Felix Art Fair

At Felix Art Fair 2020, Corbett vs. Dempsey is pleased to present work by three artists: Carol Jackson, Ray Johnson, and Omar Velázquez. Working in tooled leather, often ingeniously incorporating photographic images, Chicago-based artist Carol Jackson deftly folds together a deep knowledge of decorative ornamentation and subject matter that can turn macabre or desolate. Car accidents overlaid with blood-red fleur-de-lis, abandoned hotel beaches shot from bug-filled surveillance cameras framed in modeled cowhide – Jackson’s is a poetic post-apocalyptic vision cloaked in a comfy overcoat. Omar Velázquez’s paintings are equally deceptive. With a delicious surface, a palette to get lost in, and dizzying focal shifts, each of four canvases created especially for the Felix features a tropical bird interacting with detritus, perching on a radio antenna or fashioning a makeshift sculpture out of castoff string and toothbrush, perhaps an analogy for the rigors of daily life in Velázquez’s Puerto Rican homeland. The booth also features two historical works by legendary New York collage and correspondence artist Ray Johnson (1927-1995). In Johnson’s collages, a cartoon sense of humor belies a dead-serious sensibility – intellect wrapped up in a fun package like a Trojan Rabbit.