Kent Manske: Making Sense
March 21–April 28, 2024
NY2CA Gallery
617 1st St, Benicia, California
Gallery Hours: Thursday–Sunday, 12–5pm
Kent Manske: Making Sense at NY2CA Gallery presents original prints and artist books from multiple bodies of work that demonstrate the conceptual breath and creative practice of an artist whose well-being requires making visual narratives about the nature of things and matters of conscious. The artist, Kent Manske, considers his art practice as serious play. His work addresses the challenges of our complex times while celebrating the opportunity to reflect, learn, provoke and be more resilient.
Work in this exhibition explores human behavior, the environment, biology, aging, morality, politics and knowledge systems through many lenses including curiosity, spectacle, wonder, and empathy. Manske’s highly symbolic works are visual records of thoughts, feelings, and fears that seek understanding and insight while contributing to the visual language system he has developed over the last four decades.
EVENTS
Saturday, March 23
Artist’s Talk: Printmaking, 3–4pm
Kent Manske will describe the process of making hand-pulled prints including screen printing, etching & intaglio, relief, lithography, collagraph, and monoprints. He will bring the printing plates and tools used to make prints. He will address what is an original print, what is a reproduction, and things to consider when investing in prints.
Exhibition Opening Reception, 5–7pm
By email invite only. Subscribe to email list at ny2cagallery.com
Saturday, April 20
Artist’s Talk: Artist Books, 3–4pm
Kent Manske will share a brief history of art that takes book form. He will use books in the exhibition to talk about conceptual and technical approaches to making artist books. He will talk about who collects artist’s books and why.
NY2CA Gallery One Year Anniversary Celebration, 5–7pm
Live printing event. Take home a print.
By email invite only. Subscribe to email list at ny2cagallery.com
EXHIBITION STATEMENT
I regard what I do as serious play. Asking uneasy questions feeds my studio practice. How does one make sense of the complex times we live in (pandemics, genocide, glacial meltdown, global mass extinctions, artificial intelligence)? How do we grapple with systems of control (authoritarianism, disinformation, algorithmic prompts, book banning, loyalty oaths, teaching restrictions) that deny these realities? We have many challenges here at the top of the food chain.
Paying attention, not being reactionary, and staying grounded is challenging. It’s exhausting to be constantly trying to decipher fact from fiction, information from noise, genuine beliefs from tribal influences. Navigating reality can be disheartening, but cherishing the light sometimes requires exposing darkness—processing concerns and moral predicaments in creative ways.
The work in this exhibition explores human behavior, the environment, biology, aging, morality, politics and knowledge systems through many lenses including curiosity, spectacle, wonder, and empathy. Each work is a record of an investigation that gives form to complex issues and emotions. They seek not answers but larger conversations and continued points of intersection.
We hope to see you out there, making sense of your own complex and beautiful lives.