June 2016 / Simple Means

Randi Ganulin
Ellen Garvens
Mike Rogers

Simple Means

June 02 – July 02, 2016
Reception / Thursday, June 02, 6–8pm

Simple Means combines the work of Seattle-area artists Ellen Garvens and Randi Ganulin with L.A.-based artist Mike Rogers. It includes video, photographs and sculpture that share a sensibility of either production methods or resulting intention in which they often mine ordinary objects to create complex imagery. All three artists use diverse materials of humble origin to convey a sense of the unexpected, exploring the detritus of their homes or overlooked aspects of their local neighborhoods via multiple media/formats.

Garvens often embraces happenstance and what can be found in the residual of her home to construct intriguing films and photographs. They balance elegance with chaos and disorder. Ganulin fuses drawing and photography via digital means, creating carefully-composed works that often link delicate objects from nature with images of disasters. In a recent series, she has been documenting and organizing the overlooked stumps of trees in her neighborhood, elaborating on them digitally and by hand. Rogers works in film, video, drawing and sculpture to examine social situations, with much of his recent output concerning the intersection of science and marketing. An outgrowth of his former profession, his work demonstrates a journalistic inquisitiveness. All the artists’ work re-imagines that which is left behind, utilizing it as a source of inspiration.