no idea but in things: Jim condron and Dean Kessmann

This October, we're bringing together two artists whose work approaches perception from opposite directions—Jim Condron's sculpture and Dean Kessmann's photography. About Jim Condron | Dean Kessmann no idea but in things Opening Reception: Saturday, October 3, 2- 4 PM Objects rarely speak for themselves — and yet, somehow, they say the most. MONO PRACTICE presents no idea but in things , a two-person exhibition with sculptor Jim Condron and photographer Dean Kessmann — two artists working in entirely different media, both drawn to the overlooked things in everyday life. Condron builds his sculptures from objects that have outlived their original purpose — plastic, wood, metal, gathered over years and bound together with paint and salvaged material into new, hybrid forms. Oil paint, plaster, terra cotta, fur, drywall, even crab claws and eggshells. The results are strange, funny, and unexpectedly moving — something of our own humanity, still lingering in the things we've cast aside. Even the titles feel less written than found: So sweet and so cold. Home is a failed idea. Kessmann photographs the city he calls home, letting his daily walking practice guide what he sees. His images trace a restless back-and-forth between the recognizable and the abstract — where a scene stops being a scene and becomes something closer to pure form. For this show, he's given one wall over to a dense field of prints, unframed and unglazed, so the texture of the paper and the trace of the artist's hand come through unmediated. Together, the two bodies of work circle the same question: does meaning already live in things, or does it only take shape the moment we choose to look? Read more Toggle Installation Sculpture Photography