Domestic Seen

Julie Blackmon · Matt Bollinger · Jay Lynn Gomez · Ezra Johnson · Thomas Kiefer · Sean Lyman · Liz Markus

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Domestic Seen focuses upon seven artists who employ interiors, objects and related “domestic” scenes to convey perceptions regarding varied experiences, immigration, celebrity, wealth etc. The seemingly mundane is imbued with critical content that resonates both locally and nationally. Featuring paintings, photographs, video, drawings and sculptural works, the exhibition highlights a diverse range of people, places and objects in which viewers may recognize aspects of their own lives or their community.

Missouri-based artist Julie Blackmon was born in 1966 in Springfield, Missouri. She studied art education and photography at Southwest Missouri State University. She has exhibited widely, including a 2014 solo exhibition at The Photographers’ Gallery, United Kingdom; Robert Mann Gallery, New York; Catherine Edelman Gallery, Chicago; and Fahey/Klein Gallery, Los Angeles. Her work is in the collections of the George Eastman House, Rochester, New York and the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas. In 2014 her monograph, “Homegrown”, was released by Radius Books.

New York-based Matt Bollinger was born in 1981 and raised in Kansas City, Missouri. In 2007 he received an MFA in painting from the Rhode Island School of Design, and in 2003 he received a BFA in painting and creative writing from the Kansas City Art Institute. Bollinger also holds a Sheridan Center Teaching Certificate from Brown University, and he currently teaches at Purchase College, State University of New York. He has exhibited internationally, including “Independence, Missouri” at Galerie Zurcher in Paris in the summer of 2016. Two of his works are in the Nerman Museum’s permanent collection.

Los Angeles artist Jay Lynn Gomez (formerly Ramiro Gomez) was born in 1986 in San Bernardino, California, and she attended the California Institute for the Arts. In 2013 Gomez had her first solo exhibition at the UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center. She was also awarded with a residency to install a mural in West Hollywood Park, a project titled “The Caretakers”. In 2014 Gomez had her solo gallery debut at Charlie James Gallery in Los Angeles. In the spring of 2016, Gomez’s “On Melrose” show at the Charlie James Gallery was held in conjunction with the publication of a monograph on her work, “Domestic Scene”, by Lawrence Weschler (Abrams). She was selected to participate in the Denver Art Museum’s site specific installation exhibition “Mi tierra: Contemporary Artists Explore Place,” opening February 2017.

Ezra Johnson was born in 1975 in Wenatchee, Washington. He graduated in 2006 with an MFA in Painting from Hunter College, New York and in 2000 with a BFA from California College of Arts and Crafts, Oakland, California. Johnson has exhibited with galleries and public spaces throughout Europe and the United States, including Freight + Volume, New York, Mindy Solomon Gallery, Miami, Hammer Museum (UCLA), Los Angeles, Site Santa Fe, and the Institute of Contemporary Art, Philadelphia. He is an assistant professor at the University of South Florida, Tampa, Florida.

Born in Wichita, Kansas, photographer Thomas Kiefer was raised in Seattle and worked in Los Angeles as a graphic designer. He is now living and working in Ajo, Arizona. In 2015 Kiefer was included in LensCulture's top 50 emerging photographers and Photolucida's top 50 Critical Mass. His work from the “El Sueño Americano” (“the American Dream”) project has been featured in news publications nationally and internationally.

Based in Springfield, Missouri, Sean Lyman is an associate professor of art at Missouri State University. In 2004 he received an MFA from the University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS, and in 2001 he graduated with a BFA from Wichita State University, Wichita, KS. He previously attended Johnson County Community College. His work has been exhibited nationwide and in galleries throughout Germany. Selected collections include Elvehjem Museum of Art, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, Wisconsin; the Spencer Museum, University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas; and the Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art.

New York artist Liz Markus was born in 1967, and she received her MFA in 1997 from Tyler School of Art, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and a BFA in 1989 from the School of Visual Arts, New York, New York. Markus’ works have been featured in solo shows in New York galleries as well as a solo exhibition at Galleri Loyal, Stockholm. Recent group shows include “Deep Cuts” curated by Wendy White and David Humphrey at Anna Kustera, New York, “Bad for You”, curated by Beth De Woody at Shizaru Gallery, London; and “Peripheral Nausea”, organized by Dan Kopp at Brooklyn Fire Proof, New York. Her work has been included in various international art fairs: NADA, Zoo, The Dallas Art Fair, and MACO.