FEE-FI-FO-FUM

Claire Weaver-Zeman, Lauren Walkiewicz, and Tom Prinsell
On view: November 5 – December 11, 2022
Opening reception: November 18, 4-7 pm

5-50 Gallery is pleased to present FEE-FI-FO-FUM, a three person group show of new and recent work by Claire Weaver-Zeman, Lauren Walkiewicz, and Tom Prinsell. This exhibition features works that address themes of mythology and myth-making using a unique and modern lens. By including a variety of media such as acrylic on hand-cut sintra and oil paint, this show reveals the relevance of mythology and myth-making to different artists working in different media. FEE-FI-FO-FUM will be on view from Nov. 5th through Dec. 4, with an opening reception on Nov. 12th from 4-7 pm.

Claire Weaver-Zeman’s paintings are physical manifestations of her interest in the uncomfortable, strange feelings of transitional states, and the awkwardness, disorientation and anxiety that exist in these spaces. Strange, anxious creatures populate her works, sometimes caught mid-transformation as they turn into animals or hybridized beasts. Mythology and narrative, specifically myths featuring goddesses and composite creatures, form the foundation of her practice. Claire reimagines tales that address transformation and growth in ways that empower people, and lifts visual ideas from books, movies, myths, and her own environment.

Using acrylic paint on intricately cut sintra boards, Lauren Walkiewicz creates installations that imagine what the world will look like after the total realization of the apocalyptic phase of climate change. In response to the responsibility of humanity in the furthering of our planet’s climate crisis, Walkiewicz’s artworks fantasize about a future evolution of humanity that is in harmony with nature; a version of humanity that is stripped of thumbs and guns, lives in harmony with its discarded inventions, and co-exists with a new vanguard of dominant plants and animals. This utopia is not the human-centric Garden of Eden, but a place where pleasures are balanced equally with the pain of survival.

Tom Prinsell’s paintings are stage sets for uncanny narratives, where architecture, mythology, and curiosities collide. Informed by medieval art, the Renaissance, and Romanticism, these works are constructed in the guise of the digital age to explore the dimensions of an ancient future. The depictions of these imagined places are disrupted and labyrinthine. There are worlds within worlds, which disperse or come into sharp focus, gleaming and ornate. Psychological undercurrents manifest as strange characters and animals converse in ambiguous landscapes and dream territories.

FEE-FI-FO-FUM offers insight into contemporary life via the ancient themes of mythology, myth-making, and fables. Each artist in this exhibition builds their own mythologies, exploring what it means to use legends and fanciful imagery to make sense of the world.

To view and/or purchase works from the show click here.

Claire Weaver-Zeman (Brooklyn, New York) graduated from Rhode Island School of Design in 2018 with a degree in Painting. Her first solo show was at Sprout Gallery in Providence, RI. Recently her work was included in Trick or Treat at Incubator Studio Gallery in Brooklyn, Parade of the Species on Governor’s Island, and ACI Residency Exhibition in Corciano, Italy. She also enjoys curating exhibitions and recently put together two shows, Community Ties at Machines with Magnets in Providence and Looking Forward and Looking Back, a virtual exhibition.

Lauren Walkiewicz (New York, New York) attended the University of Michigan where she obtained a BFA in 2013. Her work was recently displayed at SPRING/BREAK 2022 in the show Slow Daze Grotto Falls™. Her work has also been featured in various group shows this year including Through Mossy Ways at I Like Your Work, Group Show at Studio 9D, and Emerging Artists at Dodomu Gallery. She was included in the publications Issue #32, Create Magazine and Through Mossy Ways, I Like Your Work in 2022 as well.

Tom Prinsell (Brooklyn, New York) graduated with a BFA from Rutgers University in 2013. Prinsell was featured in the exhibition BOROUGH BAROQUE last year at 5-50 Gallery. This year, his work has been included in Naked Lunch at SPRING/BREAK, Grave New World at C-Squat, and The Exhibitionist at House of X. He has been in artist residencies at Trestle Project, New York, NY in 2018, PLOP, London in 2019, and Vermont Studio Center, Johnson, VT in 2019. He has recently begun residency at Silver Arts Projects in New York ,NY in 2022.