READ
PLEASERE TURNCART SHERE: Prismatic Repetition
This essay is a part of the exhibition catalogue for the 2021 show PLEASERE TURNCART SHERE featuring the photographic works of Nicholas Seitz. --- “It is possible that God says every morning, “Do it again” to the sun; and every evening, “Do it again” to the moon. It...
PLEASERE TURNCART SHERE: Skepticism: A Memoir
This essay is a part of the exhibition catalogue for the 2021 show PLEASERE TURNCART SHERE featuring the photographic works of Nicholas Seitz. --- I will admit that I was a bit skeptical when Nick first told me about this series of photographs. I would have been much...
PLEASERE TURNCART SHERE: A Marketplace of Ideas
This essay is a part of the exhibition catalogue for the 2021 show PLEASERE TURNCART SHERE featuring the photographic works of Nicholas Seitz. --- “You’re a dumbass!” - Man in a truck, to the artist. The thing you’re looking at no longer exists. Of course, intrinsic...

Lapse Grasp: Jason Hackett at Brightpoint Community College
Lapse Grasp, a solo exhibition containing six recent works from artist Jason Hackett, opens up a richly allusive space to consider the spiritual output of human hands–the grounded piety baked into the act of making along a full spectrum of labors. Hackett’s sculptural...

Group exhibition: Please Dont Wake Me at Eric Schindler Gallery
One of art’s special properties is its capacity for suggestion. Materials such as charcoal, earthen pigment, and binder, can be spread on pulped or sliced tree and then that embodied expression can be understood or felt with real (though not positivistic) meaning....

Cave Deco: Ryan Browning at ADA Gallery
As I passed by the enormous side window of Richmond’s ADA Gallery, three miniscule paintings, no more than 6 by 8 inches, managed to quicken my pace to the entrance. Cartoonish, yet painterly, with bold color and playful style, these three were just a foretaste of...

Blue Hour: Photography at Candela Gallery
Alfred Stieglitz once remarked, "where there is light, one can photograph". The quote is a helpful reminder for photographers, artists, and living human beings as the days shorten too quickly and the final decisive blow of daylight "savings" time ends. In a stroke, we...

Extra in the Ordinary: Jennifer Small at Shockoe Artspace
In the moments before Jennifer Small’s artist talk for her exhibition Extra in the Ordinary, a friend mused to me, "This show is for folks who really like paintings." I can certainly relate to that sentiment. After all, punchy color, roller-coaster levels of movement,...

Good Vibes Here: Kyle Andrew Phillips at Eric Schindler Gallery
There In the Air is a stunning exhibition. I mean that, to begin with, at complete face value. One cannot fail to be impressed at the technical excellence and detail Brooklynn artist Kyle Andrew Phillips has packed into a whopping 99 oil paintings completed in only...

The BODY of WORK
In response to Richard Haley’s exhibition at Shockoe Artspace, Inhabiting the Space Underneath the Skin: Things to Do In between Sleeping and Making Breathing a Voluntary Activity. Works 2003-2021 Richard Haley has been making art with and about his working body for...
Shockoe Artspace is interested in the pervasiveness of art and design. Our writing focuses on the many ways in which art and design permeate our culture and ranges from reviews and interviews to cultural observation and dialogue.
If you are interested in writing for Shockoe Artspace, please contact at info(at)shockoeartspace(dot)com. Please include at least one writing sample as well as ideas you have for potential pieces.
Our Contributors
Sam Bantly Taylor
Sam is a painter, writer, and curator living in Richmond, Virginia.
Ryan Lauterio
Ryan is a painter and educator working in Richmond, Virginia.
Nikki Painter
Nikki is a Richmond-based painter. Her work has been featured in several galleries and shows throughout the region.
Garreth Blackwell, PhD
Garreth Blackwell is a designer and a strategist. He is currently an assistant professor at the VCUarts Center for the Creative Economy where he teaches courses in design thinking, innovation and creativity. He has taught design (in its many forms) for more than a decade. When not teaching, Garreth operates Wide Open Air Consulting & Design, a design firm focused on service to customers and clear communication. His clients range from small businesses to international corporations.
He is the co-author of Design Your Own Magazine, a book that deconstructs the process of magazine design into 15 simple steps. He is the co-editor of The Roads of Broken Dreams, the Robert Kennedy Award winning publication about the shrinking communities of the Mississippi Delta.
Blackwell holds a PhD in Media, Art and Text from Virginia Commonwealth University where his dissertation focused on the changing definitions of goodness and social value within modern design. Blackwell also holds a master’s degree in journalism from the University of Mississippi where his research focused on entrepreneurial media production.
Nicholas Seitz
Nick is a photographer and videographer based in Richmond, Virginia.
Josh Williams
Josh Williams is an illustrator, painter, and UX designer living in Richmond, Virginia.