Mesmerized by the Lights : Bushwick Daily

By Katarina Hybenova

Colorful lights on the walls have inspired many people stop since the afternoon. Diego was about to get a haircut at a neighboring barber shop when he spotted the lights of six different colors. He had to come in and look at the artwork of Carol Salmanson at Storefront Bushwick gallery. Moreover, he promised to come back with his little daughter. Last Friday at the dawn, I felt like Diego – absolutely mesmerized by the colorful light at the walls of a tiny gallery at 16 Wilson.

Carol Salmanson has a studio at the newly famous building at 56 Bogart. In her work she likes to experiment with lights and other reflective materials. Salmanson creates dreamy, almost magical worlds by taming electricity and light. Her works at Storefront Bushwick were created using LED lights. Carol told us that the lights come in six different colors, many of which have been discontinued. Carol buys them online in large quantities. She was trained as a painter, and the illuminated pieces all started as gestural drawings. These were subsequently recreated as illuminated maps of the drawings. Storefront also exhibits a set of her paintings and some of her charcoal drawing. We can see where all the abstraction comes from based on the more traditional media.

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In the project room, Stephen Truax is exhibiting his Xena series. These geometric abstract paintings speak to the viewer through the unlikely mix of honesty and vagueness, closeness and distance. Stephen is a master of color combination and color blending who creates fresh, attractive, almost addictive spaces. The paintings are made in gouache and pencil on stretched and prepared paper.