Works By 3 Artists Featured By McLean Project For The Arts This Spring

MCLEAN, VA — McLean Project for the Arts’ Spring Solo Exhibitions will open April 13 and will feature works by the three artists.

The exhibition will kick off with an opening reception on April 13 from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. The exhibition will run through June 10. The public can register for the opening reception on the McLean Project for the Arts’ website.

Works by sculptors Chris Combs and George Lorio and painter Josh Whipkey will be featured at the exhibition. “We are pleased to offer these three outstanding artists—selected from an open call for proposals — solo exhibitions at MPA,” MPA Curator and Artistic Director Nancy Sausser said in a statement Monday.

“Solo exhibitions are hard to come by, and MPA is happy to be able to offer artists this important opportunity to show a significant body of their work, particularly in light of how many exhibitions were cancelled during the COVID-19 pandemic,” Sausser said.

The MPA’s Spring Solo Exhibitions are funded in part by ArtsFairfax

Combs’ sculptures, titled "Industry Standards: Works by Chris Combs," are made from reclaimed or surplus industrial components. While addressing themes of technology, surveillance and the destruction of the environment, Combs creates sculptures that are at both ominous and playful.

Lorio’s sculptures, titled "Concerns: Sculpture by George Lorio," are tree-like forms presented as metaphorical references to the possibility of healing and regeneration. Built from a combination of plywood armatures and found bark and twigs, the works exemplify a partnership between human effort and the natural world.

Whipkey’s paintings, titled "With My Face Against the Future: Paintings by Josh Whipkey," explore anxiety from physical, experiential, and philosophical perspectives. His smaller abstractions are full of high frequency color and dynamic geometric lines and shapes. The exhibit features both smaller works that are more compressed compositions to recent paintings that are larger, more spacious and leave room for thoughtful philosophical contemplation upon the nature of reality itself.

For the exhibition, the MPA Atrium Gallery will be available for viewing during McLean Community Center operating hours. The Emerson Gallery will be open for visitors Tuesdays through Fridays from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. and Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.