Ernesto Renda: The Moment of Truth Each meticulous layer of Renda’s relief paintings—figural line drawings, backlit profiles, VHS tracking lines, flares of light—represents a different “allegory of mediation.” His unique relief effect derives from a raised hot glue underdrawing on panel, which is then wrapped in black canvas. Mimicking the diachronic aspect of film, Renda’s dual surface preparation and frottage situate their impact between multiple shots rather than a single still frame. - Michael Henry Hayden: Rocks & Windows The artist conceived of the seven works on view during an extended stay in Japan throughout the fall of 2023. Taken with fresh visual influences and the remarkable regional materials newly available to him, he began to experiment with the unique properties inherent to traditional handmade Japanese papers alongside those of commercial machine-made papers. In the resulting works he mixes the two, exploiting the possibilities that each affords; acrylic ink repelled by synthetic propylene sheets beads up on the surface, while it reliably dissipates softly into natural mulberry fibers.