Tamara Zahaykevich's works are quasi-architectural models of spaces, fragments and cross sections of imagined places. In the miniature scale of maquettes, they are self-sufficient entities. Their execution is deliberately imperfect, displaying an awkwardness and vulnerability like a community of misfits.

The traditionally rigid and dimensionless material is teased with straight cuts and scoring, bending and forcing to become rounder and organic, like fissures on stone or cumulus clouds. The works are somewhat rough-hewn in their exposed foam-core joinery; holes filled with bits and scraps; and showing glue seams. Nods to building convention, such as buttressing and keystone-like cuts are fantastical and absurd.

Drawings, 2-D inspirations and studio detritus are starting points and windows of opportunity. Color choices range from model-maker's landscaping beiges and greens, to acid neons�some are logical, many are nonsensical. Color also implies texture-as in one work, a kind of "dust storm"-references spaces in their environment. A constant tension between the abstract and representation exists throughout.

Informed by everyday experiences and individual responses to space and containment, these works reflect a desire to create environments that reflect ourselves, to project our personalities on every place that we live, to create something perfect out of a process of imperfection.

Tamara Zahaykevich was raised by Ukrainian immigrants in Maplewood, NJ. She holds a BFA from Tyler School of Art in Pennsylvania, and was a fellow at the Skowhegan School of Art in Maine and The MacDowell Colony in New Hampshire. She lives and works in Brooklyn, New York.