Powerhouse Performance, a fine art exhibition at the Bowersock Gallery, features Christopher Pothier and Joshua Langstaff, two contemporary, representational artists with much to say and who proudly present skills with sledgehammer rights to drive their messages home!
Powerhouse Performance opens Friday, August 11th, 2023, with a reception from 7-9 pm, at Bowersock Gallery, 373 Commercial Street, Provincetown, MA. The show will run through August 23rd.
A powerfully moving show, it’s one to visit and where to linger, to experience more than once both for its beauty and exploration of deeply intense stories, subjects, and subtexts. There are always risks when delivering bold statements, but both Chris and Josh are confidently committed and unafraid to make them.
Pothier (MFA University of Massachusetts, Amherst) has exhibited throughout the US, and his large-scale commissioned murals can be found in businesses from coast to coast. When it comes to his private work, it's all about the human condition, internal and external, with an overarching focus on social commentary. The current collection at Bowersock revisits many of his earlier themes.
Pothier states that in his work, there is an autobiographical focus on choices made and how they’ve affected his life and those close to him. On a broader scale, for better or worse, he feels many choose paths not formed by themselves but by others who came before or those in their nuclear sphere. He begs the question: what if we choose a lifestyle that doesn’t follow the so-called prescribed path or rush to digest goods and products presented to us? Did we fail or miss out? Will we become outcasts, losers? Can we, should we, find the courage to deviate?
His work often depicts businessmen as stand-ins for himself and for the culture at large. His children are humans yearning for freedom of choice. In this latest collection, all works represent the artist himself, with the exploration of options, and those choices yet to be made. He sometimes questions his path to becoming an artist, even though he feels he owes his life to art. In his work, it's all there, front and center, where he takes his questions, doubts, and passion into form.
Langstaff studied at the Aristides Atelier. He was selected as an artist for the 2009 Southwest Art Magazine 21 Under 31, Artists to Collect Now, and has received numerous awards. There is no theme to Langstaff's latest collection, but a consistent theme he returns to is working with single figures. This is perhaps due to his love of portraiture, but he also thinks it is much more personal as he’s drawn into themes implicit in the solo figure: loneliness, solitude, isolation, contemplation, and perseverance. True to this form, Langstaff’s work allows for a more profound emotional response from the viewer.
Both Pothier and Langstaff produce impactful work, images that challenge the viewer and are stunningly beautiful to behold. This is to be a stellar exhibition.
