Artists Ryan Hill, Erick Jackson, and George Jenne investigate the counterculture vocabulary they grew up with to create the exhibition Pan's Pipes. With the goal of creating the psychological feel of headshops and other illicit spaces where teens go to escape the realities of family and school, the artists create new works on paper, sculpture, and a unique installation. According to the artists, these kinds of spaces were a combination of sights, sounds, literature, and even smells that would stimulate feelings of the fantastic and the forbidden. Posters, comic books, slogans, drug and sexual imagery are the inspiration for their works.

The exhibition encompasses two galleries in Civilian, including a "black light" store space and a large backroom filled with dozens of images, works on paper, sculpture, and found objects. While the artists do not literally create a headshop, their work explores a visual culture that once embraced other-ness and a kind of subjectivity rejected by mainstream culture. The work is both surrealist and psychedelic, combining imagery and objects to create psychological moods, dream states and poetic thinking.

Ryan Hill is a Los Angeles born, Washington, DC-based artist who also writes and performs. He earned a Master's degree in studio art from the California Institute of the Arts and a Master's degree in film and television from University of California. His drawing installations have been shown in Los Angeles, CA; New York City, NY; Washington, DC; and Melbourne, Australia. He has performed at colleges and art spaces including the L.A. County Museum of Art and LAX><ART in Los Angeles, White Box Gallery in New York, and Sculpture Center in Long Island NY, and P.S.1 Contemporary Arts Center in Long Island City, NY.

Erick Jackson graduated from the Rhode Island School of Design in 1994. His painting, works on paper, and installations have been exhibited in museums and galleries in Washington, DC; New York; North Carolina; and Texas. He is also one-third of the new conceptual rock band Heavy Breathing.

George Jenne lives and works in North Carolina and New York. He graduated from the Rhode Island School of Design in 1995. His sculptural work has been exhibited at the RISD Museum, Frosch & Portman, Exit Art, Jack the Pelican Presents, Envoy Enterprises, and PS122 in New York. His work has been reviewed in The New Yorker, Art in America, and The Washington Post. He is currently in graduate school at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill where he is also adjunct faculty.

September 17 - October 22, 2011

Opening Reception: Saturday, September 17, 7-9pm

Artists Ryan Hill, Erick Jackson, and George Jenne investigate the counterculture vocabulary they grew up with to generate this new installation of paintings, drawings and sculpture. With a goal of creating the psychological feel of a headshop -- or other illicit spaces where teens go to escape the realities of family and school -- the artists have created new works on paper, sculpture, and a unique installation design to conceptualize their ideas.