Every Which Way but Up
Todd Barricklow & Art Moura
October 24th - January, 2027
Artist Reception, Oct 24, 4-6p
Todd Barricklow creates vessels, boxes and tile, all with sgraffito surface treatment. Inspired by the classical amphora as a vessel of culture and utility, his work continues this tradition by depicting, in narrative tension, the tools, machinery, and transportation of our place in time.
Art Moura is a painter and sculptor working with paper, wood and found materials. Through imagery that is at once tender, sometimes brutal, and emotionally raw, his work embraces the inescapably ephemeral and poignant truths of life.
Artist Statements
Todd Barricklow
Inspired by the classical amphora as a vessel of culture and utility, my work continues this tradition by highlighting the tools, machines and transportation that define our place in time. I carve everyday icons on my vessels, telling stories by placing symbols and characters in narrative tension.
I build with clay slabs. My process is tactile and visible- boxes are not square, vessels wobble, and brushstrokes remain. This imperfection reveals the human hand, connecting labor across time. I limit my palette to black and white, and sometimes blue, a space of calm amid a world of fluorescent saturation.
Through this restrained visual language, I let the material and story take precedence. My aim is to blend these elements and allow each piece to serve as a record of our contemporary context.
— Todd Barricklow
Art Moura
For the past several years my work has been shadowed by darkness, the violence and death in the world always lurking at my door. I usually begin with an image on my mind: a dog, Christ on the cross, or some other figure, working in a cartoonish sort of way, maybe to cope with the violence and suffering I see and imagine.
With my flat work I make a mark, then go from there to get something formed, acting on what feels right, letting the drawing and painting spring from chaos. Working in wood is more straight forward. I begin with a basic pole, carving a dog or human head, mostly skull-like, with a scream or grimace, focusing on the colors, their richness.
This year I read Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy, and it stayed with me. I was especially struck by Judge Holden, a pale, hairless, shapeshifting character who accepts and ultimately escapes death by endlessly dancing with violence. Rendering my dark feelings in my art is my own kind of violent, relief-giving dance. I don’t have to face death today.
—Art Moura
