Casemore Gallery is pleased to announce the opening of Mane ‘n Tail, an exhibition featuring large-scale painting, sculpture, film, and photography by Bay-Area artists Devynn Barnes, Susannah Israel, Lizzy Montana Myers, and Charles Lee, who also curated the exhibition.
In these works, the artists explore the complex dynamics and eccentricities of relationships between horses and humans—relationships of nobility and confidence, mystery and familiarity, and labor and whimsy.
As curator Charles Lee says, "Horses are massive, strong animals. And yet, we don’t fear them as we do other creatures their size. We revere them, trust them, confide in them and have depended on them for centuries. Their being tugs at the delicate threads of our adult facades and reveals our curious inner-child."
In Devynn Barnes' paintings, including "Alchemy of Thee," human and horse are presented as synchronized dancers, entwined in performances of both power and grace. In Susannah Israel's sculptures, mythos manifests when water and earth meet to create beautiful clay forms of the two species in joyful, kinetic connection, as in her sculpture "Soaring Horse and Rider." For Charles Lee, this spirit is expressed and embodied in photographs that show human and horse in moments of repose, rest, play, care and curiosity. In his picture "It's All About Trust III," we see just a portion of a horse in closeup, a human hand reaching out to caress the horse's neck.
As a part of the community-based element of his practice, Lee, as curator, has chosen to share the platform with his artist friends working on similar themes. The exhibition extends into the adjacent film room, featuring experimental films by Barnes, Lee, and Lizzy Montana Myers, as well as an array of elegantly curated photographs, drawings and painting.
Lee cites "The Horse," by poet Ronald Duncan to summarize his intent:
“Where in this wide world can man find nobility without pride,
friendship without envy, or beauty without vanity?
Here where grace is laced with muscle and strength by gentleness confined.”
Devynn Barnes is an Oakland-based painter and visual archivist. Having begun her creative pursuits in film and photography, Barnes’ self-taught painting is cinematic, infused with undeniable emotion. In 2024, “Davynn Barnes: Renaissance of Relamation,” was presented at Schlomer Haus, Gallery, San Francisco
Susannah Israel is an artist and writer living in Oakland, California. Israel received her baccalaureate in Art & Chemistry, 1987 and MFA, 2000 from San Francisco State University. She was Professor of Sculpture & Ceramics at Laney College, Oakland (2002-2018) and also engaged with diverse communities throughout the western states, giving lectures, workshops and masterclasses. She continues to mentor artists through the Color Network. Israel’s expressive work is widely exhibited, appearing in the collections of the Archie Bray Foundation, AMOCA, Auckland Memorial Museum, New Zealand, Mint Museum’s American Ceramics Collection, the Yingge Ceramics Museum, parks and libraries, and many other sites around the world. t home in Oakland she works in her studio at the Vulcan Foundry.
Charles Lee (b. 1983) is an interdisciplinary artist hailing from Honolulu, Hawaii, and Richmond, California. Central to his practice is an emphasis on the significance of intrapersonal connections, community, and our shared journey towards healing and mutual comprehension, all in service of forging a more equitable future.
Lee holds an MFA in Fine Arts from California College of the Arts, and a BA in Business with a focus in Marketing from Bowie State University. His work has been shown broadly including SF Camerawork in San Francisco, the Kemper Art Museum in St. Louis and 1014 Gallery in London. His work is held in the collection of the Museum of Contemporary Photography at Columbia College and Recology.