Call and Response

Call and Response
Call and Response is a 2 person exhibit with Annie Heisey and Nicole Renee Ryan. Nicole and Annie spent part of COVID sending each other images of their works and responding to something they saw in the other persons work. This could be a color, a shape, a feeling, and would influence the next work that was made. This bouncing of ideas from afar (cell phones and video calls), made isolation less lonely. It was like a long distance shout. A way to have a slow echoing conversation. Regarding their 2 collaborative pieces in the show, these started off as works Nicole couldn't figure out or finish. She then took a razor blade to them in frustration, scraping off layers of paint. When Annie visited her studio, she made sure she peeked into the hidden painting corner. She then rescued these works, giving them the focus they needed with her figures. A call and a response, a problem and a solution. A bouncing of ideas until something worked.

While Nicole is primarily known for her imagined landscapes and Annie for her figurative work and portraits, they thought that by combining their works together, the works then could be a discussion of a psychological landscape. Annie's works show the mind of the figure, these highly emotional works give the viewer a glimpse into the psychological state of the figure. Nicole's works are strange and whimsical, but the shapes move and drift almost as if they are figurative pieces with their own agenda. The mind calls out, the landscape responds. Call and response.