Cezary Poniatowski’s recent work at Piktogram Gallery compels viewers to navigate a veritable maze of pop-culture references and anthropological allusions. The exhibition is composed of more than twenty black-and-white acrylic paintings completed in 2015 and 2016, each depicting highly abstract, hybrid figures cavorting in confined, flat spaces reminiscent of comic-book panels. The recurrence of specific forms and motifs in the images creates the strong impression of a[…..]

Today we’re looking back at our Fan Mail series to reconsider the work of artist Wendy Given, who “uses the component parts of a visual language used for telling folkloric tales that are, as the artist says, ‘inspired by narrative literature from all over the world.’” Given recently had work in an exhibition at the Autzen Gallery at Portland State University, and in April 2016[…..]

Mythos: fantasy, fiction, legend, saga, parable, fable, narrative, invention, fabrication, yarn. The conceptual distance between myth and the concrete manifestations of mythology is a potentially endless—yet meaningfully orderable—list of synonyms. But with each word the gap shrinks, as mental images of processes and then objects emerge, even if just as puns. Wendy Given is bridging the gaps between the abstract idea of a mythos and[…..]

Help Desk is an arts-advice column that demystifies practices for artists, writers, curators, collectors, patrons, and the general public. Submit your questions anonymously here. All submissions become the property of Daily Serving. I’m just about to finish my first really serious series of paintings, and I’m curious about which approach is the best for self-promotion. Is it better to go all out and submit art to[…..]