Gritty Rituals is an exhibition that joins three artists: Lauren Comito, John O’Connor, and Peter Schenck. Each artist brings an almost religious reverence to their imagery, but their laser focus is aimed squarely at distinctively secular iconography: the human figure, post

consumer waste, advertisements, art history and text based narratives that reflect life’s absurdity. Rich color, compositional density, repetition of personal symbols, and mix of high and low culture can all be found in their work. Monk-like in their devotion to their craft and imagery, each artist toils not for the lofty goal of a heavenly afterlife, but to embody and redirect the gritty aspects of the modern world’s physical and visual assault on ourselves.

Each artist fuses the complexity of contemporary daily life with deep investigations into defining moments of art history. O’Conner’s works on paper manifest the color intensity and detail found in medieval illuminated manuscripts. He painstakingly renders his images in color pencil with the dedication of a 15th century old master, fusing them with high octane 21st century commercial logos, car advertisements, and intentionally nonsensical narratives. Comito and Schenck look to cubism and 20th century abstraction, but intertwine those daunting subjects with their own low brow aesthetics of cartoon figuration and 1980’s graphic design. While humor abounds in Comito and Schenck’s visual world, there is a dramatic tone in their work as well, as if their irreverent figures and structures are armoring themselves against the precarious world we all inhabit.

Lauren Comito's art transforms the overlooked into the profound. Drawing inspiration from everyday objects such as discarded packaging, she begins with abstract forms that evolve into complex, meaningful structures. In Comito's work, these ordinary items serve as potent symbols of impermanence and serve as a connection to our consumer society. Through symmetry and repetition, she constructs figures that emerge from abstraction, inviting viewers to engage in pareidolia—perceiving faces, watchful eyes, portals, and more within her compositions. Her colorful, totemic, Rorschach-like figures explode onto the canvas, confronting viewers while offering a playful counterpoint to their serious undertones. Comito creates celestial beings and intricate structures that are deliberately convoluted and challenging to decipher, prompting us to question the psychic impact of our contemporary landscape on our consciousness.

John O’Connor transforms disparate forms of information and data through idiosyncratic processes, creating abstract shapes, forms, patterns, and text. O’Connor utilizes text in myriad ways: from jotting down miniscule process notes to rendering visually complex cursive and block letters in his own invented fonts. His works give visual form to fraught moments when an individual's intentions and desires are affected, opposed, or concretely influenced by a more powerful natural, political, or psychological force.

Peter Schenck’s paintings abstract and stretch elements of the classical still life and portraiture, serving to illuminate the ephemeralness of life. Schenck also focuses on the inward life of the studio artist. Paint brushes, palettes, skulls, pedestals, paint tubes and the artist himself all jostle for attention in his world of gallows humor. He manifests the anxiety of art historical influence, but the ecstasy as well, implementing Picassoid figures, Gustonesque landscapes, and mid century abstraction in a frequent painterly loop. The understanding of painting in the wake of such powerful artists is palpable, but no less so is Schenck’s obvious delight in adapting their discoveries to his own purposes.

In "Gritty Rituals," Comito, O'Connor, and Schenck engage in a powerful act of psychological sublimation, transforming the mundane into the extraordinary. Their works serve as complex defensive mechanisms, deflecting, digesting, and reinterpreting the bombardment of modern life. Through meticulous craft and inventive composition, each artist creates a visual language that both confronts and transmutes our daily experiences. This exhibition invites viewers to witness how art can process the psychological weight of our contemporary landscape, offering new perspectives on the objects, information, and cultural icons that surround us. "Gritty Rituals" ultimately reveals the profound in the everyday, challenging us to reconsider our relationship with the world we inhabit and the inner landscapes we cultivate.