JOHN DEFARO – EVENT PROJECTS
681 ne 72^ND Terrace / Miami, FL 33138
http://johndefaro.com
PRESS RELEASE
 
Jordan Massengale and Jeff Hogue
Exterior Mysteries
June 12^th – August 23rd, 2015
 
OPENING JUNE 11th 6:30 – 10:00 PM
In the MIMO DISTRICT, ONE BLOCK BEHIND THE VAGABOND HOTEL
within BELLE MEADE
CONTACT: JOHN DEFARO, JOHN@JOHNDEFARO.COM or 305.476.7976    
 
Two strong viewpoints in paint invite us to cruise curiously into the summer’s heat. A moody, evocative show featuring two northerners with ties to Miami opens June 12 at John DeFaro’s eclectic new home gallery space in the MiMo District.

Jordan Massengale hails from Ontario and has taught art courses at various South Florida institutions of higher learning. His suite of paintings, ‘Views From the North’ are almost voluptuous in their tactility. The landscapes, painted while he kneels in the snow, revel in the physicality of paint coagulating against the cold. The winter scenes are frigid but by no means stark, with vivid life thriving against the cold. His portraits start with a skull, robustly wrested from paint that’s carved or smeared. The stern and almost fearsome faces built atop refuse to spell out their inner lives for us.

Oklahoma’s Jeff Hogue offers seven works, ‘Near the Sea and the Beginning.’ The oil paintings, documenting a winter visit to Miami, use photography as a starting point but have the haunting quality of someone else’s stumbled-upon snapshots. The paintings are physically layered, allowing for beauty over manners, for the loveliness of organic chaos and imperfection to emerge. Deeply tonal tableaux invite the viewer to speculate and enter a physical and emotional space. The sparing use of light brings ambiguity and invites pondering — are the scenes threatening, or existing in the mellow haze of prosaic twilight?

“Exterior Mysteries” remains on display at John DeFaro - Event Projects until August 23rd.
For more information, contact:  john@johndefaro.com  / John DeFaro 305. 467. 7976