Carbon Into Diamonds, PASC Southgate Gallery
From left to right: DeRon Hudson, Green Squares on Orange, 2021; Robert Duncombe, Blue, Green and Orange Figures, 2022; and Jirard Bond, Two Elmos, 2021.
Participating Artists: Jirard Bond, Robert Duncombe, and DeRon Hudson
Curated by Hannah Lilly
February 11 - April 10, 2022
Opening Reception, Friday, February 11, 3-6pm
PASC Southgate Gallery, 13721 Eureka Road, Southgate, MI 48195
Phone: (734) 250-8695
www.progressiveartstudiocollective.org
Diamonds are made when carbon atoms from broken down plants, animals and shells bond to each other during high pressure, high temperature scenarios, and begin to grow crystals. Diamonds need to be quickly brought to the surface of the earth to cool-most often through a violent volcanic explosion. Without the confidence of swift action, a diamond would be turned to graphite.
The artists Jirard Bond, Robert Duncombe , and DeRon Hudson all create with a jewel’s furious confidence, skipping the pencil for the paintbrush, pen or marker. Despite each artist creating completely unique and recognizable work, they have bonded together like carbon atoms through their ability to unpredictably transform materials, often of similar colors, into things of beauty.
Jirard Bond produces artwork through a process of text-based repetitive markings, continuously layering those marks and often obscuring the text below through energetic action. Robert Duncombe works in a variety of materials, beginning with repetitive lines, working quietly and energetically, often revealing a procession of figures in the in-between spaces. DeRon Hudson assuredly explodes paint on surfaces, transforming text and symbols into identifiable patterns. All of these artists have a strong sense of confidence, color and style, quickly altering a piece of common paper canvas, or any other surface, from carbon into diamonds.
Jirard Bond has been a participating artist in the PASC program since February 2021. Jirard makes mixed media artworks based on one of two subjects, Hulk Hogan or Elmo. These characters represent the hero (Hogan) and friend (Elmo). Jirard thinks of each artwork as a poster for one or the other of his subjects, with their names layered several times over in Jirard’s iconographic language. Jirard’s has exhibited at Swords Into Plowshares Gallery (2021) and in two online exhibitions on the PASC website.
Robert Duncombe has been a participating artist in the PASC program since February 2021. He works at the PASC Southgate studio. Robert draws everything from people, to boats, to animals in a distinct style reducing his subjects to simplified forms of angles and curves. His objects tend to be drawn with a thick outline contrasting with a lined cross-hatched interior. Robert is a versatile artist using pens, colored pencil, watercolor, acrylic paint, graphite and marker to realize his forms. Robert has exhibited at The Scarab Club (2021), Swords Into Plowshares Gallery (2021) and in one online exhibition on the PASC website. This is his second exhibition at the PASC Southgate Gallery.
DeRon Hudson has been a participating artist in the PASC program since February 2021. He works at the PASC Southgate studio. DeRon works in a mainly in an abstract painterly style sometimes incorporating text into his artworks. He has built up a lexicon of symbols, ranging from circles to squares to X’s and dashes, which he paints in rows across the canvas. He works in several sessions on each painting layering his shapes over top of previous shapes. DeRon is fond of bright, vivid colors and stark contrasts. DeRon has exhibited at Swords Into Plowshares Gallery (2021) and in one online exhibition on the PASC website. This is his second exhibition at the PASC Southgate Gallery.
Hannah Grace Lilly is an artist, and educator. She currently works as an art advisor at the Progressive Art Studio Collective, in metro Detroit. Lilly has taught theater at Sing Sing Correctional Facility in New York, and visual art at Women’s Huron Valley Correctional Facility in Ypsilanti, Michigan. Lilly lived and worked in Kathmandu, Nepal, teaching at the International Baccalaureate Diploma Program Level. Lilly was an activities coordinator on a memory care unit at an assisted living home in San Francisco. Additionally in both NYC and SF, Lilly has managed tattoo shops. From 2014 to 2017 Lilly worked at Creativity Explored, San Francisco and curated an exhibition in the Creativity Explored Gallery. Lilly has a B.A. from Marymount Manhattan College, New York City and a M.A. from the University of Manchester, U.K
