we are super excited to open solo exhibitions for nate rogers, leslie lewis sigler and kiki slaughter this week. all three artists have worked extremely hard to create cohesive bodies of work to be shown together. this is leslie sigler’s first exhibition at the gallery and her oil on panel still life paintings of antique sterling silver and copper molds blew us away when we first saw them. her technical skill is exceptional and the reflections in the silver are also a portrait of her painting. long time hbg artist kiki slaughter has come into her own as an abstract artist working with mixed media on canvas and linen. her choice in palette, composition and the ability to show the rawness of her materials gives weight and maturity to her paintings. in recent years kiki has gone bigger in scale and the results are phenomenal. last but not least charlotte artist nate rogers’ recent graphite drawings are not only exquisitely drawn they are a portal for your mind to question the scene in front of you. it’s been a long week with lots of emotions seeing all the images from the devastation in the north carolina mountains. one thing that has proven itself time and time again is art always provides a comfort and inspiration in unsettled times.
kiki slaughter is a painter best known for her expansive colorfield compositions that explore the fundamental process of painting. she studied at the university of virginia and holds a ba in painting and in art history and a ma in contemporary art history from the sotheby’s institute, london.
slaughter’s work hinges on the act of intuitive mark-making and draws on the rich dual-pronged visual history of color theory and action painting. the work of kiki slaughter is included in many public and private collections, including keswick hall, the quirk hotel, blackberry farm, and omni hotels. slaughter lives and works in richmond, va.
“over the past two decades, i have dedicated my artistic practice to the act of painting. this collection tells the story of my deeply personal process, with every stroke, splatter, and stain of paint shaping the narrative of my days. my technique is a delicate balance of spontaneity and precision, both intuitive and intentional. tapping into creative flow, i work in the moment, pouring, scraping, and layering paint to create meditative compositions that explore the relationship between color and time.
for me, it has always been about painting–both the physicality of the mark, and the mental presence in the act of mark making. i am a process-based artist, intuitively building my canvases in reaction to the world around me. the simplicity of bold blocks of color belie many-layered, complex compositions built up over time, like living ecosystems. the resulting works are imbued with the essence of place, engaging the viewer in a collective feeling that is greater than ourselves.”
nathaniel rogers was born in charlottesville, va in 1980. nate attended davidson college where he received his ba in studio art. he went on to earn his mfa from the hoffberger school of painting at the maryland institute college of art. his work has been featured in new american paintings and received critical acclaim in journals and periodicals such as the washington post, washingtonian magazine, and the philadelphia city paper. his work has been exhibited nationally and internationally and his work can be found in both private and public collections throughout the united states. rogers currently lives and works in charlotte, nc.
“my paintings’ visual elements are inspired by personal experiences within the contexts of american suburban culture, global politics, and narrative symbology from historical mythology and oral tradition. the situations methodically staged in my pieces have components deliberately placed to add levity and humor, while a darker underbelly lurks. comedy is a masking mechanism, mimicking the ways in which we so often turn to distraction, denial, masquerade, or disbelief in order to cope with, or to temporarily avoid, the realities of life.
the smallness of the works emphasizes their physicality, drawing the viewer close. just as virtual and real identity can clash, there is a disjunction between the way my paintings seem virtually and the way they are in the physical world.”
leslie lewis sigler’s still life paintings of silver and copper heirlooms collect treasured family objects as families of objects. in sigler’s work, an extensive collection of objects, histories, and emotional relations is brought vividly and suggestively to life. each piece has its own unique story to tell, moments of polish and moments of tarnish. a series of portraits thus emerges whose enduring power and beauty reflect the depths of human character and the profound connectedness of shared history.
domestic objects made of precious metals—flatware, vessels, molds, cutlery—have a kind of eternal life. they may age beyond recognition, but polishing them will soon recapture their original luster. attending to the elegance of their form and the precision of their decorative flourishes, as well as to the play of light off their surfaces and even the shadows they cast, sigler renders these singular objects in all their varied richness, elevating them beyond their mere functionality through a signature combination of near-photographic realism and painterly abstraction.
in this way, the work is about both aesthetic immediacy and symbolic significance. just as sigler herself is often reflected—visible, even if distorted—in the ever-changing patina of the cherished heirlooms she paints, so the objects come to reflect enduring and captivating histories. as they have been passed down from generation to generation and put to use at family gatherings, imagine all those who have been reflected in their gleam, brought together by the objects’ connecting force around the table. or perhaps they were rediscovered at an estate sale or thrift shop, salvaged from the purgatory of resale, for new personal and family histories to be expressed. on the whole, sigler’s paintings stand as invitations to see life reflected as part of an evolving lineage that crosses generations and geography, connecting us all through time and space.
all available work by each artist can be viewed on our website under their individual tabs including sizing + pricing. hidell brooks gallery is by appointment. please call the gallery if you have any further questions.