Underdonk

press release

Curated by Keisha Prioleau-Martin

January 7th – February 11th, 2023
Opening reception January 7th from 4 – 6 PM

Underdonk is pleased to present Big Reveal, a group show curated by Keisha Prioleau-Martin. Sammy

Bennett, Whit

Harris, Luke Lundsford and Noelle Velez are called together to solve the first mystery of the new year. However, pulling back the curtain will not guarantee an answer because the truth is complex in stories, identities and

art creations. It’s mu

ltifaceted and all the more interesting for it. We all know a good mystery when we see it.

Each of the artists in Big Reveal offer a plethora of clues. The work is rich with emotional depth, interaction, and objects soggy with implications. Double entendres, humor, absurdity all lead to or distract from the story. They are visually satisfying and materially evocative leaving the viewer joyfully exploring every inch of the work.

Noelle Velez’s figures express warmth, concern, pain and anxiety as they tumble at the mercy of their fate drawn out

before them. The vibe balances nefarious and sweet. Velez’s little fragments of gossip hide among misleading detail like the fodder of a drowsy earlybird recounting a dream. In Tumble a life-sized stuffed humanoid flops on the ground between two distraught friends in onesies. A peaceful fight at midnight lit by a cellphone on the ground.

Sammy Bennett’s soft sculptures and hanging textiles evoke stepping into a room decorated with the articles of one’s interest. At first glance the work is straightforward: A dalmatian next to a tree, the shadow of a cat from behind a curtain, but embedded in the making are extraordinary marks and treasures. Under the dogs is sewn

a lost face mask, a crushed “found” ginger ale, and behind the dog’s head, a lost dog poster sublimated into the fabric. One starts to notice the relation between marks and objects, checking what is embroidered, what is cut and sewn, what is painted, what’s dyed, what is found?.

Whit Harris delivers dreamlike ceramic figures somewhere between naturalistic and cartoonish. Whit’s forms are subtle and sweet gestures between the couples. The intimate and playful relationships are full of comfort and trust. The story is of a complex love, agency and sensuality. Harris’ work is knowing of the existence of uninhibited sensuality and unbridled agency.
Luke Lundsford’s cheeky figures pose relaxed in a way that explores flatness and color and “mark.” The people in them have obscured bodies, but this imagery creates not only mystery but sexual lore . The power of imagining what’s not seen is drawing attention to what’s just out of view. Eyes, the pelvis, the torso.
Noelle Velez is an artist based in New York City. She earned her BFA at SUNY Purchase in 2018. Noelle’s work explores desire, repression and introspection through dreamlike landscapes populated by archetypal cha

racters, plants and animals. The lurid colors and contents of Velez’s subconscious appear in an approachable cartoon lexicon and deal with acting as an intermediary —and interloper— between cultures, and the perceived poles of gendered self expression

Whit Harris’ (b. 1985, Brooklyn, NY) drawings, paintings, and ceramic sculptures feature representations of the dissoluted experience through disjointed depictions of the human figure. Bodies stretch, recline, wriggle, twerk and otherwise contort themselves in exaggerated expressions that oscillate between naturalistic and cartoonish forms. These figures become surreal metaphors for the artist’s psychological adaptation to unpredictable and sometimes hostile environments, and reflect the tenacity and ingenuity of Black femme imagination. Harris has exhibited in group and solo shows in New York, Miami, Los Angeles, Seattle and Munich. She completed her MFA at Hunter College and lives in Brooklyn, New York

Sammy Bennett received a BFA from Kendall College of Art and Design in 2012 and holds a MFA from Michigan State University received in 2016. His work has been included in exhibitions at The Eli and Broad Art Museum, MI; The Centro Villa of Mostoles, SP; Amos Enos Gallery, NY; Ortega y Gasset, NY; All Street

Gallery, NY; and Ann Marie Sculpture Garden, MD; amongst others. He attended the Scoula International de Graficia residency in Venice, Italy in both 2012 and 2016. Test Space in Durham, England in 2018 and Cha North Artist Residency in 2022. He lives and works in Brooklyn, NY.

Luke Lunsford is a painter raised in the Maryland suburbs of D.C. currently living and working in Brooklyn, NY. Luke received their undergraduate degree in Fine Arts at School of Visual Arts in NYC, and was influenced by vi

sionary painters such as Judith Linhares, Shirley Irons, and Sue Williams. Since then, Luke has worked as an art handler and long-time assistant to the painter Marilyn Lerner. In addition to selling art, they also run an

online vintage clothing store.

Keisha Prioleau-Martin (b. 1995) is an artist based in New York City. She earned her BFA at SUNY Purchase in 2017. Keisha’s work has been shown across New York, in Los Angeles, and Seattle, including a solo show at Art of Our Century Gallery in New York (head over handlebars) and a lighthearted 2-person show at Ortega y Gasset (Footloose). Keisha is a co-director at Underdonk in Bushwick, Brooklyn, where her studio resides. Her work has been written about in Hyperallergic, Art Spigel, Artnet, and The Coastal Post.