The Little Things: Neal Breton & Haley Lauw

The Delaware Contemporary presents an exhibition of contemporary artists from California and Florida. The Little Things zooms in on the quotidian experience, the small moments of the day when something finally clicks, or something obfuscates. Normal experiences are made up of copies of other experiences; only when one veers in a different direction do we pay attention. The Little Things presents a catalog of the details that challenge the “normal experience.” An object’s shortcoming is its undoing, unless it is its strength; we’ll never know which until it’s tested. The experience of “making” can often be an isolating one; an artist pours her or himself into a piece, exposing insecurities in the hope of overcoming them.

Artist Haley Lauw presents her reality through facsimile; she uses all dimensions to create a space that feels familiar. Her deftness at rendering pushes the subject matter beyond mundane copies and into the realm of the sublime. In this exhibition, Lauw will be debuting faux-depression glass sculptures fashioned from the mouthpiece of brass instruments--these evocative objects rest at her lip-level to entice and seduce the viewer. The mouthpiece itself is a communication device that substitutes language with music, which at once complicates communication, but hints at a truer meaning.

Artist Neal Breton paints dazzling shards of color and pattern that are equally welcoming as they are distant. Bold greens, oranges, and blues meet at acute angles where natural forms are reduced to color silhouettes. Each painting hints at a different time and place, though on closer inspection, each painting suggests the here and now. Breton interprets the little things as over-the-top peaks and razor-sharp valleys; the only sense of softness comes from the cool gradients filling the pointed shapes.

Credit: Exhibition overview from museum website