In a hyper performatistic manner, and indeed, in a manner not unlike many of his contemporaries, Ludwig refuses to engage in direct discussion of theory through his work. He has therefore created, like Nancy Spero or Mark Tansey, a collection of characters who engage in metaphorical dilemmas and destinies, inhabiting their own special universe- who ultimately act as Ludwig’s ambassadors for theoretical conversation. Ludwig’s characters comprise of, but are not limited to- “the wilderness brotherhood, fences, walls, clocks, flying clouds of fire, and other ghostly images”. Ludwig’s characters, like a hybrid of Trenton Doyle Hancock and Neo Rauch- live in a state of continual narrative that is at the same time enigmatic in its dimension.

The characters’ habitation is at once organic and geometric- in decay and regeneration. The geometric facet appears architectural, yet at other times, purely mathematical. A tree, rendered in a naturalistic manner, is forced to admit a self identity as pure material- paint, and does so because of an overlapping plane of transparent color which flattens the form to the surface of the support itself. Ludwig thus purposefully and lovingly acknowledges his lineage to Greenbergian Modernism, an admittance and honesty that is becoming ever more relevant, in light of recent global obsessions with pure abstraction.

Rebecca Neely’s sculpture Dipped in paint to represent a day, conceptually reveals and analyzes struggle and personal narrative. The piece is comprised of nearly 1000 crudely made sacs of fabric. Each pod or sac physically and symbolically represents a day in which Neely has sought conception. When the scope of Neely’s personal associations embedded in the work is realized, many emotions come to mind such as: desire,frustration, disappointment, despair, impatience. The work immediately offers varying levels of comprehension to individual viewers- levels which are limited or facilitated by viewers’ gender and experience.

Like Ludwig, Neely possesses a keen realization of her personal art historical lineage. Cloth and the action of sewing reference feminist materials, along with the gender specific, body references inherent in the work’s concept and physicality. It definitely exudes the previously mentioned negative emotions, yet does not contain violence or anger. Neely’s work analyzes the human experience through a specific, personal lens, in a manner which reminds all of us that the feminist construct and ideology has continual and recurring place within individual contemporary situations (even locally), and most importantly “that not all waste is meaningless.”

Gian Pierotti’s porcelain sculptures contain a freshness in application of media, formalism, and structure. Although small, almost precious in scale, they possess a largeness of presence- a rarity among objects hewn from clay. Pierotti recently struggled for perfection in his works, desiring to overcome the slumpy, earthy feel inherent in fired clay. This aspiration was a product of having a Lamborghini Countach poster placed on his wall as an adolescent in the late 1980’s. The slick lines of the race car, ingrained within his subconscious, inspired Pierotti to achieve machined edges in a material that defies precision. The results were indeed slick and polished, objects familiar to our contemporary society obsessed with iPods and all things polished and new.

Recently Pierotti overcame the desire for physical machined perfection in his objects. His artistic goals now lie in some other area, not completely understood or realized. The current results are gorgeous, and are “created from an archaic, imprecise process to achieve a meeting of the old and the new”. Pierotti creates slabs of porcelain clay and paints polka dots or lines on the surface, often pressing or molding additional textures. He then dissects the planar surface into polygons, assembling them into forms which are often stilted upon thin legs of porcelain. The objects resemble 1990’s 3-D computer imaged extraterrestrial amphibious forms. Pierotti states that they “defy complete recognition”.