And, Repeat

Uprise Art is pleased to present And, Repeat, an exhibition of new works by Devon Reina, Sarah Sullivan Sherrod, and Misato Suzuki. This exhibition brings together three artists whose practices are rooted in pattern as a source of structure and reliability, and explores how the subversion of that security creates the opportunity for chance and resistance.

Dividing the surface of his canvases into a precise grid, Reina begins his paintings by creating self-imposed rules that dictate how he executes the work. The composition is partially decided ahead of time, and his drawn guides serve as a roadmap to the completion of the painting. Once he begins the painting process, however, materials take the lead, distorting and disrupting his systematic plans with painterly unpredictability. He responds intuitively to the staining, pooling, and blurring effects that emerge, often abandoning his initial intentions in favor of what the materials suggest, even if that means reorienting the canvas - or stretching the piece in reverse.

And, Repeat invites viewers to consider how order can give way to intuition and how, within that space, new forms, meanings, and connections emerge.

In Suzuki’s paintings, starflowers appear as simplified symbols and mark-making devices, clustered into tight groupings that form dense, constellation-like arrangements. These formations bisect her color fields and geometric abstractions, creating visual rhythms that pulse across the canvas. The starflowers serve as playful yet poignant stand-ins, evoking both personal and collective memory, while blurring the boundary between the botanical and the celestial, the symbolic and the abstract.

Sherrod’s colorful acrylic paintings draw on the historic lineage of centuries-old weaving patterns and techniques while inflecting it with contemporary improvisation. Sherrod embraces the slowness inherent in the weaving process as a form of resistance in an increasingly fast-paced world. Weaving on a loom becomes a meditative act, a way to connect with the past while pushing the medium forward and honoring its legacy as both a form of technology and a mode of communication.

Together, the works of Reina, Suzuki, and Sherrod reveal the tension and harmony between control and surrender, tradition and transformation. Whether through systems that dissolve into spontaneity, symbols that oscillate between the earthly and the cosmic, or grids that hold both structure and softness, each artist engages with pattern not as repetition alone, but as a site of inquiry and experimentation. And, Repeat invites viewers to consider how order can give way to intuition and how, within that space, new forms, meanings, and connections emerge.

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