Vaughn Terrell Davis Jr. pours richly pigmented acrylic paint onto raw canvas, soaking it with layer upon layer of vibrant, saturated color. Once these canvases dry, Davis returns to them, using blades to incise, shred, and unravel the fabric’s warp and weft. Davis challenges painting’s traditional two-dimensionality by orchestrating configurations that drape and sag, bridge walls and floors, and reach into the air. For this exhibition, Davis takes advantage of the double-height ceilings of CAM’s gallery space to imagine how paintings can surround viewers with color and dynamic movement.

This exhibition sees Lauren dela Roche experimenting with new forms and mediums. In one new series, linear drawings of figures appear alongside cutout tissue paper shapes, pressed leaves and flowers, and treasured collage elements collected by the artist that she sandwiches between layers of encaustic wax. Their rippling surfaces suggest layers of history accumulating or peeling away. Alongside these paintings, dela Roche will present a sculpture fabricated from vintage dollhouses, and new figurative sculptures in cast iron.

Work by Vincent Stemmler excavates marginal histories and positions, sensing the possibility for rejuvenation among ruins. Dried stalks of mullein—a plant that pops up where soil has been disturbed—populate an installation of multimedia works that the artist has imagined for this exhibition. By adapting a Victorian-era parlor trick called Pepper’s Ghost, Stemmler incorporates clear acrylic sheets and hidden video screens into these sculptures, with reflecting images appearing to hover in mid-air like ghosts or specters. Stemmler’s accompanying video installation extends this narrative of regeneration.