Leo Kesting Gallery Presents:
Jonny Fenix - The Show Up
May 29 - June 15, 2008
Opening Night Reception: Thursday May 29th from 7:00 - 10:00 pm
812 Washington St (at the corner of Gansevoort) New York NY 10014
8th Ave A, C, E and L train Stop or 1,2,3 to 14th Street
Tuesday - Sunday from 11:00 am until 7:00 pm
Admission is free to the public phone : 917-650-3760 / 917-292-8865
http://www.leokesting.com

Jonny Fenix, Los Angeles renegade currently hiding out in Portland, Oregon, brings fresh canvas this May to Leo Kesting Gallery for his first solo exhibition at our new Manhattan space. His latest collection entitled, The Show Up, solidifies Fenix's satirical approach to digesting the contradictions of mass media and the reality they gloss over.

Catholic imagery engages this new collection in a mass of visual dialog. Fenix's recent painting, "A Note to All Indigenous Peoples Everywhere", can be viewed as a "reaction to the sanitation and colonization of native people everywhere, being ‘saved' by the church is a synonym for native cultures introduction to disease, slavery and reform," explains Fenix.

This composition could also be viewed to contradict the laissez-faire attitude plagued in the "Jesus is my Homeboy" t-shirt mentality breeding in youth culture. "Jesus is a person whom all people of the world can relate to one way or another," illustrates gallery director John Leo. "Fenix uses this common bond to communicate Jesus' message to us, in a way not unlike the Pope."

The "new uneasy works" of Jonny Fenix are a vessel to create discomfort. While politicians are using religion to obtain power in this already overly non-secular world, Fenix plays on this by contradicting all that is socially acceptable.

Jonny Fenix's politically charged raw materials such as motor oil and blood, construct screen prints and collages that invite cultural critique with cheeky humor and charm. This new collection, The Show Up, gives the viewer ample reason to view the positive sides of our modern life. The Show Up opens to the public with a reception for the artist at Leo Kesting Gallery on Thursday May 29th from 7:00 until 10:00 pm.

From its origins as Capla Kesting Fine Art in Brooklyn, the Leo Kesting Gallery launched in 2003 and developed an aggressive campaign to introduce new figurative artists to collectors and art supporters. Leo Kesting offers the art viewing public an opportunity to see forthcoming talents in an intimate setting where undiscovered, cutting-edge artists are presented to the contemporary art scene.

Leo Kesting Gallery is located at 812 Washington St at the corner of Gansevoort in Manhattan's Meat Packing District. A, C, E, or L train to 8th Ave and 14th Street or 1,2,3 train to 14th Street. Gallery hours are Tuesday to Sunday from 11am until 7pm.