Sugarcoated

Art never tasted so good.

Curated by Lisa Choinacky and Katherine McQueen, Sugarcoated features eight artists: Alika Cooper (Los Angeles, CA), Bonnie Gammill (Austin, TX), Donna Huanca (Houston, TX), Aimee Jones (Houston, TX), Lisa Krivacka (Germantown, NY), Sarah Lasley (New York, NY), Lisa Ludwig (Houston, TX), and Theresa Vargas (Austin, TX). Through their use of materials, irony and humor, these artists address serious issues with a playful finesse. The work appears light hearted, even whimsical at times, yet a look past the candy-coated exterior reveals more complex meanings.

Choinacky and McQueen spend their days in the offices of Women & Their Work and their nights making art. Their vision for Sugarcoated is a confectionery experience where the art and the installation itself work together to create a cohesive environment

Donna Huanca uses fabric to create plush guns and grenades, turning these violent icons into something similar to children’s toys. Her fabric landscapes soften the edge of the serious issues of border control and guerrilla warfare.

Theresa Vargas and Lisa Ludwig’s work are literally sugarcoated. Their choice of subject matter becomes ironic when covered with sugar. Vargas’s chocolate covered tools address gender roles. Ludwig’s work often comments on the fleeting and transitory nature of beauty.

Aimee Jones’s palette is as playful as her materials; glitter, jewelry and puffy paint cover the surface of her paintings and reference the innocence of young girls. However, her aggressive application of these materials speaks to a more painful side of adolescence.

At first glance, Bonnie Gammill’s landscapes appear purely decorative. In actuality they convey a concern for serious subjects such as the global energy crisis.

On Sarah Lasley’s bikini clad models one would expect to see the face of a seductress. Instead the subject confronts the viewer with a look of disgust. This combination pokes fun at the stero-typical image of woman as a sex object.

Alika Cooper’s desolate landscapes evoke feelings of nostalgia while celebrating the mundane.

Lisa Krivacka’s hyperrealism and humor examine the human impulse to domesticate nature. She uses clever narratives to critique our obsession with control.