ICOSA Gallery Flows Like a River of Creative Glory

"Nothing Is," closing on April 3 (Courtesy of Icosa Gallery)

ICOSA Gallery – the visual arts venue in Canopy that's run by the ICOSA Collective – the welcoming space right next to Big Medium's own anchoring gallery –  is about to undergo a transition.

Now, I don't mean that its infrastructure will physically transmogrify, like the larval stage of some arthropod moving toward the morphological terminus of adulthood; I mean, merely, that its interior appointments will soon be doing what all galleries do: transitioning from one show to the next. And so this bit you're reading in the Chronicle, this is a convenient way of announcing both what's going and what's coming at ICOSA.

Two birds, one stone, as they say.

“Vessel,” opening on April 9 (Courtesy of Icosa Gallery)

As if to validate this editorial gambit through numerical resonance, the gallery itself is usually a sort of two-bird proposition, with a pair of artists at a time exhibiting their creations for public appreciation. Currently, the "Nothing Is" show features photographs, video, and installation works by Leon Alesi (most often a photographer) and Amy Bench (most often a filmmaker).

"These works deconstruct and reassemble artifacts, transitional objects, talismans, and icons as expressions of momentary (or eternal) tension," say the gallery notes. Also, to present this collection in the most effective way possible, the artists collaborated with composer Curtis Heath and designer Lisa Laratta on the video and installation pieces. Knowing, as we do, that viewing Bench's and/or Alesi's works in any context is a rewarding experience, we smile to imagine how much better a visit to this enhanced tableau will be. But speaking of "better," we'd better get our ass to the gallery soon: "Nothing Is" closes this weekend.

And then? And then comes "Vessel," a new show of art by Alyssa Taylor Wendt and Brooke Gassiot. This will be a show about inhabited forms, wherein the acclaimed creators examine "the containers of spiritual and mnemonic residue" via video installation, staged production stills, drawing, performance, and sculpture. As with all the other aesthetic one-two punches that ICOSA's visited upon our town's art-loving citizens, either of these women can stun a crowd with what they materially render; Wendt's and Gassiot's works displayed together are sure to be a fascinating and memorable sight for modern eyes.

ICOSA Gallery