Thingness
Group SHow

December 7, 2019 - January 4, 2020
​​RO2 ART | the cedars
1501 south ervay street, Dallas, tx 75215

December, 2019
Ro2 Art | Dallas, TX

Dallas, December 2019 - Ro2 is proud to present 'Thingness', a group show featuring works by 11 artists from Texas and beyond. The show will run from December 7, 2019 through January 4, 2020 with an opening reception held on Saturday, December 7 from 7-10 PM at Ro2’s Cedars gallery located at 1501 S Ervay Street, Dallas, TX 75215.

Noun\ ˈthiŋ-nəs \
: the quality or state of objective existence or reality.

ABOUT THE ARTISTS

Davis Birks
Davis Birks (1957, Seattle, WA, USA) is a visual artist living in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. He graduated from Arizona State University with honors, summa cum laude, receiving a BFA in Studio Art in 1986. His work encompasses projects in sculpture, installation, painting, photography and video and is defined by multiple investigations examining a wide range of interests. He has presented exhibitions with galleries, museums and cultural institutions in Mexico, Europe, the United States, and Asia. His work has had a strong impact on the cultural communities of Guadalajara and Puerto Vallarta in Mexico and can be found in the collections of  the Cabañas Cultural Institute of Guadalajara, The Museum of Latin American Art (MoLaa), Long Beach, The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (MFAH), The Santa Barbara Museum (SBMA), Museo de Las Artes, Guadalajara (MUSA), Dimitris Gigortakis Collection, Athens, The Karen and Robert Duncan Collection, Lincoln,NE, and The Kathy and Marc LeBaron Collection, Lincoln, NE.

Apart from his work as a visual artist, Davis Birks has dedicated time to the development of contemporary art in Puerto Vallarta since 1987, assisting recently in the foundation and project development of the cultural institution Oficina de Proyectos Culturales. Davis Birks is also a member of the advisory committee for the Visual Arts department of the Centro Universitario de la Costa, U de G and the advisory committee for Instituto Cultural Vallarta.  

Mark Burt
C. Mark Burt is an artist and mentor from Bossier City, Louisiana where he creates pieces of an alternate realm using various means. Mark’s works vary in material, but all are amalgamations inspired by his mentors, his friends, and his competition.

After spending his formative years creating doodles influenced by the sci-fi movies of his childhood, Mark decided to truly hone in on his skills during his time under the tutelage of artists, including Lee Baxter Davis, at East Texas State University. There, using inspiration from artists like Albrecht Dürer, cartoonist Basil Wolverton, and British artist Lucian Freud, he began his artistic journey.

A friendly sort of competition was born during his time in Texas, and it is his colleagues and friends who push him to go further into his artistic endeavors. Burt fell into a group of creators who were drafting their own universes through the narrative of their works, and his creations followed suit. They would later become unofficial members of the Lizard Cult, a collective of artists from the East Texas area.

After his time in East Texas, Mark came back to Shreveport-Bossier City where he now teaches Visual Arts at Talented Arts Program in Bossier City and occasionally mentors younger artists. He also has a studio in Shreveport at Red Handed Tattoo parlor where he works studiously on his visceral illustrations, paintings, and sculptures.

Josh Dodson
Josh has been creating art in many ways since he was a child, whether through drawing or painting. Throughout his formal years in school he took various art classes taking what he could from each class continuing to try and figure out what his path would be. In 2001 a school mate introduced him to the mysterious and intriguing sub- culture of graffiti. He became obsessed with the science of letter forms and the complex ways of "Wild Style''. Meeting other "writers'' from school he quickly began learning the ways of the practice from being a "toy'', a newbie with no skill or style to being able to produce a fresh body of work(tags,throw-ups,burners,etc.) As such, the new way of expressing himself brought the aspect of anonymity. Getting your name up for people to see but still being completely unknown except to the people in the know.

Over the years Josh has studied many different interpretations of artworks including futurism, architecture, modern art, constructivism, minimalism and pure abstract expressionism, while still keeping in check the roots of his current works.

Having a strong structure based subject correlating with drafting and geometry from architecture integrated with bold shapes and correct color compositions from graffiti is very prevalent in his work. Creating juxtapositions of complementary colors to mold these structures have made them seem to have a solid stance while being playful and open. Continuing to expand on these sometimes metamorphic style archetypes is the ultimate goal for him.

Julia Jalowiec
Julia Jalowiec is Texas born artist. She graduated from Southern Methodist University with a BFA in studio art and a minor in art history. During an art fellowship, Julia travelled to Paris where she studied both art and French. Her time there furthered her idea of the “larger community”. She often addresses what it means to deal with the lines of relationship whether defined by socio-political constructs or more personal in nature. A life filled with illness and loss has deeply impacted her work, evident in reflections of mortality throughout. She has shown at SITE131 in Dallas, the Amarillo Museum of Art, and continues to work on large scale collaborative pieces with other local artists. Most recently, she was named Mercedes-Benz Financial Emerging Artist.

Bumin Kim
Originally from Korea, Bumin Kim received her MFA in drawing and painting in 2015 from the University of North Texas and remains in North Texas as an active member of the contemporary art community. In addition to numerous solo and group exhibitions throughout Texas, she has been featured at the Dallas Art Fair and Art Aspen. Her work is included in both public and private collections in Texas and throughout the United States and Europe. Bumin Kim is represented by Ro2 Art in Dallas.

Adam Knoche
Adam obtained a MFA from Southern Illinois University of Edwardsville. In 2012 Adam completed a residency at Strathnairn Art Association in Canberra, Australia. Publications include Art Ascent Magazine, Journal of Australian Ceramics, and 2018 Emerging artist in Ceramics Monthly.  Adam Knoche's work is represented by RO2 Gallery in Dallas Texas. Contact by email if interested in artwork, Lectures, or Workshops.

Julon Pinkston
Born and raised in Houston, Texas, Julon Pinkston first began his studio practice in college after serving as an Infantry soldier in the US Army. It was as a result of the military experience and experiencing personal loss that spurred him into taking the bold move and practicing studio art as a career, embracing an Army motto Fortuna Favet Fortibus (Fortune Favors the Bold).

Julon Pinkston earned a BFA, graduating Summa Cum Laude from the University of Houston in 2003. He went on to earn an MFA in Painting and Drawing from the University of North Texas, College of Visual Art and Design in 2008. After graduating he moved home to Houston and began teaching as an adjunct professor at various community colleges and working as an art teacher at Houston Independent School District.  His work has been exhibited in various art fairs, featured at Houston’s Art Car Museum, the Beeville Art Museum, McMurtrey Gallery, and Zoya Tommy Contemporary Galley, where he is currently represented in Houston.

In his current work he creates impasto paintings along with paint made to look and feel like ubiquitous objects relating to his studio practice like duct tape, plywood, red stickers using acrylic paint as a medium. His work explores the transformity of acrylic painting as a media while maintaining a seductive, elegant quality.

Robin Ragin
In 1995, Robin Ragin began working in the studio with artist David McManaway. McManaway was renowned for his use of assemblage and his ability to breathe new life into discarded objects. Ragin and McManaway worked together up until his passing in 2010. In honor of his memory and the bond that they formed while working together in the studio, Ragin continues to present her own unique interpretations in assemblage works, all of which have been created since McManaway's passing. Her intent is to explore the profound influence that objects can have on us and challenge our perceptions of value and obscurity. These objects are immediately whimsical, mischievous and a true testament to what it means to have a mentor.

Robin Ragin lives and works Dallas and has practiced art for the majority of her life. Ragin studied fine art at Harford College, Baltimore, MD, Richland College, Dallas, TX, and the University of Maryland, College Park, MD. She also studied interior design at UCLA. Since it’s inception in 1994, Ragin has exhibited in several invitational and juried exhibitions in Dallas, and in 2013, presented Homage to a Mentor at the McKinney Avenue Contemporary. Her work is included in several important private and corporate collections.

Colby Schwartz
Colby Schwartz is Texas based artist currently living and working in the Dallas/ Fort Worth area. In the spring of 2019, he graduated from the University of North Texas with his BFA in both Drawing and Painting, and Ceramics, with a minor in Art History. While in undergrad Colby got to explore different mediums but gravitated towards painting. Moving forward he is focusing much of his creative attention to painting as a fulltime studio artist. 

Copper Tritscheller
Copper Tritscheller, a native of Georgia did not originally pursue a career in art however her artistic side showed itself in many ways until in 2000, Tritscheller was formally introduced to the art world. Drawn to what she considers the “misunderstood” animal, much of her work centers around burros and bats. Tritscheller approaches her subjects from all angles, sculpting them both as animals, as well as anthropomorphically. She is constantly pushing the barrier between animal and human. Her body of work continues to grow and can be found in galleries in the US, China and Taiwan.

David Van Ness
David Van Ness was born in Dallas, TX in 1979. David would go on to earn his BFA from Maryland Institute College of Art in 2001 and his MFA from Cranbrook Academy of Art in 2003. After graduate school David moved to Dallas and began refining his studio practice he had developed during college. David worked a variety of jobs including working for U.S. Art, an art handling company. While working for U.S. Art, David was introduced to 3D printing and digital fabrication at a conference on art handling in Dallas by SculptCAD. Around that time David was asked for 500 of his “Stacking Cow” sculptures, and after some research David worked with SculptCAD to create 500 of a refined “Stacking Cow”. Since that project David has used digital fabrication in most of his projects including additional production runs of the “Stacking Cow” and a follow up “Stacking Bull”. David began teaching in 2005 as an adjunct at many different DFW area colleges. Eventually David was teaching some seven courses a semester four to five semesters a year. Because of this experience David was offered the Coordinator of Foundations position at Northern Arizona University. In this position he oversaw thirty to forty classes, ten to fifteen faculty, and a budget of around 70k. Based on the success of the foundations program redesign and update, David was asked to help modernize the sculpture program. David spent one semester helping the redesign the sculpture program before becoming appointed the Coordinator of New Media. In the new position David was tasked with developing a new emphasis which would include seven courses with additional changes to the curriculum path which includes additional opportunities to explore other disciplines.

Before moving to Flagstaff, David had begun experimenting with glitch art in 3D digital fabrication. Originally the work was created by simply corrupting 3D model files in a text editor and then forcing a 3D modeling software to interpret this corrupted 3D file. Over time David gained a great deal of control over the technique. Because 3D model files are not much more than an 2D array of numbers, David began importing non-visual data into the 3D models. David began to explore how the data was used and the manipulation could be used for more conceptual aspects.

David lives and works just outside Flagstaff, AZ with his wife and 3 cats.