OPENING RECEPTION: FRIDAY, JANUARY 17, 6:00 PM – 9:00 PM
McLennon Pen Co. Gallery is excited to present a dual exhibition showcasing the works of two dynamic young painters, Audrey Rodriguez based in New York and Slater Reid Sousley based in Kansas. Both artists reinterpret traditional still life, infusing the genre with deeply personal cultural and environmental elements.
Audrey Rodriguez’s Levitation Series features six vibrant still life paintings blending identity, memory, and culture with magical realism. Inspired by her Honduran and Mexican heritage and the streets of New York, her works transform ordinary objects into poetic symbols. Floating elements add a dreamlike quality, encouraging viewers to reconsider familiar items. Three works emphasize primary hues of red, yellow, and blue, while the others focus on the neutral tones of white, cream, and black.
In Levitation in Blue, Rodriguez creates a surreal altar dedicated to the Maussan alien. A floating green-framed photo symbolizes belief and identity, surrounded by culturally significant objects like a blue alien-themed cup from Coney Island, a Vicks VapoRub container, and ceramic vessels. The Vicks jar, a staple in Latine households, evokes nostalgia and familial care, while the juxtaposition of humor and mystery invites new perspectives on the extraordinary and everyday.
Levitation in Red incorporates elements of Honduran cuisine, including a glass filled with red beans referencing the beloved street food dish baleadas. The title nods to a chilling urban legend tied to the term "baleada," meaning "shot woman." Other blood-red objects like Jarritos fruit punch, a Gansito snack, and elote lollipops highlight themes of memory, resilience, and cultural storytelling.
The exhibition also includes two sculptures. LOST is a miniature New York subway section complete with dirty tiles and phrases like “time to go home” and “lost track…of time!!!” Miniature bananas and mangoes float in water depicted on the verso. El Pulpo, tying into Levitation themes, features bananas arranged into an octopus shape. The title references the United Fruit Company, nicknamed "El Pulpo" for its pervasive influence in Central America, with its tentacles extended into every facet of life.
Slater Reid Sousley’s Americana and Camouflage Series explore themes of family, memory, heritage, and abstraction. The Americana Series is rooted in American history and culture, featuring artifacts like a replica Civil War drummer boy coat lovingly made by Sousley’s grandmother and a tattered American flag in the painting Bang Bang (They Shot Me Down). These compositions evoke classic Americana with cinematic qualities reminiscent of watching Gunsmoke, the Western series from the 1950s. Objects like a shotgun passed down through generations and brass horse medallions from Sousley’s grandfather convey themes of labor and perseverance. Even corn from Sousley’s own failed crop finds a place in these richly symbolic works, blending personal and collective narratives.
The Camouflage Series began with patterns inspired by Sousley’s own camo pants. Researching and collecting camouflage designs became an engaging pursuit, revealing the science and abstraction behind them. Sousley notes, “Each camouflage pattern is an abstraction. While being an abstraction it’s simultaneously a representation and a cloaking device designed to conceal and go unnoticed.”
Works like Vine Tangle juxtapose camouflage with thorny, vine-like structures evoking tension and resilience. Other paintings with found animal skulls and dried branches add a sense of quiet reflection, challenging viewers to explore the interplay of visibility and concealment.
Each of Sousley’s paintings is encased in a handcrafted wooden artist frame, which may be stained, painted, or left plain and waxed. These frames go beyond mere functionality, introducing a sculptural dimension that enhances the tactile quality of the works. By drawing attention to the physicality of the paintings, the frames transform them into intimate, tangible objects, blurring the line between artwork and artifact. The careful craftsmanship of the frames mirrors the thoughtful composition within the paintings, creating a cohesive dialogue between the exterior and interior elements.
Join us in celebrating the innovative works of Rodriguez and Sousley as they reimagine still life through the lens of memory, culture, and environment.
About the Artists
Audrey Rodriguez (b. 1990, Texas) is the recipient of the New York Academy of Art’s Chubb Fellowship and earned her master’s degree there in 2022. Her painting Corona Plaza was featured in the Museum of the City of New York’s 2023 exhibition Food in New York: Bigger Than the Plate. Rodriguez’s work has also been showcased in the Peto Biennial at the John F. Peto Museum and the 47th International Art Show at the Brownsville Museum of Fine Art. She is one of ten finalists to receive The Bennett Prize in 2025.
Slater Reid Sousley (b. 1995, Kansas) splits his time between his home studio in Overland Park, Kansas, and his family’s farm in Central Missouri. A graduate of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (BFA, 2017) and Eastern Illinois University (MA, 2019), Sousley has received accolades including the Distinguished Graduate Award and the King-Mertz Award of Excellence. His work was recently featured in Bloom, a group show at Povos Gallery in Chicago (2023).