Categories Exhibitions

Cerbera Gallery presents: “Distorted Beauty” by Rachel Lauren & “Current Works” by Louis Reilly

Experience Cerbera Gallery’s new exhibit “Distorted Beauty” | Selected Photographic Works by Rachel Lauren | Current Works” by ceramicist Louis Reilly

Rachel Lauren | “Distorted Beauty”
Selected Photographic Works

June 7 – July 27, 2019

Collectors Reception:
FRI, June 7, 5-7pm [Please R.S.V.P.]

Opening Reception:
FRI, June 7, 7-9pm

Closing Reception:
FRI, July 27, 5-7pm

2011 Baltimore Ave, Kansas City, MO 64108

Cerbera Gallery presents: “Distorted Beauty”

Impossible Standards

Photographer Rachel Lauren invites viewers to become more aware of the way natural beauty has been contorted, packed, and sold as a manufactured, cloned, and empty product. Are women inherently beautiful, or do they require modifications? Are you seeing your uniquely created reflection through a distorted lens?

Lauren explores the many implications of current beauty standards through her camera lens. A small town Missouri native, Lauren was gifted her first camera at just two-years-old. Photography has been her chosen medium ever since.

Lauren becomes especially conscious of society’s beauty expectations when she walks into an ill-lighted fitting room. When encountering settings such as this, two words dominate her mind: constriction and distortion. She feels constricted not just physically by the clothes she is trying on, but by what society deems beautiful. By juxtapozing the real and fake through abstract portraiture, Lauren calls attention to the complex issues regarding beauty standards in “Distorted Beauty”.

Universal Connections

Having fostered a love for traveling her whole life, Lauren has visited fifteen countries. While living in the Middle East last year, Lauren encountered women who were confronted with similar prisons of impossible standards. Thus, traveling has given Lauren a unique perspective of the world that has broadened the concept behind her photographic work.

Lauren is currently receiving her masters from UMKC. She aims to continue traveling and challenging cultural norms through her photography while using a visual language that is applicable to the academic and non-academic world.

 

Cerbera Gallery Presents: “Current Works” by Louis Reilly

As part of our June/July showcase, Cerbera Gallery will also be exhibiting “Current Works” by local Kansas City ceramacist, Louis Reilly. Like Lauren, Reilly addresses issues of history and culture. However, his exploration stays within the context of ceramic art and its role in society.

Reilly’s vessels in “Current Works” represent his continued curiosity in the history of ceramics as he strives to discover new paths in sodafiring. Pots with a taut shape are softened by the buildup of glaze and pattern during firing. The contrast of a structured form and soft surface has gripped Reilly’s interest throughout his career.

The wall tiles in “Current Works” were created to record the history of the firing and reference landscape. The tiles fulfill a function in the kiln by directing and pressurizing the sodium vapor to impact the other pieces in dynamic ways. Reilly hopes that these forms with their sugary, crystallized, and bright surfaces become companions in the home.

 

For all press inquires and group visits regarding Distorted Beauty by Rachel Lauren and Current Works by Louis Reilly, contact Philipp Eirich or Kennedy Burgess at [email protected]. We encourage local museums and art groups interested in private tours to book dates in advance since this exhibition will only be on view for a seven weeks. As usual on First Friday we’ll have chilled background tunes coming from our very own DJ Deep House Cat and will be serving libations and snacks. Our doors will open at 4pm, so make sure you’ll stop by!

A Friendly Note from Lili Komondor:

Lili Komondor

Lili Komondor

“Phil usually shares our gallery news on Cerbera’s official Facebook page. As many of you know, I am Cerbera Gallery’s Permanent Artist in Residence Canine, so make sure to say “HI” and give me a belly rub when you come in the next time.”

First Friday June: 5pm – 9:00pm
Sun, Mon, Tue, Wed either 1-5pm or by appointment (844.202.9303)
Thu, Fri from 1-6pm and Sat from 11-6pm.

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