Corydon Cowansage & Gonzalo Fuenmayor: New Art Dealers Alliance Art Fair, New York

The artwork of both Corydon Cowansage (New York; b. 1985, Philadelphia) and Gonzalo Fuenmayor (Miami; b. 1977, Barranquilla) evokes the legacy of Surrealism in an attempt to shift viewer perception. However, Cowansage employs the language of abstraction while Fuenmayor favors hyperrealism; seen together, the pairing creates a visually–compelling and dynamic dialogue. 

Cowansage's work explores the psychology of space and the relationship between abstraction, architecture, biomorphic forms, and the body. Utilizing geometry and vibrant color, the artist manipulates light and shadow to distort our perceptions of physical space and thereby reconstructing the viewer's point of access to the painting. The invented forms vacillate between representation and abstraction; hints of recognizable imagery such as leaves, blades of grass, brickwork, or fabric dissolve info form and surface.

Fuenmayor's large-scale drawings deal with two major topics: cultural hybridity and transnational identity. His carefully-rendered, imagined scenes are concerned with the effects of modernization and progress on Latin America's natural environment and its cultural power. The artist often explores tropical symbols through opulent and elegant imagery - his work triggers political and sensitive responses as its stands firmly in the vernacular and artistic tradition of ornament, yet it is deeply rooted in the subcontinent.