Satellite Events

Faces out of Place features artists AYGZ and Darrin Maier, diving into familiar practices and seeking order in confusion and uncertainty. AYGZ work presents overwhelming sensations that humans experience from day to day, and harnesses it through tactile mixed media. Starting with familiar visuals from his everyday life, he transforms the images by layering patterns and textures to articulate his connected experiences. Darrin Maiers brings together distorted abstract portraits that capture surreal visions and portrays theoretical ideas by bringing them to life. Darrin focuses on the ideas such as CPTSD and alexithymia, which is defined as a neuropsychological trait in which the brain makes it difficult for a person to process and understand one’s own emotions. Faces out of Place brings awareness to life's struggles and honors individual hardship through a creative and expressive outlet.

AYGZ (Jesse Weinstein)

Bio

Working under the pseudonym AYGZ, Jesse Weinstein is a North Philadelphia based mixed media artist who explores the relationship between environment and identity through collage, photography, and painting. His work views the city as both witness and participant- an accumulation of lived moments and shared histories that surface in streets, structures, and the people within them. Through this lens, AYGZ reveals how the personal and collective are inseparable, each continuously shaping the other.

Statement

“I utilize both digital and classical painting techniques to convey the overwhelming sense of stimulation I experience daily. My work explores the concept of interaction with environment by combining multiple mediums into one scene where subject and setting are equal parts. The natural organic flow of paint against the calculated nature of a digital print, and what I am able to achieve meeting in the middle. I create digital collage/illustrations of my photography that I then transfer to print. After collaging elements onto raw, and un-stretched canvas, I paint in response to what I have layered with paper, and bury the seams under thick acrylic. The goal is to create one solid moment where old and new means of doing are working together.”

Darrin Maier 

Bio

Darrin Maier (b. 1985, Florida) is a self-taught artist living and working in South Jersey. Since 2014, he has focused on painting and printmaking, creating work that explores themes of memory, isolation, and the subconscious. Through an intuitive and evolving practice, his art examines the intersection of personal experience, emotion, and perception, inviting viewers into reflective and deeply personal spaces.

Statement

"I am a dynamic artist with a decade of experience in painting, specializing in abstract portraits. My work is distinguished by vibrant colors and an innovative approach to form, capturing the ethereal essence of dreams and memory. Through my use of bold hues and fluid shapes, I explore the intersection between the subconscious and the tangible, creating pieces that invite viewers to delve into the complexities of human emotion and experience. My unique vision offers a fresh perspective on abstract art, inviting an introspective journey through the realms of the imagined and the remembered."