Outer Space Arts

Portals 2, 2023
Acrylic on linen, woodburnt frame
80 x 60 inches

Elegy, 2023
Oil on canvas
72 x 60 inches

This scene presents an elegy in two ways: one for the tragic, yet banal, roadside death of a deer; and another for the interior shift within the child after encountering the deceased creature. For the subject, death is now a tangible, physical interaction, no longer merely an abstract concept. Kent depicts this loss of innocence tenderly, but without sentimentality.

In the Tiger's Eye, 2023
Acrylic on linen, frame
48 x 36 inches

Johnannes 13.33, 2023
Oil on canvas
60 x 40 inches

Inspired by the character Johannes in Dreyer’s film 'Ordet', who, believing himself to be Jesus, departs from home, Kent was struck by the idea of self-imposed exile.

I Fall, I Crawl, I Found You, 2023
Acrylic on linen, frame
48 x 36 inches

Untitled, 2024
Oil on canvas
48 x 36 inches

Urn, 2024
Oil on canvas
23 x 17 inches

Unbroken Family Tree, 2023
Acrylic on linen, frame
48 x 36 inches

Devotion, 2023
Oil on canvas
72 x 60 inches

Inspired by a scene from Andrzej Zulawski's Possession, Kent contemplates a desperate person begging for reason or a sign from a higher power. While faith cannot be deduced to mere routine habit, devotion takes on that form when it becomes grounded in ritual. Kent investigates how belief manifests as an interaction with an icon, versus an intangible presence.

Morning Routine, 2023
Oil on canvas
60 x 30 inches

Questioning how to present a nude figure without the mechanics of projected sensuality, Kent renders a woman caught mid-motion, performing the familiar act of putting up her hair. A tribute to quotidian rhythms and repetitive gestures, Kent captures the subject in a natural state, grounded in humanness rather than desire.

Twisted Turned, 2023
Acrylic on linen, frame
48 x 36 inches

Symbolists, 2024
Oil on canvas
20 x 16 inches

Julian Kent

A self-taught artist in his early twenties, Kent makes imagined portraits of people caught in the complexities of everyday realities, within the scope of the Black experience. Kent sees his work as "sociological studies of human emotions."

Kent paints specific scenes, mostly of domestic settings, celebrating quiet moments of everyday black people, friends, and family. Using thick, flat planes of oil pigments, Kent makes intimate paintings. Although self-taught, Kent is a sophisticated artist who finds artistic inspiration in films by Mike Leighand Edward Yang; writings by Dostoyevsky and Toni Morrison; and paintings by Jacob Lawrence, Chaim Soutine and Alice Neel.

Kent has had solo exhibitions at Kerry Schuss Gallery in New York city as well as a solo booth at The Independent Art Fair. He currently lives and works in Cleveland Ohio.

Outer Space would like to thank the Kerry Schuss Gallery for their support in organizing this exhibition.

My work is informed by films such as those by Mike Leigh and Edward Yang. I find the distinctive humanist quality to their respective bodies of work extremely moving. These directors along with writers like Fyodor Dostoevsky and Toni Morrison have been instrumental in how I approach the characters in my work. Additionally, painters such as Jacob Lawrence, Chaim Soutine, and Alice Neel have also been major influences. The different ways they have extended the possibilities of figuration and painting in a general sense pushed me to see if I myself could find a new way to extend figuration as well.

With the characters in my paintings, I'm seeking to understand the psychological undertones of a singular emotion or instance by exploring how each exterior moment is charged and influenced by one's interior reality. I feel that each little expression and gesture are rich with the history or nature of an individual. I want these paintings to feel lived in like a glimpse into the day to day of these characters.

- Julian Kent

emma kohlmann

For the past decade, Emma Kohlmann has been primarily working in watercolor and painting, creating a distinct universe in which anthropomorphous figures, flora and fauna peacefully coexist in spiritual spheres. Visually informed by a variety of cultural references encompassing Greek and Roman mythology, modern painting history, folk art and DIY punk ephemera, her paintings manifest a cosmos free from hierarchies. Stylistically naive and folksy, the absence of perspectives and lack of relational scales translates the egalitarian belief system Kohlmann's practice is rooted in. Considering not only human beings, but every living organism, a sense of togetherness and community is palpable throughout her work. In evocative color schemes, Kohlmann's palettes transcend from nature's elements to the spiritual, mirroring the unique spaces she creates at the intersection of the earthly and fantastical

Emma Kohlmann (b. 1989 in The Bronx, NY) lives and works in Western Massachusetts. She received a B.A. from Hampshire College and has exhibited in the United States and internationally. Most recently she has had solo exhibitions at Silke Lindner (New York), Cooper Cole (Toronto), Jack Hanley Gallery (New York, NY) and V1 (Copenhagen, DK). She has been included in numerous group exhibitions including shows at the Museum of Contemporary Art Tucson, (Tucson, AZ) Venus over Manhattan (New York, NY) and Andrew Edlin (New York, NY). Her work is in the collection of the Santa Barbara Museum of Art. She publishes her own zines, and frequently collaborates with artists, writers, musicians and designers. She co-founded and co-runs Mundus Press with her sister Charlotte Kohlmann

view Emma's full biography

Outer Space would like to thank Silke Lindner Gallery for their support in organizing this exhibition.

I think there is a dance between humans and the natural world. I see that dance within my own work. I have my own visual language that works within this. Each plant, animal, and shape feels alive within this world.

- Emma Kohlmann