Conflux, a new art exhibition by Arizona artists Melissa Sclafani and Bobby Zokaites, had its opening night on Friday, Feb. 7 in the 437Co art gallery here in Downtown Grand Junction. The exhibit is a combination of the works done by each of the artists individually. Together, Sclafani and Zokaites’ work is a commentary on technology, institutions and social and political norms.   

According to a press release provided to The Criterion, Sclafani draws from her background in sculpture, journalism and gender studies while Zokaites is known for his large scale and colorful pieces that invite audience participation.  

Among the artwork featured is a concrete sculpture and some 2-dimensional video stills and drawings made by Sclafani, who employs many hands-on techniques in her work. Sclafani made the concrete sculpture, called “Stick Don’t Get Stuck” by see-sawing into wet-concrete.   

“Most of my work in general is kind of about the pushing back on the status quo, whether that’s social or politically charged,” Melissa said.   

She also used interactive techniques in some of the two-dimensional work as well, sticking cactus spines in and out of one of the drawings.   

“I pulled all the cactus spines out playing with all these ideas of what stuckness is, stuck in a status quo, stuck in a norm. And then how we react to that. Do we break out? How do we adapt one way or another? Do we break free of it or do we conform to it?” Sclafani said.  

At the center of the exhibit is a metal barricade, designed to look like a merry-go-round. According to Sclafani, this sculpture demonstrates her take on the social implications that surround children’s playgrounds, and how they contribute to somewhat oppressive societal ideals.    

“I think a lot about the playground as this site of music, kind of as a metaphor, but I use it as […] this site where we kind of infiltrate and develop children’s minds with some social and political norms,” Sclafani said. “Most of the time playgrounds are attached to institutions, we think about that institutional control that happens in setting the status quo. So, these works are kind of all about that break of the status quo,” Sclafani said.   

Featured alongside Sclafani’s work are multiple paintings done by Zokaites, who used a Roomba vacuum to create the paintings. His goal with this technique was to showcase the role of technology in our society by using a robot to create.   

“They are meant to be a comment on technology [and] infiltrating pop culture, like I’m giving a creative expression to a robot,” Zokaites said. “It’s questioning the essence of art. If art is human expression, what happens when a robot does it?”  

Both Sclafani and Zokaites are inspired by the idea of the playground, according to Zokaites. However, they haven’t worked together before and this exhibit is their first collaboration. He said that he’s happy to be doing a show with Zokaites and to have their work in the same space. 

“It’s funny because both of us have read a lot of the same books and we are both heavily influenced by play in the playground. But we come at it from two totally different approaches,” Zokaites said.   

Admission is free, and the art gallery hours are Tuesday and Thursday through Saturday from 12-5 p.m. The exhibit will be showing until Feb 28.