“The meanings behind the petroglyphs were in many cases meant to be obscure. And then some observers think the meanings only present themselves to certain people, and only some of the time. I like that idea of meaning being elusive from an observational standpoint but also from within, from the core of what might constitute meaning itself.” – Andy Battaglia discussing Petroglyph National Monument

Setting forth by signs is a group exhibition featuring sculptures and paintings by Yevgeniya Baras, Sahar Khoury, Lauren McKeon, and Mindy Rose Schwartz. 

Collectively, the works in this exhibition exude an occult-like energy. They evoke slippery memories, embedded feelings and knowledge - ghosts or signifiers imprinted on the subconscious. To varying degrees, the artists all incorporate unorthodox materials such as papier-mâché, sticks, yarn, reflective tape and string. Rough, sometimes even mangled surfaces, convey a sense of excavation and invite an unearthing of meaning. While the meaning to be unearthed isn’t entirely clear, there's a sense that the signs are pointing us towards something deeper.

Yevgeniya Baras is an artist living and working in Brooklyn, NY. She has a BA and MS from the University of Pennsylvania (2003) and an MFA in Painting and Drawing from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (2007). Baras has exhibited her work in several New York City galleries and internationally. She is represented by Nicelle Beauchene Gallery in NY and shows with the Landing Gallery in LA. She was a recipient of the Pollock-Krasner grant and the Chinati Foundation Residency in 2018 and the Yaddo Residency in 2017. She received the Artadia Prize and was selected for the Sharpe-Walentas Studio Program and the MacDowell Colony residency in 2015. In 2014 she was named the recipient of the Rema Hort Mann Foundation’s Emerging Artist Prize. Her work has been reviewed in the New York Times, LA Times, ArtForum, and Art in America. Her next solo exhibitions are in Berlin at 68 Projects in October 2018, in  NY at Nicelle Beauchene Gallery in April 2019 and in Detroit at Reyes Projects. Baras co-founded and co-curated Regina Rex Gallery on the Lower East Side of NY for eight years  (2010-2018). She has curated and co-curated over twenty exhibitions at Regina Rex and other galleries in NY, Chicago, and Philadelphia. She is currently teaching at RISD and Sarah Lawrence College.

Sahar Khoury is an artist based in Oakland, California.  Khoury works mostly with found or rejected materials to produce sculptures and installations. Her constructions are made of a combination of paper/textile mache, paint, concrete, ceramic, steel and silk-screened materials. She received her BA in Anthropology from UC Santa Cruz in 1996 and her MFA From UC Berkeley in 2013. Recently, Khoury’s work has been exhibited at The Oakland Museum of California, The Wattis Institute, UC Berkeley Art Museum & Pacific Film Archive, and CANADA (NY). She has also been invited to participate in the 2018 Triennial Exhibition, Bay Area Now 8 at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts. Khoury’s work has been written about in numerous publications, including Art Review, The San Francisco Chronicle, KQED Arts and Vulture Magazine.

Lauren McKeon  received her MFA from San Francisco State University in 2014. Coming from a background in dance, McKeon’s work is made as an ensemble. Using materials at hand, objects are built to be just functional enough. Sculptures are props, framing questions about performance and absence. Her work has been included in exhibitions at Laurel Gitlen (New York), Land and Sea, (Oakland), and Fused Space (San Francisco). She was an Artist in Residence at Headlands Center for the Arts from 2015 - 2017. McKeon’s work is in the public collection of Deutsche Bank (New York). She is the creator and editor of SPLITS, a publication to support new collaborations between dancers and visual artists. Her work has been written about by KQED Arts, Artnews, Curiously DIrect and the East Bay Express. McKeon will have her second solo show at Interface Gallery in March 2019.

Mindy Rose Schwartz is a sculptor living in Chicago. She is interested in the way an individual’s experiences with and memories of, mass-produced objects, can alter their intended meaning and function. She makes sculptures that attempt to show the morphing effect, use, experience, and emotion can have on our perception of things. Schwartz has exhibited internationally at such venues as, Room E-10 27 at Center, Berlin,DE,  Belice Hertling, Paris, FR, Eric Hussenot, Paris, FR, Saint Cirq la Popie Bienniel, Saint-Cirq Lapopie, France, Arcadia Missa, London UK, Carlos Ishikawa Gallery, London, UK, QT Gallery, NY, Atlanta Contemporary, Atlanta, GA, Et al. Gallery San Fransisco , CA, Cooper Cole, Toronto, Alter Space, LA, CA. Los Angeles Contemporary Slow Gallery, Chicago,  Terrain Gallery, Chicago, Whitewalls Gallery, Chicago Renaissance Society, University of Chicago, Spertus Museum Chicago; Rose Art Museum, Waltham, M