Class Acts

Opening Reception: 

Saturday, February 27 · 8 – 11 pm

Exhibition Dates: 

February 27 – March 26, 2016

SUBLIMINAL PROJECTS is pleased to present Class Acts, an exhibition featuring work by Albert Reyes, Andrea Joyce Heimer, Benjamin Murphy, Jen Ray, and Sean Morris.

Class Acts features five artists whose graphic works depict raunchy, explicit, and confrontational subject matter. Each artist takes liberty to create characters within environments where the subjects and spaces engender a sense of sexual defiance, curiosity, trouble, or indifference.

Reyes and Heimer explore reclusion and rebellion within the suburban landscape while Murphy, Ray, and Morris deconstruct societal ideals of acceptable female beauty. Collectively, these artists salute a philosophy that suggests both women and men can embrace their sexuality without worrying about societal norms.

Each artist approaches his or her specific medium with humor, irony, and irreverence. By challenging popular conventions and depicting crude and obscene behavior, the art confronts the boundaries between obedience and subversion.

For artist Albert Reyes, the city of Los Angeles is his canvas and its trash is his material. Reyes finds unconventional ways to utilize the materials around him, whether it’s beer, water, found trash, or even saliva. Through observation and exploration of his local suburb, the artist responds to the world we live in and the materials we use as a culture and as a community.

Andrea Joyce Heimer creates monoscenic narrative paintings that explore the suburban landscape and the suburban experience. She is influenced by mythology, both personal and shared. Adopted as an infant, the artist struggled with feelings of disconnect from her family and community. After years of observation, Heimer uses painting as a way to piece together neighborhood stories of hysteria, conspiracy and love, often substituting her own theories to fill in missing pieces. The fragments of these tales make up her imaginative paintings.

Benjamin Murphy has mastered the craft of turning black electrical tape into a highly desirable material. His drawings are something out of a graphic novel, each image depicting a dark yet poetic narrative. His work is simple in form but complex in meaning.

Jen Ray’s drawings depict Amazonian women inhabiting decayed, semi-surrealist and strangely beautiful wastelands. These female warriors are often seen charging with bellicose flags, warring off apocalyptically upturned vehicles, crystalized flames, and illusive architecture.

Sean Morris’ work leaves viewers torn between curiosity and the desire to avert their eyes and look away. With no formal education in drawing or illustration, his graphic style matured over time, from more realistic figures to now non- traditional characters. His strange, yet seductive characters are curious studies of trash culture, a common trope throughout his work

About the Artists:

Albert Reyes (b. Los Angeles, Calif.) received a Bachelor of Fine Art from the San Francisco Art Institute. Reyes draws, both literally and figuratively, inspiration from people, known and unknown. Reyes has exhibited in both solo presentations and group exhibitions. He lives and works in Los Angeles, Calif.

Andrea Joyce Heimer (b. Great Falls, Mont.) received a Master of Fine Art in visual art from New Hampshire Institute of Art. Heimer is known for her exploration of domesticity and the suburban experience, drawing inspiration from the neighborhood mythos of her childhood home in Great Falls. The artist has exhibited both domestically and internationally, participating in both solo and group exhibitions. She lives and works in Washington state.

Benjamin Murphy (b. Yorkshire, U.K.) received a Master of Fine Art from the University of Salford. After graduating, Murphy moved to London and has exhibited works in a number of solo presentations including: Deaths and Entrances (Ravenna: May 2015), Lunacy, Law, and Conscience (Moniker Art Fair: Oct. 2014), and Seven Years Of Sketchbooks – (Hoxton Gallery – April 2014). Murphy has also participated in a number of group exhibitions including 50×50 (Saatchi Gallery), and Whitfield Fine Art alongside Damien Hirst, Gilbert & George, Marc Quinn, and Cecily Brown. Murphy’s interest in contemporary art theory has led him to write for multiple publications including: This Is Tomorrow, Rooms Magazine, and Artefuse. The artist lives and works in London, U.K.

Jen Ray (b. Raleigh, N.C.) received a Bachelor of Fine Art from Winthrop University and has exhibited widely throughout Germany, including shows at Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg, Kunstverein Kassel, and KW Institute for Contemporary Art, Berlin. The artist lives and works in North Carolina.

Sean Morris (b. Perth, Australia) lives and works in Melbourne, Australia. His artwork has been featured in publications on five continents. Morris has illustrated for The New York Times, Mambo, Addict Clothing, The Portland Mercury, Wooden Toy Quarterly and Little White Lies Magazine. He has held solo exhibitions in Perth, Melbourne, London and Madrid, and participated in more than 50 group exhibitions. 

SUBLIMINAL PROJECTS is a multifunctional gallery space promoting diverse forms of art while providing a forum for contemporary dialogue. It was established by Shepard Fairey and Blaize Blouin in 1995 and played an integral part in introducing skateboarding culture and design to the art world. Now located in the historic neighborhood of Echo Park, SUBLIMINAL PROJECTS continues to offer a platform for artistic exploration and innovation. Gallery hours are Wednesday through Saturday from 12 to 6 pm.