Alum Colby Claycomb (BA 2005) is one of five artists participating in the exhibition “Object of Direct Experience” organized by Alex Chowaniec and Markee Speyer for the Lorimoto Gallery in New York.  ”Object of Direct Experience” runs from October 21 to November 19, 2017. Opening reception takes place Saturday, October 21 from 6-9 pm

Contemplative practice is both practical and transformative; it develops capacity for change on an individual or global level. What does this mean for existential practice and well-being, both for artist and viewing community? In our view, contemplative practice poses questions without necessarily supplying answers, finds importance in the mindfulness of the artmaking process, and compels the viewer to assume an active role with respect to their own existential concerns. In the context of this exhibition, contemplative practice considers ritual, habitual, and quotidian experiences, and creates objects of direct experience—on the part of both the artist and the viewer.

Object of Direct Experience is a reference to phenomenology, the philosophical study of consciousness as subjective experience—literally the study of “phenomena”. Phenomenology takes as its starting point the qualitative nature of experience, the meanings that attach to objects of perception, and the role of the subject in constituting her experience, her world. Our “we” is both artist and viewer; the works in this exhibition are the objects of direct experience of both the artist and viewer, and they are artifacts of shared contemplation of existential concerns.

In addition to Colby Claycomb, Joey Behrens, Alex Chowaniec, Haylee Ebersole and Emily Harris are participating.

Lorimoto Gallery
1623 Hancock Street
Ridgewood, NY 11385