Zepster Gallery is pleased to present its debut show "Last Stall On The Left" in its new permanent East Williamsburg location.  "Last Stall On The Left" exhibits vibrant works from emerging artists revolving around the theme of the bathroom.  Bathrooms are intimate and personal while also being universal.  This range gives artists a wide opportunity and freedom to have different moments showcased in their work.  The works can focus aesthetically on the tile or the physical body placed in the shower.  The group show foretells the energetic and bold artists Zepster Gallery will feature.  

 

Andrew Hildenbrand’s paintings feature complex overlapping shapes and colors, reflecting bathroom tile.  Hildenbrand is influenced by his surroundings but does not wish to emulate space in his paintings. He instead rides the line between representation and abstraction. The push and pull between the linear and round elements forming a bouncy rhythm that leads one around the composition. While geometric, the work avoids becoming graphic or minimalist, its imperfections and palette enlivening the painting.

 

Andrea Luper lives In NYC, attending The School of Visual arts as a recipient of the Silas H Rhodes Scholarship.  Her painting features a female stepping out of the shower in a whimsical setting as the character drips into the bathroom.  Luper also spent 9 months in Seward at a secluded artist residency under artist Janina Simutis, culminating in a joint exhibition.  

 

Annie Goldman’s piece reflects her favorite objects on top of the toilet, acting as a shelf.  The clever inclusion of a Raggedy Ann doll also serves as a satirical self portrait of sorts.  Annie earned a BFA in Drawing + Painting from the Laguna College of Art and Design and is an alumna of the Yale Norfolk School of Art.

 

Brett Park’s drawings showcase the awkward and intimate occurrences of a bathroom.  The captions are his inner dialogue that often seem more relatable than individual.  “My transdisciplinary practice finds a language between figurative painting, sculpture, and video performance that explores Asian Bottomhood and Asian-American inscrutability to challenge white, phallocentric, heteronormative systems of power. While I critique the violent stereotypes that flatten my being into a yellow, queer body, I find the power within these flat spaces to reconfigure myself against a limitless plane of existence.”

 

Interested in the study of compartmentalized thought, Claire Elise views the series at large within the

psychological construct of immersion therapy, specifically along the journey of eating disorder recovery.  This personal project began as an act of reclamation, addressing an affliction common amongst young women. By treating the materiality of flesh as an artist would their medium, Claire Elise meticulously recreates every chalky fold, creating a monumental tribute to the body. Cognitive dissonance, the psychological phenomenon where one holds two contradictory beliefs simultaneously, is central to her process. Forced to reconcile after hours of ritualistic recreation, the artist is left to find the final product nothing short of beautiful.

 

Jordan Tacker received her BFA from Laguna College of Art and Design.  She creates representational and surreal paintings in both oil and digital mediums. Her work circles around the distortion of the human body along with its anxieties and environments. 

Lanyi Gao’s work is from her “Secret Garden” series, which offers an open interpretation. One way to see it is as “Melody” lying on the floor, a bit hungover and somewhat despondent.  The vagueness allows the viewer to place themself in the situation and seek the meaning themself.  

 

Wesley Ware’s take is on the classic rubber duck.  Not only does he have a 2D duck, but he whimsically places 3D ducks inside, leaving a scavenger hunt for the viewer.  He also echoes the bathroom by using the medium of watercolor.