Continuing through November 11, 2017
Sayre Gomez’ evocative, hyper-realistic paintings convey a fiercely ominous undertone. Each image foregrounds a chain link fence, which is sharply in focus; the backgrounds behind the fencing are blurred, a vine draped over them. In “Building in Deconstruction with Chain Link and Ivy,” the background image includes a building facing construction equipment about to tear it down. The ivy itself seems to glow, otherworldly and dominant. All of man’s dissembling may pass; this plant will stand. Large store fronts have fallen into disrepair in other works, such as “Behind Door #1,” in which the papered-over glass doors of this closed business are broken. There is a sense of the futility of human endeavor.
The exhibition moves from exterior to interior views in Gomez’s series of trompe l’oeil wood panel paintings which are created with minute attention to detail. These works recreate the surfaces of panels marked with stickers, some in the process of removal. With the titular “Déjà Vu,” smiley faces, DARE flag stickers, repeated hot pink “Déjà vu” stickers, and a central image of a rainbow smurf evoke a pre-teen’s rite of passage. The stickers are a form of adolescent identity, their removal a signal of having grown up. Gomez guides us through a fascinating psychological treasure hunt.
