News
Video Work Featured in Glass Quarterly
Winter Issue 2024
Post-Disciplinary Practices
by Samantha De Tillio
“In an aspect of a creative practice that has meandered between art, craft, architecture, and design, Aaron Pexa (U.S., b. 1976) creates short films such as Land of Ruby (2013), Journey to the Center of the Earth (2014), and Parlor Trick (2014) in which he uses musical soundtracks and experimental approaches to the medium to build narratives. In the films, he uses shadow puppetry; sci-fi indicators such as futuristic audio effects and a rotating vortex of concentric circles indicative of The Twilight Zone; avant-garde strategies to bypass a linear narrative, such as purposeful out-of-focus shooting, rapid editing, and asynchronous sound; and cinematic orchestration that references folktales and fantasies, including Disney’s Fantasia, to cultivate a sense of bewilderment. Throughout, Pexa integrates glass variously as set, character, and narrative device in engaging works that extend expected boundaries.”
Officina Stamperia Del Notaio
Artist-in-Residence
October 21, 2023
Tusa, Italy
Site-specific installation created as an Artist-in-Residence at Officina Stamperia Del Notaio in Tusa, Italy. The Theater of the Roof, the Arch, and the Octagon was created for a public performance to activate a piazza and bring the town and artists together for an evening of music, art, and celebration.
Lights, video, and set pieces fabricated from salvaged cardboard boxes and collagraph prints presented a bright and animated centerpiece for the event.
OMG Art Faire
September 30, 2021 – October 3, 2021
323 Wall Street, Kingston, NY 12401
Neon Poppy presented by Cade Tompkins Projects at the first-ever contemporary art fair in the Hudson Valley.
The fair will feature a curated selection of fine art galleries, who represent artists working in photography, painting, sculpture, mixed media, video, and digital. OMG will begin with a VIP opening on the evening of September 30th and will remain open to the public through Sunday, October 3rd at the historic Wall Street Music Hall in Kingston’s Stockade ‘uptown’ area.
Video Featured at the Museum of Arts and Design, NYC
Craft Front and Center
May 22, 2021 – February 13, 2022
2 Columbus Circle, New York, NY 10019
“Glass is an amorphous material. It can be hot or cold. Liquid or solid. Active or static. It comes alive under fire and can be shaped by human breath. In the early 1960’s, glass emerged as a material for artistic expression.”
Video created by collections curator Samantha De Tillio for the exhibition Craft Front & Center (on view May 22, 2021–February 13, 2022). Producer: Liam Harrison
Together Crowned in a Halo of Light at the Aborn Gallery
November 9, 2020 – November 25, 2020
95 Empire Street, Providence, RI 02903
New glass and light sculpture exhibited at the Aborn Gallery in Providence, RI.
Gallery hours by appointment on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays. For appointment contact neal.walsh@as220.org.
Neon Poppy at Cade Tompkins Projects
October, 2020 to Early 2021
Visit by appointment
cade@cadetompkinsprojects.com / 1-401-751-4888
198 Hope Street, Providence RI 02906
Neon Poppy from past Spring’s installation at ZAZ10TS in New York’s Times Square was reinstalled at Cade Tompkins Projects in Providence, RI. A custom wallpaper mural was created as the landscape for the 36″ x 36″ neon sculpture. The wallpaper comprises a field of pattern with colorful companion poppies and other flora that pop with excitement around the neon.
Garden Party at ZAZ10TS
March 5, 2020 – June 30, 2020
10 Times Square / 1441 Broadway, New York, NY 10018
Site-specific installation that reacts to the history of lighting and signage in Times Square. In the video centerpiece a chandelier slowly twirls in a forest by a lake. The optic qualities of the cut crystal are activated by sunlight and highlights the incandescence of light and reflective effects of glass as fleeting moments that create a fictional romantic history. Tranquil movements offer a calm counterpoint to the saturated, sumptuous commercial displays and hustle of New York City.
March 3, 2020
By Howard Halle
“Pexa describes his effort as an escape from the strobing, quick-cut editing of the signage environment outside, and indeed, the installation title and its 1920s-style touches evoke nothing so much as a romantic retreat to Gatsby’s fictional Long Island Sound, where swanky society types gathered to drink on rolling verdant lawns.”
Garden Party Featured on FOX5 NY
March 9, 2020