The Inside of My Eyelids, curated by QUAID Artist Collective

Exhibition Dates: Nov. 20–Dec. 31, 2020 

Day & Night Projects is proud to present an exhibition of artists curated by QUAID Artist Collective of Tampa,
Florida. Featured are artists Neil Bender, Taylor Finke, Jenn Ryann Miller, Justin Nelson, Sam Newton, Anthony
Record, Gary Schmitt, and Emiliano Settecasi.

The Inside of My Eyelids explores the genre of “landscape” and the ways it can function as relief during a time of restricted travel and a way of evoking public and private spaces in increased isolation. The darkness and projection that happens with eyes closed reveals a swimmingly bizarre world of imagined interior worlds, dreaming of being someplace else, and the abstraction of fluttering images. Again, “landscape” is a loose framework on which the QUAID artists will show a variety of work exploring the possibility of images, both fantastic and concrete.

Neil Bender’s late-night fever dreams become misremembered and misrepresented as he brings them into the physical form of drawings in ink, acrylic, and collage. Anthony Record’s ambiguous, shadowy forms in acrylic paint echo call forth the haunted history of the Southern landscape. Sam Newton’s apocalyptic horses stampede through this year in oil on canvas. Justin Nelson’s meticulous moth calls out from (or to?) a dystopian future. Taylor Finke’s photo of a quiet moment shimmers like phosphenes. Jenn Ryann Miller’s painted steel artwork evokes memories of the epic road trip.

The Inside of My Eyelids will be on view Nov. 20–Dec. 31. Gallery hours are 12–5pm Fridays and Saturdays,
or by appointment. Due to COVID-19 pandemic, Day & Night Projects will implement the following precautions to limit transmission of the virus: No opening reception will be held. The number of persons in the gallery will be limited to 5 at one time. Our garage door will be open in good weather to increase air circulation. Masks will be required for all visitors. Hand sanitizer will be provided. All high-touch surfaces will be cleaned every hour. No restroom will be accessible.

The exhibition The Inside of My Eyelids will also be available for view as photos on our website daynightprojects.art, including the option to purchase artworks on our online store.

ABOUT THE CURATORS:
QUAID is an artist collective and gallery space located in Tampa, FL. The Collective was founded in 2014 by members of the Tampa Drawers Sketch Gang, a group of Tampa artists who met weekly at various locations to collaborate and draw. The project has since expanded to a permanent location with a focus on contemporary artists creating mixed media exhibitions. In addition to monthly curatorial projects, QUAID hosts a variety of events including first Fridays, literature readings, drawing nights, and film screenings. Its current members include: Neil Bender, Justin Nelson, Sam Newton, Anthony Record, Gary Schmitt, Jenn Ryann Miller, Warren Cockerham, Taylor Finke, and Emiliano Settecasi. Visit quaidgallery.com.

Left to right: Justin Nelson, Long Distance Caller, 2018, colored pencil on paper, 12in. x 9in.; Neil Bender, Muzzle of Wrecking Balls (Cream series), 2018, ink, acrylic on paper, 30in. x 22in.; Jenn Ryann Miller, Hi, From the Grand Canyon, 2020, steel, silver, glass, decal, enamel paint, 12in. x 6in. x 3in.; Sam Newton, June, July, August, September (but not four more years), 2020 oil on canvas, 18in. x 24in.

ABOUT THE ARTISTS:
Neil Bender was born in Perth Amboy, New Jersey, and currently lives and works in Tampa, Florida. His work has been shown nationally and internationally, at the Boston Center for the Arts, the CUE Art Foundation and Gasser/Grunert in New York, the Atlanta Contemporary Art Center, the Boston Center for the Arts, Palazzo Casali in Cortona, Italy, The Front in New Orleans, Circa PR in San Juan, Puerto Rico, the St. Petersburg Museum of Fine Arts, and many other venues. He received the Joan Mitchell Foundation Grant after getting his degree from the University of Georgia, attended the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, and the Vermont Studio Center. He is co-founder and member of the cooperative gallery QUAID. He has shown recently in Denver at Hardly Soft and Yes Ma’am Projects, and has an upcoming two-person show at the Sarasota Art Center.

Emiliano Settecasi is a Tampa-based artist, currently a Gallery Assistant at Gallery221@HCC and a member of the cooperative gallery QUAID. He has studied at the Pratt Institute and the University of South Florida, and earned his BFA from the latter in 2016. Settecasi has exhibited work in a number of establishments throughout the Tampa Bay area including MIZE Gallery, Tempus Projects, and Gallery 501, and participated in the Emerging Artist Program at the 2018 Gasparilla Festival of the Arts.

Taylor Finke received a BA in Psychology from the University of South Florida, where she also studied photography. Her work has been exhibited nationally in venues such as the Atlantic Center for the Arts, Roman Susan Gallery in Chicago, and the Museum of Fine Arts in St. Petersburg, among others.

Sam Newton graduated from the University of South Florida with a BFA in painting and is a member of QUAID.

Anthony Record is an artist and educator, and he has been the Studio Programs Coordinator at the Tampa Museum of Art since 2018. From 2009–18 he was a professor of art and art history, and his art has been exhibited internationally at galleries and museums in New York, San Francisco, Chicago, Kanazawa, Vancouver, and elsewhere. Record is a co-founder and co-director of QUAID.

Gary Schmitt completed his MFA in Sculpture at the University of South Florida in 2016 and works as a production assistant at USF Graphicstudio. In the past several years he has exhibited his work throughout Florida and the US.

Jenn Ryann Miller has been part of numerous solo and group exhibitions in Florida and the United States. Originally from Connecticut, she received a BFA from the University of Connecticut and MFA from the University of South Florida. Miller currently teaches ceramics and foundations at the University of South Florida, University of Tampa, and Hillsborough Community College.

Justin Nelson was born in 1985 in Astoria, Oregon. He currently lives and works in Tampa, Florida.