Dream Thesaurus curated by Lynne Marinelli Ghenov

June 5 – 26
Time and Place in the Balcony Gallery
Opening reception: Friday, June 5, 5:00-9:00 PM
Gallery hours: Monday-Friday, 9:00 AM – 5:00 PM
The Emporium Center, 100 S. Gay Street, Knoxville, TN 37902

Dream Thesaurus presents the work of Mikel Elam, Risa Hricovsky, and Caroline Santa. These three artists each use a surplus of materials to create layered surfaces loaded with innovative texture and color combinations that invoke contemplation and introspection.

Mikel’s work extends beyond the medium specificity of painting into collage and mixed media using found objects and a variety of materials, making the components of each work generously complex. Along with his impetus for a dreamlike quality, Mikel further reimagines and reconfigures portraits, interspersing them in patterns tangled in pigment. His work summons histories that have long been made invisible, paralleled with personal experiences and stories.

Risa challenges the traditional use of ceramics through her material medleys that resemble soup-like petri dishes, amassed with a banquet of broken ceramic and glass pieces, a variety of unknown morsels and particles that lure you in. The work feels futuristic and unruly, eliciting a kind of curiosity one gets when looking into a snow globe or a fish tank.

Caroline’s paintings and drawings are made by building assemblages and substrates from a variety of her own saved scraps of fabric, paper, and ephemera, mirroring snippets of what she sees in her everyday life. These, often extra-small “clusters,” are packed with a powerful energy that requires the viewer to stand close, examine, and be present.

Lynne Marinelli Ghenov is a visual artist who primarily creates drawing, collage, and other works on paper. Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and raised in New Jersey, Lynne now lives and works in Knoxville, TN. She co-founded and co-directed C for Courtside Gallery, an artist-run curatorial space in downtown N. Knoxville, from 2017 to 2020. Lynne received her BFA in sculpture from Tyler School of Art, Philadelphia, PA (1998), and studied at Temple University Rome in Italy (1996). Lynne is the Associate at Loghaven Artist Residency in Knoxville, TN.