Project 4 presents :

IVANNY PAGAN, "Unfinished Sympathy"
RICH MACDONALD, Recent Work

February 2 – March 10, 2007
Opening Reception: Friday, February 2, 6:00 - 8:30pm

Project 4 presents concurrent solo exhibitions by Baltimore-based photographer Rich MacDonald and Philadlephia-based painter Ivanny Pagan. Rich MacDonald’s large-scale photographs are grand statements about very ordinary interior spaces. These typical American interiors are presented so objectively that they become archeological studies, distancing the viewer from the very familiar image. He writes, “For the past 3 years I have helped document the excavation of a bronze-age burial site in central Albania. The photographs in this show are archaeologically inspired investigations into what objects - their function and organizational relationship to one another - can reveal about their owners. I am curious as to how clear a portrait such clues can paint.” Ivanny Pagan’s stark portraits evoke an immediate emotional connection between the subject and viewer. “I’ve never finished a painting. I simply stop,” he explains. “The true life of the image reveals itself and at some point, my original ideals of what the painting should look like, and what the piece has become in reality, are so disparate that I have to end it.” There are parts in each of his paintings that are deleted from the beginning. This makes the viewer believe that these are not straightforward portraits. Other aspects of the subject have been removed as well, or added on. This helps to infuse all other decisions made with purpose and meaning. These paintings demand that you stare hard. Rich MacDonald earned an MFA from Maryland Institute College of Art in 2006. He has exhibited throughout the Mid-Atlantic region and currently lives and works in Baltimore, MD. Ivanny Pagan earned his BFA from the Maryland Institute College of Art in 2004 and his MFA from the University of Pennsylvania in 2006. Pagan has shown his work in New York and Philadelphia. He was recently featured in New American Paintings and has received numerous scholarships and awards throughout his academic training.

Contact: Anne Surak, Director
Project 4
903 U Street NW Washington DC 20001
tel: 202 232 4340 fax: 202 232 4341
info@project4gallery.com
http://www.project4gallery.com/