KILLJOY

Open May 30-Sept. 5, 2024

KILLJOY takes us back to a time where empathy, kindness, and play were easy and asks: as we age, is our kindness tested? In this group show, local artists Meag Hepp, Seline Smith, and Cal Rice evoke different life stages and suggest the erosion of empathy over time. What impact does a lifetime confronting harsh behaviors have on our innate capacity for understanding others? With pops of color and humor, pet rocks and surreal dreams, guest curator Ola Aksan combines sculptures and paintings to question compassion and conflict, joy and memory. 

Fawn, by Cal Rice

Pop It, Seline Smith

Pet Rocks, by Meag Hepp

An Exhibition on Empathy 

KILLJOY reflects the vibrant, open, and playful innocence of childhood, where empathy comes easy and the “Golden Rule” is primary. In this group show, guest curator Ola Aksan juxtaposes the work of local artists Meag Hepp, Seline Smith, and Cal Rice to evoke different life stages and the erosion of empathy over time. KILLJOY posits that a lifetime confronting harsh behaviors challenges our innate capacity for understanding others. How does the dissolution of compassion lead to social strains and tensions? Do people stop working together and choose conflict? 

Hepp’s neon-bright sculptural works depict playground imagery with unabashed joy and humor in The Pet Rocks and Rainbowland Redux. Smith’s vibrant painting Pop It includes a figure in a state of confrontation by someone unknown, expressing the impact of experiences and the shift from open empathy to guarded self. Rice’s paintings and sculptures include muted colors tethered to memories: the surreal dream-like imagery in Fawn reflects an earlier memory where consideration was a reflex. Together, this collection shares a color story and imagery that conveys joy, tension, and memory. 

 

About the Artists

Cal Rice

Cal Rice was raised in Western Massachusetts and Upstate New York. After earning a BFA from the School of Visual Arts in 2011, he spent several years working as a professional tattoo artist. Cal graduated in 2018 earning an MFA from the School of Museum of Fine Arts. A co-founder of Nearby Gallery in Newton, Massachusetts, Cal continues working as a painter while also serving as a professor of drawing and painting at Tufts University. 

Seline Smith

Seline Smith is an artist and educator in Boston, MA and shows her work throughout the greater Boston area. Smith received her BFA in Painting and Art Education in 2019 from MassArt. Smith’s art practice relies heavily on color theory, and how color can be connected throughout multiple mediums including collage, printmaking, and oil painting. Using a combination of found imagery and personal experience, Smith uses color theory and these various mediums to story tell. 

Meagan Hepp

Meagan Hepp is a Boston based artist, administrator, and educator. They are the Ceramics Technician at the New Arts Center in Newton, MA, Art Consultant at Cambridge Common and an Adjunct Professor at Suffolk University. Hepp’s soft-curved, biomorphic ceramic forms, The Pet Rocks, are coated in a variety of colors and textures taken from natural, neon and synthetic inspirations; a nod to both nostalgic references from their 90’s childhood and influences from today’s queer culture.

Ola Aksan, Guest Curator

Ola grew up on the Gulf Coast, living in Houston, TX and Mobile, AL while also spending summers in Krakow, Poland. Ola Aksan moved to Boston in 2014 from Austin, TX to pursue her MFA (’16) at the School of Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts University and is currently painting and taking on commissions. Ola’s curatorial debut, KILLJOY, focuses on memory and the erosion of empathy as we navigate life’s confrontations, leading to social tension.