March At Roq La Rue: Sam Wolfe Connelly, Liz Brizzi, And Darla Teagarden

Opening reception, Thursday March 5, 6-9pm Show runs through Saturday, March 28th OPENING IN OUR MAIN GALLERY: Sam Wolfe Connelly "And Here I Lay" New York painter Sam Wolfe Connelly returns to Roq La Rue with a collection of poetically dark autobiographical paintings. Connelly’s characteristic style channels a gothic Americana reminiscent of David Lynch or Charles Burns, creating a mysterious voyeuristic mood through his mastery of light and shade. His vignettes, while powerfully dramatic, convey a slowly unfolding narrative that neither describes a beginning or end - we have entered in the middle of the story. Scenes illuminated with a sinister orange and yellow glow, as if by the light of a fire, allude to an unknown cliffhanger, evoking the haunting feeling of dark doings and beauty in the midst of abject horror. Liz Brizzi "Anagrams" Roq La Rue is excited to introduce LA artist Liz Brizzi. Her lush industrial cityscapes are constructed from a blend of media using her own digitally manipulated photography, collage, and painting on wood panel. The final work evokes a stark dreamlike and dystopian portrait of a city alternate to the one we know. Their superimposed overlays create a foreign new place that feels strangely familiar, calling attention to ordinarily overlooked architecture and structural figures. As an anagram cannibalizes letters from one word to create another, so do Brizzi’s imaginary cities create new metropolises. OPENING IN OUR UPSTAIRS GALLERY: Darla Teagarden "Altars" This March, Austin artist Darla Teagarden makes her Seattle debut in our upstairs gallery! Presenting her solo show, ‘Altars’, this series of photographic self portraiture draws inspiration from her life and the lives of loved ones who have endured clinical depression, addiction, and hardship. Her work is photographed in black and white, featuring Darla herself as the character - often with the face hidden in some way, to communicated a common experience through the story. The scenes are built by physically constructing her own mixed media sets and structures, which serve as a way to tell the Gothic and sometimes whimsical stories surrounding her protagonists, their sense of place, protection, and ritual. www,roqlarue.com