Managing the Darkness: Ed Raffel and Hilary Gent at HEDGE

In Managing the Darkness, HEDGE Gallery presents a compelling two-person exhibition featuring Hilary Gent and Edward Raffel, on view June 19 through July 25. Together, the artists explore the conceptual relationship between light and darkness, using distinct yet complementary approaches to illuminate both the gallery and the viewer’s perception. It’s a rare moment in that Gent–the Gallery Director and Owner of HEDGE–is showing her own work (for only the third time since opening the gallery in 2010) in her own space, where for the last sixteen years she’s helped launch the careers of other contemporary, mostly Cleveland-based artists.

In Managing the Darkness, Gent’s oil and latex waterscape paintings radiate an ethereal glow, while Raffel’s sculptural works harness light as both a material and a medium, casting illumination throughout the space. Though their practices differ, their works complement one another, each offering a unique perspective on light and darkness. They engage and complement one another in a way that only a curator and artist with Gent’s vision could have foreseen.

Gent’s works continue an exploration of latex house paint that began in 2017, when traditional oils and brushes no longer produced the effects she sought. Rather than applying paint with a brush, Gent pours it directly onto the canvas to capture the movement and fluidity of the water’s surface. By abandoning the easel and laying the canvas on her studio floor, she achieved her desired artistic effect of dimension and surface texture, though not without trial and errors in the materials and drying time. Gent credits this intuitive process to the influence of Abstract Expressionism, particularly the groundbreaking pour technique pioneered by Helen Frankenthaler in the 1950s. She also credits Cleveland’s own Sherwin Williams house paint, which allows for much more control of her colors and the added benefit of drying quickly.

The resulting canvases are luminous waterscapes that Gent describes as “glimmers of hope amidst life’s storms”. I sure would feel more serene hopeful with one of these pieces on my wall, specifically A Flickering of Bliss, the anchor of the show, rendered in tranquil blues and greens with sunlight dancing across the water’s surface. Her achievement of bouncing light is nothing short of incredible.

Gent’s organic, fluid compositions are contrasted in the precise, concept-driven sculptures of Edward Raffel. In his sculptures, Raffel transforms ordinary industrial and everyday materials, including porch lattice, hair clips, roof flashing angles, and PVC fittings, into works that reveal the structure and beauty of everyday objects. Rather than adhering to traditional sculptural conventions, his practice is driven by his own curiosity and experimentation.

His illuminated light boxes explore how light travels through layered acrylic, while his non-reversing mirror works challenge viewers’ perceptions by reflecting them as others see them. I especially enjoyed interacting with one of Raffel’s mirrored works–Self-Portrait X 4 with 8 Colors–which invites viewers to see themselves from multiple perspectives and are unapologetically selfie-worthy. An academically trained dentist turned self-taught sculptor, Raffel rebels against traditional art school concepts and creates unique pieces that toss formalism to the wind while still maintaining structure, pattern, and symmetry. In Raffel’s Chandelier Light Box, these concepts are on display as the blown glass forms move in a satisfying symmetrical pattern against a striped hot pink and red illuminating background. This light box is made of repurposed acrylic chandelier glasses and ping-pong balls, among other unconventional materials, playing to the artist’s rebellion of using non-traditional objects within his work.

For three decades, Raffel has pursued what he describes as the unexplored territory of “three-dimensional painting,” stylistic combinatorics, and concept-driven craftsmanship. Working in an increasingly digital world, he remains committed to the analog realm, creating sculptures that privilege ideas, perception, and material experimentation over convention. While Raffel believes traditional principles of composition, color, and line have their place, his true creativity lies in challenging established rules rather than following them.. Raffel states: “I view art as entertainment designed for an audience with an ever-decreasing attention span. I truly hope you find these objects entertaining, interesting, fun, and beautiful in some way”.

Perhaps, unknowingly, Raffel is also influenced by Frankenthaler, who in a 1994 interview with printer/publisher Ken Tyler, famously stated, “There are no rules. That is how art is born, how breakthroughs happen. Go against the rules or ignore the rules. That is what invention is about.”

In spite of the world’s perceived chaos and the weight of darkness, both Gent and Raffel seize the chance to confront the shadows of the current era with radiant light, painted and reflected. This is the mantra behind the show that the artists intend to leave their viewers with. In Managing the Darkness, the works show a human attempt to not dwell in the darkness but illuminate it. And the result is beautiful.  

Managing the Darkness
Works of Hilary Gent and Edward Raffel
June 19 – July 25
HEDGE Gallery
1300 West 78th Street, Suite 200
Cleveland, Ohio 44102