“A Song to Follow” Opens at 1053 Gallery

Monster Control, Moon Riot by Michael McGrath

Diana by Ken Hiratsuka

By Christein Aromando

FLEISCHMANNS — “A Song to Follow”, the new duo show featuring upstate artists Ken Hiratsuka and Michael McGrath opened on August 10th at 1053 Gallery.

Statements from curator, Lindsay Comstock:

“A Song to Follow” represents the visionary stone sculptures of Hiratsuka and paintings of McGrath and the mythic representations of line that course through the works. Hiratsuka attends to the spirit of marble and granite, bringing life through rock as sacred geometry and the feminine and masculine forms while McGrath’s paintings pulsate with open-mouthed beings, feline guardians and energy lines that leave fingertips and draw the viewer through a narrative transcending time.

Hiratsuka first began carving on the sidewalks of New York City in 1982, creating pieces which followed a single line. Since then, his carvings have expanded to 25 countries around the world. Now his studio practice exists in the Catskills, amidst the natural spirals found in water and

plants and fungi and fingerprints, the sacred shape uniting organic life. He brings an idea of the

earth as one big stone to pieces which function as anthropological relics not stuck in linear

time.

McGrath engages the mythic mind to bring imaginal realms into physical reality through large scale paintings and drawings. Magic and mysticism are alive in these works which burst with childlike curiosity as forms and figures are abstracted into symbolic narratives which call upon movies such as The Labyrinth and Lord of the Rings, engaging playful elements of fantasy into the mundane.

Curated by Lindsay Comstock and Monte Wilson, “A Song to Follow” will be up through September 22nd at 1053 Gallery in Fleischmanns. Learn more about the work of these prolific artists at kenrock.com and mmcgrath.com.