Christy Lee Rogers & Michael Laube: Within the Invisible Space

Acclaimed Houston gallery, Laura Rathe Fine Art will host an exhibition of new works by contemporary artists, Christy Lee Rogers & Michael Laube, in a two-person show, Within the Invisible Space, with an opening reception on Saturday, July 9, 2016 from 6-9pm at 2707 Colquitt Street.

Underwater photographer, Christy Lee Rogers, and notable German painter, Michael Laube, both utilize and harness the effects of light in their work to break the conventions of their mediums.

Rogers, working only in the night, creates complex imagery with dramatic lighting effects done completely in-camera which result in immense depth, rich darks, and bright highlights beautifully capturing a barrage of bodies and colors.  Laube works on transparent acrylic glass in three dimensions.

The refractions, reflections, and highlights of the layered acrylic glass sheets transform the piece and its surrounding space into a multidimensional event that challenges the viewer to change perspective.

The exhibition will be on view through August 20, 2016.

ABOUT THE ARTISTS

Christy Lee Rogers, originally from Kailua, Hawaii, uses underwater photography to break the conventions of contemporary imagery.  Her work is vibrant and complex with figures dancing underwater at night in bright fabrics and ballerina-like positions.  The refractions of light through the camera builds intensity around the entangled bodies, which are submerged in dark water, and further accentuated by the colorful cloth.  Her photographs have been compared to the Baroque-painting masters like Caravaggio.  This exhibition will present pieces from her newest body of work, A Quarter Million Miles.

Rogers’ work has been exhibited throughout the US and Europe and is in many national and international private and public collections.  Her photographs have been featured in important magazines that include Casa Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar Art China, Eyemazing, Photo Professional and many others.

Berlin artist, Michael Laube, transgresses the boundaries of traditional painting in his own unique way.  He unites the qualities of a traditional concept of painting with a desire to dissolve the medium’s limitations.  Early in his career, he developed an ambition to go beyond the conventional approach to painting and to extend the familiar boundaries of the painterly level to included space-time perspectives.  For Laube, this meant departing from the classical canvas and turning to acrylic glass as his carrier medium, allowing him to more deeply explore the themes of light, movement, color and space and to achieve a dematerialization of the work.

Although the color in his acrylic glass objects and installations remains captured in the surface, it still seems disembodied.  The color becomes part of the surrounding space, woven into a dynamic, variable system of forces that is formed from light.  Largely influenced by architecture, Laube often refers to his work as a “spatial concept”.  Combining colors and shapes in multi-dimensional layers, he is able to develop a new “quasi-perspective” in the piece.  One of Laube’s central concerns is to transcend the boundary between the image and the observer.  He strives to open immediate intimacy and complexity to the experience of viewing his art

Laube is influenced by artists such as Barnett Newman and Mark Rothko.  Hi work has been widely exhibited internationally and is included in many private, corporate, & museum collections.

ABOUT LAURA RATHE FINE ART

With over 25 years of experience in the art industry, gallery owner, Laura Rathe, started her career working as a private art dealer.  She established Laura Rathe Fine Art in 1998 in Houston, Texas, located in Upper Kirby at 2707 Colquitt Street on Gallery Row. In February 2013, the gallery expanded, opening a second location in Dallas on Dragon Street, the city’s premiere arts district destination. In September 2015, LRFA opened a third location in the heart of Uptown Houston, located at 1700 Post Oak Blvd in 1 BLVD Place.

Laura Rathe Fine Art represents established, mid-career contemporary artists, many of whom have been acquired into world-renowned private, corporate and museum collections. Various important public collections include BBVA Compass, HKS Architects Headquarters, CBRE, Wells Fargo, W Hotels, UTSW Hospital and Halliburton.

Images:
Christy Lee Rogers, Earth Wind & Fire, Archival Pigment Print on Dibond, 48h x 66w in. (detail above, full image below).
Michael Laube, 25-14, acrylic on acrylic, 47 x 20 x 5 in.

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