ODYSSEY: Solange Roberdeau, Sarah Koik, Danielle Dimston

ARTISTS' RECEPTION | Saturday, September 10, 2022 | 4-6 pm

Municipal Bonds is pleased to announce ODYSSEY, an exhibition of works by Solange Roberdeau, Sarah Koik, and Danielle Dimston. On view from September 10 through October 29, 2022, this trio show presents drawings on paper and ceramic sculptures in a narrative informed in part by themes from Homer's epic poem. By placing the works in dialogue with an ancient text, together they share a conceptual inquiry into the continuity of existence, its meter and rhythm. 

Comprising shapes and symbols, depictions of environments and otherworldly forms, ODYSSEY features references to both the natural and mythical worlds, the known and mysterious. Selected works explore "the journey" as an abstract concept, tethered to transformation and its inherent complex forces. The precarious nature of wandering is seen in elements of energetic marks and geometric linework, moody colors and atmospheric textures. Each artist investigates balance and tension—push, pull, connect, expand—between material and surface, flow and pattern. 

Weather and the cosmos move through Northern California-native Solange Roberdeau's new abstract drawings, informed by the cadences of place and the character of materials—including sumi ink, spray paint, oxidized metal leaf—and a dramatic palette of color. She "seeks to highlight a sense of movement and atmosphere, of becoming and un-becoming at once." An homage to the journey, Roberdeau's compositions emerge generatively from a conscious balancing of serendipity with control, reflected both in her process of making and in marks rendered. The stars which captivated Homer, guiding his hero's voyage, continue to be a backdrop for Roberdeau's contemplation, new myths and discoveries; and nature, an equal protagonist to any character in our stories, is a theme that guides her body of work. 

In her first exhibition with the gallery, Los Angeles-based artist Sarah Koik's new ceramic sculptures investigate shape and surface by connecting ancient with futurist, handcrafted with geological, anthropomorphic with architectural. In her words, "The pieces in this series could be found in the depths of the ocean, extracted from a shipwreck, or discovered on a distant asteroid or unknown planet. These objects, like Odysseus, are actively searching for versions of homecomings. They are the ongoing journey to get past, move through, float away, or precariously return." Koik's use of negative space punctuates, connects, and reimagines recognizable forms as excavated treasures. Her climatic textures evoke metamorphic marble and pitted volcanic rocks, and her inclusion of wood and glass expands and reinterprets her practice, intrepidly pushing forward. 

New York-based artist Danielle Dimston's graphite on paper Beeline series conjures topography, direction, and time. Titled for an idiom describing the most direct route, Dimston's works meander in their flow, and increasingly so. As the minimalist series progresses, her continuous dash expands its route. She lifts the pencil, interrupting yet energetically returning to her journey again and again. Shifting perceptual awareness between organic and structural, Dimston's drawings examine space and the constructs of light and energy within form. Her lines course and cross—as if traversing a map or weaving a shield from the precarious, offering passage or protection.

Solange Roberdeau lives and works in Northern California on the edge of the Pacific Ocean. She received an MFA from the Maryland Institute College of Art, Baltimore, MD, where she also taught as an adjunct faculty member from 2019-22. She earned a BFA in Printmaking from the Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, RI. Her exhibition history includes: Fechin Studio at Taos Art Museum, Taos, NM; Blunk Space, Point Reyes, CA; Hearst Center for the Arts, Cedar Falls, IA; Harwood Museum of Art, Taos, NM; Municipal Bonds, San Francisco, CA; Flux Factory, Long Island City, NY; International Print Center, Manhattan, NY; Revolt Gallery, Taos, NM; Arcade Gallery, Cairo, Egypt; Abbaye Notre-Dame de la Couronne, La Couronne, France; Institute Library, New Haven, CT; Gross McCleaf Gallery, Philadelphia, PA; and Cobalt Gallery, Mendocino, CA. She has received Artist in Residence fellowships from the Helene Wurlitzer Foundation, Taos, NM; the Josef and Anni Albers Foundation, Bethany, CT; and Can Serrat, El Bruc, Spain.

Sarah Koik makes objects and projects that bring attention to things that often go unnoticed. Inquiry and exploration are at the core of Koik’s practice. With a background in designing and managing education programs at science museums and universities, Koik’s work is rooted in process and investigation. Her pieces are both referential and adding to the narrative—new while familiar, serious while playful. Both timeless while timely. She received her degree in sculpture and ceramics in 2007, and founded her studio in 2014. She lives and works in Los Angeles. 

Danielle Dimston has received numerous grants and awards, including from the New York Foundation for the Arts, the Stephen and Palmina Pace Foundation, and the Peter S. Reed Foundation. Funding from Artists Space saw the launch of the Ladder Project, and with a commission from the Millay Colony for the Arts, that project was used for their fundraiser. A grant for a site-specific installation helped inaugurate Smack Mellon in Dumbo, Brooklyn, and a commission from Tiffany & Co. welcomed their Soho, Manhattan location. Her artist residencies have included: Yaddo, Virginia Center for Creative Arts, and Mino Art Paper Village in Japan. After studying drawing and painting at the New York Studio School, Dimston earned an MFA from Boston University. She has taught as a visiting professor at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and as a visiting artist at the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown, Massachusetts. Dimston lives and works in New York, and has shown widely in the United States and abroad. Her work is in many private and public collections, including the Cleveland Museum of Art, which acquired a suite of Dimston's prints produced by C.R. Ettinger Editions in Philadelphia.