Abstraction of the Human Mind: Featuring Yigsy Magaly + Angel Duran

On Display: December 12, 2024 – March 2, 2025
Opening Reception: Thursday, December 12 at 6PM

Abstraction of the Human Mind offers a thought-provoking exploration of human emotion through the distinctive styles of artists Yigsy ‘Kat’ Magaly and Angel Duran. Kat’s work invites viewers to connect with figures using body language and subtle gestures. In contrast, Duran’s pieces highlight the emotional distance between individuals in vast, impersonal spaces. Together, their works encourage observers to consider the quiet moments of reflection often overlooked, and how the complexities of modern life exist in a constant, beautiful abstraction.

Images Clockwise from top left: Morning Sun, Duran; I Come Alone, Duran; Pink Lady, Magaly; Insomnia, Magaly

Meet the Artists

Yigsy Magaly

Yigsy Magaly, also known as “Kat,” is a Salvadorian-American artist born in El Salvador and raised in New Jersey. Initially drawn to photorealistic portraiture, Magaly has evolved her style, embracing minimalistic aesthetics to challenge artistic norms.

In her series of paintings featuring abstract figures called “Blanxs,” she deliberately omits facial expressions. This choice allows the lines and colors to convey emotional depth, enabling observers to connect profoundly with the artwork. Magaly places a careful focus on the expressive potential of lines and colors, recognizing them as pivotal elements in conveying emotions. This approach accentuates the significance of body language and the nuanced interplay of lines and colors, presenting a distinctive and immersive experience for the audience.

Her work practice involves using paint markers instead of traditional brushes. She creates a captivating 3D effect by extending her art beyond the canvas, painting the sides of her canvases and inviting viewers into her carefully crafted imaginary world.

A graduate of Mason Gross School of the Arts, Magaly approaches visual storytelling with innovation, inviting observers to connect with their emotions through the delicate interplay of lines and colors.

Angel Duran

Fundamentally, the works of Angel Duran serve as an exploration of the relationship between painting and photography. Thematically, they explore urbanization’s role in social fragmentation and the disintegration of human interactions. By depicting isolated figures roaming through empty and artificially-lit cityscapes, he hopes to highlight how — instead of forming intrapersonal relationships — metropolitan areas can help foster the feeling of isolation. But also, he hopes to form a communal experience built on our shared moments of isolation.

A frequent technique Duran incorporates into his paintings is the bokeh effect found in photography, the aesthetic quality of the blur produced in the out-of-focus parts of an image; his intention is not to simply paint blurry photographs, but rather, to address a hierarchy through blurring. For example, while still able to use figures as his prime subject matter, the blurring of the image allows him to investigate artificial light as its own subject matter. Everything becomes equally important and equally insignificant.

Duran currently works and resides in New Jersey.

To preview the exhibition, CLICK HERE. 

 

SOPAC’s Arts Education programs are supported in part by New Jersey State Council on the Arts, Orange Orphan Society, Citizens Charitable Foundation, George A. Ohl, Jr. Charitable Trust, Hearst Foundations, Frank and Lydia Bergen Foundation, and PSEG Foundation. 

If you are interested in making a purchase, please contact Linda Beard at (973) 382-1035 or lindab@sopacnow.org.