by Chris Brunelle

One constant in these pieces that is a strong theme throughout much of Melanie Prapopoulos's work is a dreamy abstraction. Like dreams, there are strong feelings and energy that appear to lack logical organization. But as Prapopoulos is clearly aware, dreams, emotion, and feeling are not in anyway based in the confines of logic. This is not to say that what you see in her work is confused or unclear. On the contrary, there is something quite focused and instinctive about their expression. They conjure up recognizable moods and feelings in ways that are hard to verbally express yet are intuitively communicative.

by Eugene Hwang

While Shapiro might exhibit satisfaction with her work within a given painting, one gets the sense, from her constant experimentation that she is, on the whole, dissatisfied. She may incorporate lessons from the past into a new painting, but she despises being iterative and falling into patterns. She yearns to create something of inexplicable beauty and abandons calculation in order to do so. As she paints, she may have moments where she believes she has attained her goal, but doubt always sets in, as it inevitably does when one is after the eternal and the mysterious. Shapiro finds that only such unreachable things are worthy of her pursuit.

by Eugene Hwang

De San Juan may not seem to have artistic allegiances in style, but his abstract and surreal art contains a wonder which his austere realist work lacks. When De San Juan wants to express desolation, he paints people and nature. Imagined forms and landscapes, full of voluptuous arcs, are allotted his exuberance. When freed of the duties of depicting the real, his lines seem to express with greater confidence, precision and generosity, but do not repudiate the avocation of illusion. Oddly, the imagined forms claim their existence more convincingly than the imitated forms.

by Eugene Hwang

Some of Hoffmann's paintings are as rigid and unyielding as math equations. They are sturdy, reliable, and seem almost engineered rather than painted, put together with a welder rather than with a brush. It would be a mistake to think however that Hoffman's intention is to promote industrialization. Painting would be an unconvincing medium to convey belief in mass production and manufacturing. The lack of any detail that might burden the eye shows that the forms, which lack the evasiveness that characterizes the art in our frenetic age, are the point.

Melanie Prapopoulos

"Explorations"
December 2nd-21st

Opening Reception: December 5th
8:00-10:00pm

Ico Gallery is pleased to present "Explorations," the solo exhibition of the esteemed artist Melanie Prapopoulos. The exhibition features several of the artists' current abstract works, including "Mo' Red - Promises Kept," and "Mo' Blue - Dreams Deferred." The exhibition portrays the artists' internal explorations, expressing an acute blend of instinct and logic.

Prapopoulos' use of color brings forth an emotional experience from the viewer, drawing them into a dream-like space full of harmonious energy. Prapopoulos states, "I believe in the melding and mixing of color - with color being that which will ultimately present the viewer an experience of emotional revelation." The Artist credits her world travel, especially in Latin America and the Caribbean, as her inspiration for her works unique language. She also attributes her concept of dance and movement in its universality as a driving force to her compositional structure.

Prapopoulos received her Bachelors of Arts at New York University in 1998, followed by a Masters of Arts at the University of Indianapolis in 2002. Prapopoulos was born in Surrey, England grew up in New Jersey. She currently divides time between the US and Greece.

For more information on our artists and images of their work please visit our website:

by Andrew Beckerman

Jonathon Blake explains that his paintings come from an intersubjective, communal spirit that has, at many times flowed out of or around a love of music, specifically psychedelia and improvisation. These are scenes which center around a principle of abundance, perhaps even excess: excess of feeling and emotion, excess of openness, and excess of receptivity to the surrounding world. It is this context that Blake's work grows out of and that is concretized in his paintings.

by Andrew Beckerman

Describing Pooja Gupta's paintings isn't as simple as placing her into this or that genre or one style which is mutually exclusive with another. She paints figures - many times using herself as the model - yet they're not some third person pedestal pap. She paints landscapes as well, but it's not the hackneyed scenery of some bargain-bin mall boutique that peddles claptrap for suburban adornment. Gupta's paintings are impressionistic somatoscapes that recreate the site of the body as the site of place, or rather that amplify the body until it is like place, an analogy.

by Andrew Beckerman

As a symbolist, Jake Baddeley's artworks court hermeneutic danger or as philosopher Chuck Dyke likes to say are in danger of being "hermeneutered" by the viewing public. Pictures that are rich in interpretive possibilities are often seen only for those possibilities, to the exclusion of the aesthetic dimension, as if art could or should be reduced merely to language. "What do you think it means?" followed by some stumbling exegesis or recherché response. This is not only stereotype, but the way we're taught to view art, and Baddeley's pieces need to be seen not only on that level but also on the level of the purely visual.

by Eugene Hwang

Hansen's paintings are only a starting point. Their symmetry and simplicity in shape equate to a complexity of inner experience. It is a humble task, which most artists, who prefer their work to be worshiped or at least admired rather than be of service to the viewer, shun, but at the same time an immense one because Hansen strives to be universal and inclusive. The art is not the end and can never rival the complexity of people and the universe. Hansen believes that the truly interesting occurs in the mind and body rather than the canvas, which often is too boastful.

by Andrew Beckerman

Melanie Prapopoulos believes in limits. Her understanding of art is sympathetic to the calculus in that respect, as the limits aren't constricting, but rather give definition to an area and ready it as a space of examination. Ultimately for her, however, there is a line that can't be crossed, one that can only be asymptotically approached. Beyond the limit is that space of interaction between the viewer and the artwork, a space that was created through the introduction of that boundary but in the end is a domain hostile to the artist.