Jeremy Grant and Jeffrey de Mers

The Modbo presents June’s First Friday: “Catalytic” by Jeremy Grant and “Arrival” by Jeffrey de Mers.

Jeremy Grant (b. 1985) received a B.S. in Design and Illustration from John Brown University in 2007 and currently lives in Denver, CO. Grant has exhibited his collage and assemblage work in individual and group shows regularly since 2008. His dense, maximalist paper collages create emotional and associative landscapes, using deconstructed and re-contextualized elements to bridge chaos and familiarity.

Grant’s collages are dense and richly layered emotional and associative landscapes meant to bridge chaos and familiarity by using collage elements based on their associative attributes – relying on texture, color, and form rather than object. Compositionally, his work creates visual rhythms and movements meant to mirror mental contemplation and evoke a particular pathos or state of mind. Thematically, Grant engages with the human emotional experience; simultaneously dealing in juxtapositions of comfort and chaos, scarcity and abundance, decay and new life.

Jeffrey de Mers was born and raised in Colorado Springs. As a child, he was enamored of works by local artists like C.H. Rockey and Starr Kempf; their pieces stoked the flames of his imagination. Later in life, influences of surrealist artists like Max Ernst and Joan Miro crept in, giving rise to the works on display here. Some pieces are more deterministic in their presentation, while others are decidedly not, encouraging the viewer to come into a greater correspondence with the piece.

It has been over a decade since de Mers has had a show in Colorado Springs, having lived for nearly a decade in the San Luis Valley. This show is a collection of pieces from the last seven years or so. After a divorce, the sale of a house, and some up close and personal experiences with death, these pieces reflect a sense of rebirth and finding rainbows in the shadows of life.

The opening reception is from 5 p.m. until midnight on Friday, June 7. The show runs through Friday, June 28. In addition to the opening reception, the gallery is open on Friday evenings from 4-7 p.m. or by appointment.  The Modbo is located in the Arts Alley in downtown Colorado Springs at 17C E. Bijou. Find the stretch of Bijou that is between Cascade and Tejon, and go south down the alley. Street parking is available, but The Modbo recommends the lot on Cascade just north of Bijou, which is only $1 after 3 p.m.