J. R. Kortman Center for Design / Kortman Gallery

  

  The eye-popping art works of Corey Hagberg and Sarah Danielle Stewart can be experienced together in a collaborative installation titled “Velvet Realms” opening Friday and Saturday, October 3rd and 4th in the Kortman Gallery. Hagberg and Stewart work under the pseudonym of Hot Dose! when they collaborate their individual sophisticated street art styles into one visually dynamic exhibition.
    As expressed in the artists’ statement, the “Velvet Realms” exhibition explores the visual schemes imagined by the artists that fill a void that occurs in the mind during “transformations in life...the threshold from a nightmare to being awake, child to adult, sick to healthy.”
    Hot Dose! began creating art together in 2013. The two artists approach their work from two different artistic techniques.
    “Sarah has a very painterly style with her work,” said Hagberg. “I paint very graphically, just like I draw. I feel like our styles create a certain harmony or balance between the graphic and the more rendered imagery.”
    “Creating a collaborative work is kind of like a dance or a game of chess, where one person’s move depends on the other person’s move, and so on,” says Stewart.  “We share very similar sensibilities as far as our aesthetic preferences are concerned, which helps the process move fluidly.”
    Both Hagberg and Stewart had featured solo shows in the Kortman Gallery, but this is the first time they will be showing together in the gallery.  
    “When these two energetic and very creative artists come together they bring an excitement to art that makes for a really entertaining experience,” said gallerist Doc Slafkosky.
    The opening receptions for “Velvet Realms,” an installation by Hot Dose! (Corey Hagberg & Sarah Danielle Stewart) will be both Friday, October 3rd, 5 to 10pm, and Saturday, October 4th, 3 to 9pm.  The opening is in conjunction with Fall ArtScene weekend. The exhibit will run through November 15th.
      The Kortman Gallery is located upstairs at J. R. Kortman Center for Design, 107 North Main Street, Downtown Rockford. For more information call 815.968.0123 or visit jrkortman.com.
    
What: “Velvet Realms,” a collaborative installation by Hot Dose! (Corey Hagberg & Sarah Danielle Stewart).
When: Opening receptions, Friday, October 3rd, 5 to 10pm and Saturday, October 4th, 3 to 9pm  The exhibition runs through November 15th. Gallery & Store open Monday through Saturday, 10am – 6pm.
Where: Kortman Gallery, upstairs at J. R. Kortman Center for Design, 107 North Main Street, Downtown Rockford
Admission: Free