The Chazan Gallery @ Wheeler will be presenting a group show entitled Four New Directions featuring emerging artists Krzysztof Mathews, Fitzhugh Baylies Karol, Michael Owen, Bohyun Yoon from February 22 - March 13, 2008. There will be an opening reception for the artists on Friday, February 22 from 5 - 7 p.m. The public is invited.

Krzysztof Mathews' whimsical found-object assemblages of miniature biomechanical creatures and CAD-based digital prints illustrate an extended narrative that serves as the basis of his work. Mathews received his MFA from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and his BFA in Illustration from the Rhode Island School of Design. He has been a recipient of the Rhode Island State Council on the Arts (RISCA) Grant and the Herbert Richard Cross Award. Mathews’ work has been extensively exhibited throughout New England. For more information on the artist please visit: www.firstgearterritories.com

Driven by a persistent desire to create and fueled by a perpetual search for joy, Fitzhugh Baylies Karol builds sculptures that act as a record of his explorations. Karol’s imposing, monolithic wooden sculptures merge the physical with intuition, energy and playfulness with diligence and fine craftsmanship. Karol received his MFA in Ceramics from the Rhode Island School of Design and has studied at Skidmore College and Deerfield Academy. He was an apprentice to master ceramist Toshiko Takaezu and has since then exhibited in a solo exhibition at the Charles P. Russell Gallery in Deerfield, Massachusetts.

Michael Owen’s photo-realistic oil paintings of contemporary Americana convey his mixed feelings of his affection for America and the trepidation he has for its future. Owen boldly isolates his subjects—a goth chick, a Volkswagen camper, an American soldier in Iraq-- in a ground of white space, leaving no visual escape, but rather encourages the viewer a direct reflection of the subject matter. Owen received his MFA cum laude from the New York Academy of Art as a recipient of the NYAA scholarship and received his BFA from the Rhode Island School of Design. His work has been exhibited in New York and Rhode Island.

Using a wide-range of media including glass, mirror and vinyl, through genres of installation, performance and video, Bohyun Yoon investigates the relationship between how people understand their body and how this understanding represents themselves. Yoon intimately confronts the viewer with the living body by using distorted reflections and adaptations in an effort to provoke deeper understanding of the limits of the body and the boundaries of communication. Yoon received his MFA in Glass from the Rhode Island School of Design and has studied at the International Summer Academy of Fine Art in Salzburg, Austria and at the Tama Art University in Tokyo, Japan. Currently, Yoon is on the faculty of the Glass Department at RISD. He has also participated in the Fellow Program for the International Research Center for Art at the Kyoto University of Art and Design in Japan.