Other Worlds: Jason DeMarte, Don Krumpos, Kristine Granger
Sept. 13 - Oct. 19, 2024
Vanilla Sky 2017 by Jason DeMarte
Our fall exhibition is a moment when we bring in an artist or two from outside our area that we are excited to share with our local community. Other Worlds is no exception. Individually these artists are some of the most engaged, accomplished practitioners we have the privilege of knowing. The art they create is the product of rich imagination, deep experience in their chosen medium, and a strong commitment to purpose.
Jason DeMarte
Jason DeMarte is an established artist best known for his highly detailed and seductive flora and fauna photo assemblages. His work has been exhibited in galleries and museums worldwide and has been featured in various publications such as the British Journal of Photography, Huffington Post, Hyperallergic, and Adobe Create. His solo exhibitions have been held at prestigious institutions and galleries, including the University of Michigan Museum of Art, Denver Botanical Gardens, Rule Gallery in Marfa, Texas, the Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art, and the Detroit Center of Contemporary Photography. DeMarte’s work has also been included in prominent group exhibitions, such as the Exposure International Photo Festival, Context at Filter Photo Space in Chicago, The National: Best Contemporary Photography at the Ft. Wayne Museum of Art, and Exposure 2021 Exhibition, at the Contemporary Calgary Museum. His series Confected is part of the Midwest Photographers Project at the Museum of Contemporary Photography in Chicago, and his recent series Arcadia was recognized as one of Photo Lucida Critical Mass’ top 50 series. His work is held in private and public collections, including the University of Michigan Museum of Art and, the Museum of Outdoor Arts, Los Angeles Center for Digital Art, Saks 5th Avenue, and the 21c Museum Hotels. DeMarte is a professor of art at Eastern Michigan University. He received his B.F.A. in Photography from Colorado State University and his M.F.A in Photography from the University of Oregon.
“DeMarte’s work engages with complex themes, such as truth, consumption, visual gluttony, and waste, while simultaneously playing upon humanity’s unquenchable desire for beauty.”
Tangential is a series of photographic collages that feature intricately composed flora and fauna, particularly birds, alongside plastic detritus such as caps, bags, and candy. Through this unique process, DeMarte creates surreal allegories that reflect a post-dystopian landscape while retaining the echoes of a past marked by depravity. The prints exhibit an unreal level of detail, resulting from a commercial studio approach to the separate photographic elements that are then collaged together. DeMarte’s work engages with complex themes, such as truth, consumption, visual gluttony, and waste, while simultaneously playing upon humanity’s unquenchable desire for beauty. The resulting images convey a sense of unease, calling attention to how our consumption and disposability impact the natural world.
Mt. Gems and Gummy Worms 2020 by Jason DeMarte
Don Krumpos
Don grew up on a century-old hobby farm in Northeast Wisconsin cobbling together inventions from his father's cast-iron machinery and developing a kinship for bric-a-brac and found objects. He is an art educator and makes work that embraces the spectacle of live performance and the participatory nature of the art-making and viewing process. He also runs Yonder, a studio and gallery in Algoma to showcase artworks by regional and national artists that create meaningful and accessible art-based experiences for the public.
“I had to invent a new world—Terra Incognita—a term coined by ancient cartographers to describe the uncharted territories of the earth, landscapes shrouded in mystery and allure, beckoning the spirit of discovery.”
Terra Incognita is a search for Place, and Identity; a journey into the heart of nostalgia, a return to the boyhood lands that once defined my sense of place and belonging. The sights and smells, once so familiar, now evoke a deep and specific longing—a bittersweet reminder of a world that remains the same yet has been irrevocably altered. As I walked through the countryside and woodlands of my youth, I was struck by this paradox; the land, while still recognizable, bore the marks of time and development, and the sale of the family farm left a void where connection once thrived.
In this series, I felt compelled to slow down, to pause and observe with a renewed sense of wonder, curiosity, and magic—much like a child rediscovering the world after the loss of innocence. To reclaim this sense of awe, I had to invent a new world—Terra Incognita—a term coined by ancient cartographers to describe the uncharted territories of the earth, landscapes shrouded in mystery and allure, beckoning the spirit of discovery.
To navigate this Terra Incognita, I assumed the role of a fictitious natural historian, cartographer, and explorer, determined to observe the remnants of my childhood stomping grounds and the relics scattered across the countryside. In this role, I became attuned to the growth and decay that marks the passage of time, and I grew sensitive to what I call 'micro seasons'—the subtle, almost imperceptible shifts within the cyclical rhythms of the world.
Through these observations, I began to see the opposing elements of existence, the contradictions woven into the fabric of life, and the truth that everything, indeed, changes. It was in this awareness that Terra Incognita took shape—a landscape imbued with the presence of Genius Loci, the protective spirits of place, guardians that embody the essence of a space. I became aware of the numinous landmarks, ley lines, and land wights—the tall tree standing solitary in a field, a sentinel of time.
These works are maps of the soul, created to navigate the complexities of the universe and grapple with the hyperobjects of our modern existence. They are attempts to make sense of a world in constant flux, to find meaning in the contradictions, and to honor the spirit of the land that still holds the echoes of a once-familiar past.
Terra Incognita VII 2023 by Don Krumpos
Kristine Granger
Kristine earned her Master of Fine Arts degree and Women’s Studies Certificate from Stony Brook University, NY. She completed her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree, focusing in Photography, from University of Oregon-Eugene, School of Architecture and Allied Arts. She also received a Certificate of Completion from The Paris Fashion Institute in Paris France and an Associates of Science in Fashion Design from Plaza Three Academy in Phoenix Arizona. She is currently Art Faculty and Fine Arts Coordinator for Bay College in Escanaba MI. Published in the 2nd edition of, Elements of Photography, by artist and author Angela Faris-Belt. Granger was a 2020 & 2022, Artist-in-Residence at Chateau d’Orquevaux in Orquevaux, France and a recipient of The Denis Diderot Award. Her sculpture, jouissance and, the red one, created at the residency are now part of their permanent collection and on permanent display in the Chateau. In 2022, she was an artist-in-residence on Mackinac Island and the recipient of the grand prize for Poetic Visions of Mackinac. Kristine is an interdisciplinary artist who investigates memory and exhibits both nationally and internationally. In 2023 Granger established, Rock Street Artist Residency, at her home in Marquette MI.
“The layer of living: the construction and destruction of self that is necessary for growth. This is a process that is articulated for me best through the creation of my works. It is a theory that I have continually nurtured and dissected.”
When I was a child and would visit my grandparents, I was always intrigued with the bookshelf behind my grandpa’s chair. The shelves held books such as, The World Encyclopedia, big pictures, and words for such a small child. I would go through all these books, but my favorites were the ones that held the human form in transparent pages. These pages could be lifted to show the skeleton, muscles and the separate organs, all the layers of the human form. It fascinated me that they broke down the body into layers and that you could simply lift the pages to discover another layer, one that was just as important as the first for the function and completion of the human. I saw a greater picture; this concept of layering has intrigued me throughout my life. I struggled growing up about the notion of what made me and where I belonged. I wrestled to accept all the facets of myself, to understand that events, whether positive or negative, had to be accepted and understood as my existence. The layer of living: the construction and destruction of self that is necessary for growth. This is a process that is articulated for me best through the creation of my works. It is a theory that I have continually nurtured and dissected.
I am an interdisciplinary artist, exploring the sensorial, inviting the viewer to participate in the completion the works. The integration of image, video, sound, sculpture, and installation is crucial to my creative practice.
Untitled, wire and thread
flow…
the evolution of action and consciousness; the state of finding a balance between ego and the subconscious… it is in these layers; the layers of living that leave an imprint that requires flow… this evolution of healing is the choice you make; it can be a burden that you carry, or it can be the gift of flow.
Untitled 2024 by Kristine Granger