James Oliver Gallery is pleased to present Luck Out, a group exhibition featuring Lindsay Deifik, Ryan Evans, Alexa Simpson, and Soso Capaldi. View the full catalogue below.
Each artist invites viewers into their worlds utilizing characters- surreal and effervescent: recognizable cultural icons, imagined creatures, projections of self and otherwise. Amidst increasingly complex times, these works ground us in their unique material whimsy: a call that returns us to foundational emotions, gestures, and construction. Viewers will find human inflection as each artist translates observations, physical and emotional, into tangible reflections of modern society.
Lindsay Deifik is an Orlando, FL based artist working primarily in painting. Practicing in Philadelphia for nine years, Deifik received her MFA from the Tyler School of Art. She presents a suite of work consisting of panels wavering between objecthood and painting. Deifik explores personal relationships to structures of power, such as sexual, social, and economic, through diverse and illuminating imagery. Utilizing distillation and abstraction, Deifik addresses concepts such as autonomy, exploitation, anxiety, failure, and liberation. Tick Tock is an illustration of the alternating sensations of progress and doom, as well as a complication of the concept of linear time.
Lindsay Deifik, Tick Tock, 2024
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Tough Pills to Swallow, 2024
Ryan Evans is an artist and designer based in Philadelphia, PA. Evans prods viewers to find joy and humor in the mundane by reappropriating and recontextualizing symbols, idols, and nostalgic figures, such as Hello Kitty and Mickey Mouse.
Fusing Pop art and modern graphic design, he celebrates the limitless possibilities of everyday objects, and gives a warm embrace to his inner child. Evans invites onlookers to rethink assumptions about art and engage with the world in a more optimistic way.
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Ryan Evans, ARREST DONALD
Arizona-based artist and illustrator, Alexa Simpson, draws inspiration from film, referencing movie stills, leaving observers to ponder the before and after in these works on paper. Similar to Evans, she takes a nod to notable icons, Rod Serling and movie starlets appear in her imagery. Depicting made-up screenplays, fuzzy memories of dreams, and unrequited love, Simpson’s emotion-filled characters set a dramatic scene.
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Alexa Simpson, Feelings, 11 x 17"
Gotta Light, 11 x 17"
Soso Capaldi is a Philadelphia-based artist working in painting, drawing, and sculpture. Capaldi earned their MFA in Ceramics from the Tyler School of Art. They explore ideas of safety, substance abuse, and mental health through imagined creatures, spanning two and three-dimensional expressions.
“I explore an energy of bliss that happens in childhood that you can never get back. It’s not just that my work points, nods, and lolls in the direction of childhood. I speak gently of reparenting myself and trying to find out how to know myself. I’m doing this with the help of therapy, boundaries, and exploring the creatures in my work. The creatures are accidental teachers who dispense wisdom while I am building them and when I least expect it.”
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Ceramic sculpture by
Soso Capaldi
Luck Out will be on view through January 25th, 2025. Shop the catalogue:
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