paper with embroidery, by Edie Bresler (courtesy of the artist and Gallery Kayafas).

In separate but related work, Bresler embroiders radiant new life onto orphaned B&W photographs, adding her own colorful photographic backdrops to craft new narratives. Vibrant threads, detailed patterns and glittery accents build intricate, rich stories out of unknowable, abandoned portraits. In a suite of four prints, Bresler re-imagines a pensive girl in various settings and clothing, one for each season, creating an entire timeline. Lost souls find new meaning in Bresler’s embroidered prints. They embellish her groupings of cyanotypes, and visa versa, making the gallery walls sparkle with possibility.

“Anonymous woman, 1855, (Summer), 2019” archival pigment print with embroidery by Edie Bresler (courtesy of the artist and Gallery Kayafas).

“Anonymous, 1910, 2019” Van Dyke print on cotton rag paper with embroidery by Edie Bresler (courtesy of the artist and Gallery Kayafas).

“Amphitheatre, 2018” by Yorgos Efthymiadis (courtesy of the artist and Gallery Kayafas).

In his series “There is a Place I Want to Take You”, Yorgos Efthymiadis evokes a longing for connection that is at once acutely personal and recognizably collective. Upon returning from his home in the US to Greece, where he was born and raised, Efthymiadis finds he has become a stranger there, caught between two cultures without belonging fully to either one. Breaking from his customary horizontal landscapes, these vertical compositions help define that constrained feeling. This series shares the spare formality and nuanced spatial relationships of Efthymiadis’ past work. But here, his predilection for parallel lines, while visually pleasing in its repetition, is emotionally unsettling in its persistent state of separation. That such a sense of separation is being experienced across cultures worldwide amplifies the psychological tension in Efthymiadis’ reserved images.

“Three Yellow Bars, 2017” by Yorgos Efthymiadis (courtesy of the artist and Gallery Kayafas).

“Antennas #1, #2, #3, 2018” by Yorgos Efthymiadis (courtesy of the artist and Gallery Kayafas).

While Efthymiadis’s images entreat a sense of isolation, glimmers of bright expectancy pierce his unpeopled compositions. The evidence of inhabitants is everywhere in the built environment he pictures, especially the densely populated apartment buildings he captures with antennas, satellite dishes, and even a rooftop telescope spiking skyward as if reaching out for connectivity against the glowing backdrop of a freshly dawning day. Although the subdued palette throughout this series confers poignancy, Efthymiadis juxtaposes his austere manmade constructions with the buoyant beauty of the natural world. A rusty door is surrounded by lush undergrowth, a flowering bush overtakes a border wall, open seas and skies, even a brightly painted fence along a winding road all proclaim an alluring, hopeful desire in Efthymiadis’ elegantly layered landscapes.

“Rusty Door, 2017” by Yorgos Efthymiadis (courtesy of the artist and Gallery Kayafas).

“Yellow Path, 2017” by Yorgos Efthymiadis (courtesy of the artist and Gallery Kayafas).

Despite their outward diversity, Bresler’s ebullience, Efthymiadis’ reserve and Wheelwright’s fanciful creatures share a stirring, persevering spirit: we all shine on, like the moon and the stars and the sun.

Gallery Kayafas will be open by appointment between December 22nd – January 1st, with regular hours resuming on January 2nd, 2020. There will be an Artists’ Reception on First Friday, January 3rd, 2020 from 5;30 – 8:00pm. For more information, go to: http://www.gallerykayafas.com/