OCCCA, Orange County Center for Contemporary Art
is pleased to present the exhibition Figuratively Speaking,
featuring Hanna Makkenon, Robin Repp and Ramon Vargas.
Opening Reception: Saturday April 1,2023 - 6:00-10:00 pm
About the exhibition
For thousands of years the human figure has appeared in art representing the depicted person.
For these artists, figures are symbols of emotional, political, social, and psychological conditions.
About the artists
Hanna Makkenon
Arizona artist, Hanna Makkenon creates speculative future narratives using 3-D printing technology.
These sculptural works address themes of individuality, transformation, free will, and the unseen influences on our behavior.
These works utilize both traditional metal casting techniques and new technologies.
They reference neo-classical traditional figurative sculpture and investigate the possibilities of digital rendering.
The result is an aesthetic involving a surreal mixture of organic matter, figurative elements, and digitally sculpted forms capable of acting in virtual reality environments.
Robin Repp
“Born out of emotional pain and completed out of physical pain, these paintings are a manifestation of a transition over several years.
The use of the figure is the vehicle to express this energy transformation.
The action of painting is part of a process while descending into a moody darkness and a disease called Parkinson’s.
All the paintings were created from sessions with live models.
My unsteady hand and diminished mental state create some of the awkwardness, disconnect and distortions.”
Ramon Vargas
Los Angeles artist, Ramón Vargas makes paintings that amplify and investigate the cultural reality of Brown communities.
Utilizing a representational style, he alternately challenges, celebrates, and subverts prevailing concepts of identity, tradition, and interpersonal relationships.
Drawing on his own life experiences, Ramón’s figurative paintings blend realism with a surreal sense of color and place, often incorporating heavy symbolism, repeating patterns, and flat geometrical elements.
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