Isaac Pohoryles Gelb

Artist Statement

My art is concerned with the structures and patterns of vision as it is filtered through subjective thought. I am delighted by geometry, especially the shapes which endure unconsciously and reappear in daydreams and memories. My art solidifies and abstracts these afterimages, finding new forms in the process.

While I do work from observation, I am more interested in the effects I can achieve by interweaving observation with imagination. As I work, my ideas spill from one medium to the next, translated and externalized through repetitive action.

In making art I am frequently frustrated by the gap that emerges between the imagined image and its arrival as a finished object. This gap reappears whenever expectations don’t align with reality. Our fears and doubts are amplified when we perceive ourselves falling short of an imagined standard. We expend enormous amounts of time, energy, and resources to close gaps as they open and diagnose just where they might open next. We clothe ourselves to match our identity groups. We suppress ideas and urges that disturb us or threaten to challenge others. We implicate our bodies, behaviors, and beliefs in presenting consistent identities to the world, sacrificing genuine desires for approval and survival.

Making art has become a kind of defense mechanism against egregious personal compromise, a reminder of value of the imagination in resisting rigidity and sameness. Creating art reorients me within life’s gaps, exposing them as flexible and illusory. In making art, subjects which are impossible to know or understand transform into pockets of possibility, while subjects we think we know well are reintroduced with mystery and complexity.

Please browse my work— you can find everything in the “Portfolio” section— and get in touch if you have any thoughts!

Thank you so very much for being here!

Sincerely,

Isaac