artPark

AAF NYC 2009 Report #2

After a week of exhibiting at the Affordable Art Fair in NYC, Laura and I returned home late yesterday. Whew. What a week!. Don’t ever let anyone tell you that working one of these art fairs is like one long, glamorous cocktail party. After five days of setting up, exhibiting, selling, and taking down all the art, we feel closer to grungy, blue-collar workers than fancy, well-groomed gallery owners. Very physical. Very emotional.

So… a recap of the show: Overall, this was a far cry from the killer show we had here last year; but, we knew it would be hard to match 2008. One issue we faced this year was that the Fair changed venues, and I strongly believe the new location attracted an entirely different clientele. Last year it was in a terrific building in Chelsea (the heart of New York’s art scene). This year it was on the eleventh floor of a glitzy building across the street from the Empire State Building – a touristy location to say the least. The vibe was definitely different.

With that said, Migration’s group of artists once again woke up the New York crowd to what we are doing here in central Virginia.

Numerous times we were told that Michael Janis’ glass pieces were the best work in the entire fair. All we could do was nod knowingly. This of course was the main reason we brought his work to the show.

 

Our newest (and youngest) artist, Ashley Williams, had people leaving skid marks on the floor when her exquisite and detailed work on paper caught people’s eye forcing them to spin on their heel as they walked by.

 

Tim Taunton’s surreal and colorful narrative paintings were also show stoppers – leaving most simply shaking their head in disbelief that any artist could have such beautiful and lyrical thoughts and execute them so beautifully.

 

Arturo Mallmann’s meditative paintings pulled virtually every passerby into the booth. It is always fun to see viewers’ blood pressure lower as they fall into Arturo’s glowing, meditative work.

 

We spent a good amount of time listening to people trying to decide exactly which of their friends/co-workers/family members were depicted in Brian Mallman’s drawings. His graphite on board drawings had everyone nodding their approval.

 

And, Warren Craghead’s drawings on paper forced people to stop, sit and read. Picking out this level of originality is no easy task at one of these fast paced fairs.

 

The most important result of the Fair was to give our artists the attention their work deserves. Nothing beats successfully exhibiting art in NYC. Although we had hoped for better sales, understanding the economic strains people have endured over the past year leaves us feeling pretty good about the results. Maybe next year the Fair will return to Chelsea where it belongs.

The difference a year makes

I went to the Ruffin Hall Gallery on the University of Virginia campus to see the first of this spring's weekly student shows.  Since last year's closing of the Off-Grounds Gallery, I've been looking forward to these shows.

 

First up are the Aunspaugh Fifth Year Fellows (fifth year students) James Dean Erickson and Patrick Costello.  I saw these two exhibit last year as seniors (read my review here).  They both were awarded an additional year to hone their skills and their art.  Erickson wowed me last year with enormous portraits of some of our down and out citizens, but Costello's prints didn't impress me much at all.  So I went on Friday evening expecting more of the same.  Surprise!

 

My first surprise was that both Erickson and Costello are doing basically the same thing.  As students, my expectation was to see a change in style, maybe medium, something different over the past twelve months.  Isn't that what school is all about: studying, experimenting, testing, finding your way?  But, no, they both basically showed the same type of work they did last year.

 

Erickson is still making massive portraits, using scraps of cardboard as his canvas and a variety of media to get it all out there.  He is blending cheap, throw-away materials and presenting it in a street savvy, graffiti style manner.  This year, instead of the frontal, headshot portraits, he is doing full body portraits; and of the four exhibited, only two were of homeless men (I have no idea if these two people are actually homeless or not, so bare with me as I use the term generically).  The other two were of blue collar workers - one, a janitor, the other, a cafeteria worker.  Bridging the grittiness of the homeless to the employed did nothing for Erickson's work.  His subjects suddenly are less relevant (my second surprise).

 

Although the theme of "Teachability" is clear (we all have things we can learn from these people) and successfully accomplished by Erickson, the power of the individual pieces is gone.  The passion seems to have disappeared, and the ability to make those who live on the edge of poverty becomes less important.

 

Erickson's work remains technically superlative, but the comparison to how last year's portraits moved me to this year is a let down.

While studying Patrick Costello's prints and wall paintings, it struck me that Patrick is a mark maker.  He makes marks.  He makes marks on a lot of things.  Last year, Costello's prints were very blah for me.  I didn't read much into them.  I now see that those failings were mostly due to presentation.  This year, Costello has presented his work as an installation:  He draws on the wall (should we give credit to Sol LeWitt?), he draws on inverted hung planters, he makes prints (framed in old desk drawers), and, with great success, Costello has made a stop action motion picture.  Here is where the growth of Costello's work shines.  Although he is still making the same marks, he has presented them in a new and highly successful manner (my third surprise).

 

Simple lines and concepts can be a real challenge for any artist.  Leaving his lines lifeless on the paper was not successful.  Animating them tells the story Costello is trying to convey:  "people trying to figure out how to live in the world and with the earth in the face of human made environmental destruction."

 

Extending their respective college education for a year after graduation took Erickson and Costello in two different directions.  For Erickson, I believe he would have been better off putting his student career behind him - his art was ready for the real world.  Staying within the friendly confines of the university life dampened his strengths.  Costello, on the other hand, took full advantage of the extra year and has found a much stronger format for his work.

PHILIP GLASS - In 12 Parts

Knock, knock. Who's there?

Knock, knock. Who's there?

Knock, knock. Who's there?

Knock, knock. Who's there?

Knock, knock. Who's there?

Knock, knock. Who's there?

Philip Glass.

 

Those are the words famed artist Chuck Close uses to describe the music of Philip Glass. So much truth can be found in the humor. Love his music or hate it, Philip Glass has cemented himself as the most important composer of our time. Personally, I love it!

The American Masters program on PBS is running a 2 hour documentary special tracking a year in the life of Philip Glass. The show is called Glass: A Portrait of Philip Glass in Twelve Parts. Laura and I watched it last night. Fantastic footage of a master artist. What really popped to me was a man with an unmatched passion to compose music. He is a man comfortable in his own skin whose first love is his music.

If you are at all interested in Philip Glass, his music and his career, I highly recommend you watch this film. Some of the best footage was looking back at the beginning of his career in New York in the 1960s and 1970s. Those were heady days in the American arts scene.

[Image: "Phil/Watercolor," a portrait of the composer Philip Glass done in 1977 by Chuck Close]

Impera et Divide

The art scene in Charlottesville is suddenly looking up… or should I say it is looking overseas. Currently on exhibit at Second Street Gallery is a show of six internationally renowned artists curated by our own Warren Craghead (and co-curated by Pedro Moura) called Impera et Divide. The exhibit focuses on contemporary international comics and sequential art The six featured artists come at comics from a different angle - combining sequences of images and words to create graphic poems rather than graphic novels. Relying on destabilizing and decentering strategies, this work is rich and multivalent. The featured artists include Frederic Coche, Ae-rim Lee, Andre Lemos, Ilan Manouach, Andrei Molotiu and Fabio Zimbres. It's a divergent and beautiful show. The exhibit runs through April 25. Don't miss it.

 

In addition to Pedro Moura, artist Andre Lemos made the journey across the Atlantic for the opening. This is where things get interesting. It's one thing to import beautiful and important work from outside the area, but it becomes much more substantial when the artists make the trip too.

 

Laura and I were fortunate enough to get some quality time with both Pedro and Andre. Not only did we share the varying points of view and perspectives we each bring to the visual arts, we were all exposed to a variety of new names, styles and forms of art that we each consider excellent. One in particular we gleaned from Andre was Jan Svankmajer from (formerly) Czechoslovakia. Jan is true master of the stop motion film making. It was great to be introduced to his work by a true fan. I would never have gotten that without meeting Andre.

 

Now here is where things get doubly interesting… André Lemos, from Lisbon, Portugal, has been active in the European comics world since the late 80s and has become one of the most published Portuguese authors abroad. Andre is also an accomplished mural painter, participating in many group and solo exhibitions as well as receiving many commissions for the decoration of public and private spaces. While in town for the opening of the exhibit, Andre agreed to paint a mural (in one day) on the outside wall of The Bridge Progressive Arts Initiative. We stopped by to see the artist in action. Here are some photos of the process:

     

   

So this little show of works on paper has given Charlottesville a piece of art that virtually no one living here would ever have the opportunity to see and enjoy. I can't stress the importance of looking outside our local boundaries for high quality and important works of art. Work from outside the Virginia Piedmont can look entirely different and give us something we don't usually get. Now that's what I call the spice of life.

Thanks Pedro, Andre and Warren. Charlottesville owes you one.

 

Image at top:  by Frederic Coche

Buy this book now

Why Photography Matters as Art as Never Before

By Michael Fried

$34.65

 

I think the title of this book speaks for itself. Buy it. Read it. Believe it.

Description: From the late 1970s onward, serious art photography began to be made at large scale and for the wall. Michael Fried argues that this immediately compelled photographers to grapple with issues centering on the relationship between the photograph and the viewer standing before it that until then had been the province only of painting. Fried further demonstrates that certain philosophically deep problems—associated with notions of theatricality, literalness, and objecthood, and touching on the role of original intention in artistic production, first discussed in his contro­versial essay "Art and Objecthood" (1967)—have come to the fore once again in recent photography. This means that the photo­graphic "ghetto" no longer exists; instead photography is at the cutting edge of contemporary art as never before.

Spotlight Artist of the month: ALAN DEHMER

As part of the recent artPark re-design, I will be shining a spotlight on a single artist each month.  For regular artPark-ers, you will recognize some of these artists but others will be completely new to you.  Consider it a virtual exhibition of sorts.  As always, the work we show here is for sale and worth every penny.

For March, the artPark spotlight shines on Alan Dehmer, a photographer from Chapel Hill, North Carolina.  Laura and I bought our first piece by Alan a number of years ago.  It hangs prominently in our living room.  Alan was also one of the first artists we contacted and invited to be represented by Migration.  Since then, we have consistently shown Alan's one-of-a-kind photos in the Gallery, and we have exhibited his work successfully in DC and NYC.

 

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Other than the timeless beauty of the sites, subjects and designs of Alan's pictures (caught on 35mm or 120mm black/white film), what makes his art stand out is that he creates the prints the really old fashioned way.  This makes them more personal than your regular photo. Alan uses the age old gum bichromate printing process where each step is an intuitive, creative decision performed in partnership with the elements. By veiling each image with brushed on pigments, Alan manages to strip away artifice and reveal a clearer, more beautiful truth. Equally important is the technical skill demanded by the gum bichromate process.

 

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A thoughtful and committed artist who has taken a circuitous route to the life of a professional fine art photographer, Alan is capturing and indeed creating images of exquisite truth and beauty.  In Alan’s words: "By nature I'm inclined to alchemy, whether mixing pigments with sensitizer in the photo lab, making herbal medicines, or preparing food in the kitchen. Mixing, stirring and altering matter. Creating something from something else. I don't think there's a higher purpose in life than to create."

 

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What makes Alan's photos so special is that each one is entirely unique.  You will not see his work appear as a numbered series.  Each is one of a kind.  Although he reuses a "negative", the labor intensive gum bichromate printing process requires the layering of pigments by hand to each print.  Ultimately, each finished piece is different from all others.  In essence, Alan is blending photography with painting.

 

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Sizes of Alan's work can be as small as 12" to as big as 36".  Prices for these photos range from $350 to $1,500.  They can be purchased unframed or framed (frames handmade by Alan himself).  Please contact me for additional information.

 

Images above include: 1) Inis Mor, 2) Around Newgrange, 3) Hand of Man, 4) Vanishing, 5) Donagh Patrick, 6) Open Gate, 7) Homage, and 8) Leaving Nantucket.

 

For more images, go to Alan's photo album found on the right-hand sidebar.

Diving into Jeanne Drevas' Grove

Rappahannock County, Virginia artist, Jeanne Drevas, has set out to transform Charlottesville's Second Street Gallery into an indoor forest with her site-specific installation of bamboo culms called Grove.

First a little description: Grove is a site specific installation made exclusively of stalks of bamboo suspended from the ceiling of the main gallery. There are hundreds of culms hanging within a few inches of each other and whose bottoms dangle just above the floor. They are arranged in what I measured to be a 12' x 24' x 12' tall cube (not quite big enough to be a truly impressive structure). As far as "site-specific" goes, Grove definitely is specific to the gallery. It mirrors the 4 walled cube shape of the gallery's interior to a T.

So, upon entering the gallery, you are greeted with a near solid mass of bamboo shafts. You are also greeted by the rather stringent smell of freshly cut bamboo (who knew bamboo was so aromatic?). Other than a few "rules" regarding your behavior and a brief statement from the artist, I didn't find much written about the piece. That suits me fine, as I generally prefer the art to do the talking - at least initially.

The crux of Grove is that the viewer is to enter the mass of bamboo stalks. Push them aside and walk through them. Feel their presence, smell their essence, hear their voice, and see the light filter through them.

Okay. So the suspended bamboo cube represents Nature and as we enter it, it engulfs us, and we feel its power through its responsive qualities and transformative elements. Got it.

After circumnavigating Grove a couple of times, I readied myself to enter. I stood at the center of one of the long sides, hesitated for a few seconds, took a deep breath (literally), and walked in. Strange feeling. I might as well have been standing at the end of the high dive suspended over a pool of chilly water. After a rationally brief hesitation, I inhale deeply, close my eyes and jump. Splash! For me, that was the strength of Grove - that barrier breaking moment when you step forward and take the plunge.

Once inside Grove, pushing aside the culms, walking forward a bit more, finding center, stopping, letting the hollowed clatter of the culms subside, the only sensation I got was realizing I was standing in a huge collection of suspended bamboo shafts. Not what I would call a transformative realization or a powerful experience. It didn't do much for me. I gave it a few more seconds waiting for the filtered light to alter my senses; the smells to sink in through my lungs. Didn't happen. The only other sensation I got was "get me the heck out of this thing!" I split the culms and found the nearest edge to exit. Whew. Not going back in. Well... okay, maybe one more time. Over by the corner this time. Nope. Still nothing.

Visually, Grove inspired very little in me. I dug the minimalist use of material and structure, but the installation did little to transform an otherwise familiar space (something, I believe, should be an element to any "installation").

As far as the power of Nature concept... I wonder if this could have been done with simple wooden dowels instead? What was so special about bamboo? Or, what if Ms. Drevas suspended lengths of metal rebar? Would that symbolize the power of industrialization? Or would suspended chains represent the power of inner city ghettos? This could go in many directions. All of which would give me hesitation before entering.

Jeanne Drevas: Grove will be on exhibit at Second Street Gallery through February 28. I'd say visiting Grove is definitely worth your time and effort even if for just experiencing that barrier breaking split second where you summons the personal courage to take the plunge. Otherwise, don't hold your breath for anything more.

Laura Parsons reviews Craghead and Mallman

Laura Parsons, art editor for The Hook, has written the following review of Migration's current exhibit, The Dot and The Line – drawings by Warren Craghead and Brian Mallman:

It's rare to visit a gallery and receive a parting gift. But as Migration prepares to empty its walls and take flight, it's fitting that artist Warren Craghead, III has created a special book, The Dot and The Line, for the venue's final show of the same name, which features the work of Craghead and Brian Mallman.

Even more fitting is the fact that this tiny 2" x 2.25" souvenir represents something of a post-gallery approach to art. To get the prize, viewers must use a Migration-provided link at Craghead's website (wcraghead.com) to reach a downloadable document, which the recipient then prints, folds, and staples.

The resulting 16-page piece, though minimal, captures Craghead's unique aesthetic of intentional randomness, in which images and words fuse to form visual poetry. I realize that last sentence sounds like pompous art talk, but, trust me, it's literally true.

Among Craghead's works on display at Migration are original drawings for several other books. The 50 pages of How to Be Everywhere - presented in three separate groupings - combine fragments of poet Guillaume Apollinaire's writings with seemingly spontaneous bits of drawings. Varying his lettering and line refinement, and playing with how words and images interact, Craghead invents a visual syntax that treats words as drawings and drawings as words.

Particularly poignant is Craghead's 14-page story, "This is a Ghost," in which Craghead exercises his skill as a cartoonist and illustrator to track the elusive nature of memory. The last page, which features only a small empty palm with the final "t" from the word "ghost" beneath it, is achingly tender.

 

At first pass, Brian Mallman's large graphite and gesso drawings on wood depicting businessmen seem in sharp contrast with Craghead's notebook-like work. But the two artists share an interest in how marks convey information and how fragments prod viewers to fill in the blanks.

Mallman's "Meetings Series" offers caricature-like portraits of balding white men. Their facial features are often a barely-there set of lines emphasizing teeth and eyes (perhaps alluding to the way dogs challenge each other), while their heavy black suits elide with their office chairs to form abstract shapes that the viewer can nevertheless read.

Presenting Mallman and Craghead together is the last hurrah for what Migration brought to the C'ville scene: an innovative approach to contemporary art distinct from that of other local galleries. I will miss the space and am grateful for Craghead's memento.

A big thanks to Laura Parsons for this fresh and insightful review.

To make your own copy of Warren's book, go here and follow the link (the instructions are easy, the result is worth the effort). To buy Warren’s and Brian original artwork, come by Migration or give us a call. The show will close the end of this month.

 

A review of Charlottesville's ArtInPlace

I've spent some time reviewing the 10 new selections for Charlottesville's public outdoor sculpture program called ArtInPlace. Elizabeth Breeden, director of AIP, was kind enough to invite me to be a juror this year. It was a real pleasure to be involved.

Here are the 10 newest pieces found in various spots along Charlottesville's roadways and other public places (please be sure to click on the links for my review of each piece):

  Opposing Forces by Hanna Jubran (Grimesland, NC)

  Ain't Gonna Work on Maggie's Farm No More by Doug Makemson (Commerce, GA)

  Draped Landolina by Gary Mitchell (St. Louis MO)

  Looking For Ice by Gert Olsen (Jupiter, FL)

  Particle Wave by Karl Saliter (Cornwall Bridge, CT)

  Syllogism by Antoinette Prien Schultze (Eliot, ME)

  Split 2 by Ken Thompson (Blissfield, MI)

  Mother and Child by Adam Walls (Pembrooke, NC)

  The Reality Assumption by Chris Wubbena (Jackson, MO)

  Strobus by Joyce Audy Zarins (Merrimac, MA)

In years past, AIP has awarded a first prize from the annual selection. That didn't happen this year. Regardless, I have chosen what I think is this year's first prize winner. Although each piece had its individual strengths, in my mind, it came down to two: The Reality Assumption by Chris Wubbena and Split 2 by Ken Thompson (Gary Mitchell’s Draped Landolina was a close third). Each has its charm, but I have chosen Split 2 as my personal favorite. I just can't get away from how the large steel and zinc figure appears to be happily skipping down the busy median. Its simple yet graceful lines transform the materials and cause it to occupy a much larger space due to its invisible kinetic motion. Bottom line: It makes me feel good when I pass by it.

Keep your eyes open while driving around Charlottesville.  There is some great art out there.

KARL SALITER - ArtInPlace

I am posting regularly on the recent placement of the 2008-2009 ArtInPlace public sculptures along the byways of Charlottesville. Please follow me in this series as I give you a little tour...

The viewer/sculptor interface is what I build for, and that is reflected in all of my work. I am concerned that people see my creations, touch them, and live with them. The pieces I create are distinct resting places for souls on a journey. Ideally, they are something your soul has not encountered before. What I create is informed by, yet free of, time before this moment.

These are the words of Connecticut sculptor, Karl Saliter, describing his body of work. In his AIP piece titled Particle Wave (located on McIntire Road near the 250 Bypass on the Schenk's Branch Greenway), Karl has assembled steel and rocks to create one of the few pieces that call for direct interaction. It is located on a pedestrian walkway on purpose. Particle Wave invites people to interrupt their journey, get close, see how it’s made, and, most importantly, get inside. Other sculptures are generally appreciated from afar.

Specifically about the creation of Particle Wave Karl says this:

Particle Wave was a lot of fun to make.  Interactivity is the focus.  I want people to come inside this unique place, and experience the environment. To touch the stones, to lay on their backs, and look at the sky through a whirl of rocks.

I'm looking at wave and particle behavior through the very solid stones, and through what is called the negative space around them.

The 8 foot cube is made of various lengths of steel rebar. The cube is then filled with a sphere. The sphere is made of a series of stones attached to the ends of steel rods. Nice technique. My favorite impression of the piece is coming to grips with how sensual the curve of the stone sphere is. After entering inside through the one-sided opening, I completely lost sense of the cold, hard materials enveloping me. Not until after I reached out to touch the beautiful stones was I brought back to appreciate their cold, hard surface.

  

This is a wonderful piece. I encourage everyone to stop their cars, get out and interact with it. It is so much more than just a geometrical puzzle.

CHRIS WUBBENA - ArtInPlace

I am posting regularly on the recent placement of the 2008-2009 ArtInPlace public sculptures along the byways of Charlottesville. Please follow me in this series as I give you a little tour...

Sculpture has both the luxury and curse of existing in three dimensions. It can be viewed in the round, but it ultimately must succumb to the realities of gravity and physics. Two dimensional art, although limited by its typical residence on a flat surface, gets to play with boundless visual realities. Jackson, Missouri sculptor Chris Wubbena takes advantage both these concepts.

In his AIP submission titled "the reality assumption" (located at the intersection of Emmett Street and Stadium Road near the UVa campus) Chris immediately puts the viewer on notice that this is not a typical sculpture. You can identify that the structure is created from formed and fabricated steel, but the steel has been made to look like large stones. Typically, sculpting in stone utilizes a reductive process (the removal of material), whereas metal sculpting generally utilized the additive process (building up of material and construction). So Chris gives us one material that is made to look like another and uses one sculpting method that is reserved for the other material. Interesting. This juxtaposition stimulates the eye/mind connection as well as the subconscious.

The strength of Chris' sculpture lies is his use of both the realities of three dimensions and adding the boundless nature of a two dimensional image. On the surface of his steel stones, Chris has fashioned wooden window frames. The windows are filled with painted cement giving views of a landscape on one side and a distant cityscape on the other. Not only are we able to look at the piece, we are able to look into the piece... Into another world from the one we are standing. It's a terrific affect and elevates this sculpture as one of my favorites in the AIP group.

Chris says this about the piece:

"the reality assumption" is a sculpture composed of acid etched steel, wood and painted cement.  The sculpture references the dichotomous world of fact and belief.  The wooden framed windows within the rock-like, fabricated steel sculpture represent an individual's view into the world.  The view is blocked by painted cement that fills the window and prevents an actual account of reality.  The black, painted views on the cement are of grass and cityscape, two opposite realities.  The etched areas are eroded with hand written text.  The works "blind" and "faith" repeatedly appear on separate sides of the sculpture in order to mimic the wooden frames.  The two words become evident as the viewer steps closer.  In the end, this sculpture is designed to encourage the individual to question what is fact and what is fiction within the social and physical world.

Regarding his work in general, Chris says this:

The artwork I create exists as a series of artifacts that exhume, analyze, and challenge issues from yesterday and today. The concepts and forms that make up my artwork generate from an interest in melding physical and cultural history into compositions that reinterpret and reinvent contemporary belief systems. Through a growing assortment of media, I author compositions that seek not only to compile but also erode visual information, thus revealing uncertainty with assumed realities in global and personal contexts… The overall body of my work to date investigates our shared contemporary existence as it sits teetering atop a world of accumulated beliefs, traditions, and misconceptions.

For more about Chris Wubbena and his art, check out his website here.

Deborah McLeod on Tim Taunton

The hits keep coming… Deborah McLeod, art reviewer for C-Ville Weekly, has written another illuminating and insightful review of Migration's current exhibit of Tim Taunton's paintings called "Through the Looking Glass." Here is what Deborah saw:

Through a mirror, darkly

Life is strange. It is the human condition to believe that it isn't going to be - it's going to just be normal. But thanks to myriad little agendas, paranoias, psychoses, gullibilities, superstitions, love, loss and loneliness, it just goes on, fascinatingly and disturbingly peculiar.

Tim Taunton's surreal, grotto-style paintings offer outright evidence of this. The works in "Through the Looking Glass" are intimate images of existential situations: Miniature, exquisitely rendered protagonists stand in the midst of some vast place, minimally defined by a landmark or two—a Greek ruin or a geological formation - always brightly illuminated by a benign cerulean sky, which offers a somewhat inexact sense of Divine Providence. And while Taunton may exaggerate the circumstances - and the outfits - just a little, his color-saturated, pared down, shoebox-sized psychological landscapes attain an unsettling déjà vu quality.

Each forsaken place threatens to be rather frightening, but Taunton protects viewers from his characters' isolation through constricted vertical gateways into each scene, not to mention a few odd costumes. Whether decked out as a harlequin, a bride, or ready to rocket into space under an aerodynamic funnel hat, their clothing conveys their charming individuality and chutzpah. They seem pretty much O.K. with their threatening circumstances; they are the dreamers who composed these places.

Taunton seems particularly interested in division and equilibrium. The realm of the sky balances the volume and clutter of the earth; vertical figures are often balanced by a horizontal shadow; and some scenes are cut precisely in two by a monolith. Doorways divide one space from another, just as the picture's wide entrance divides us from Taunton's narrative. These splits make the images feel a little static and contrived, but that's kind of the point of the surrealistic gamers, who have always had an interest in toying with and halting time. Most important, Taunton's paintings maintain an almost perfect equilibrium between mild tragedy and dark humor.

Laura Parsons on Tim Taunton

Laura Parsons, art critic for The Hook, has written a particularly flattering review of Migration's current exhibit of Tim Taunton's new paintings. The show is titled "Through the Looking Glass." Here is what Ms. Parsons has to say:

 

Big sky - that's what has stayed with me from the short time I lived in New Mexico. The blueness seemed to go on forever as the intense sun lit up the desert landscape. Sometimes it was so bright my head would hurt - the sky and earth were exotic and almost unreal compared to the blah Chicago winter I'd left behind.

It's a sensation Tim Taunton captures perfectly in the seven paintings displayed in the exhibition, "Through the Looking Glass," on view at Migration: A Gallery. Better known as a ceramist, Taunton paints previously sculpted figures into western landscapes, where they take part in mysterious stories unfolding beneath searing blue skies.

Taunton offers only glimpses of these narratives, though. Surrounding his oil-glaze-on-board works with frames that resemble white stucco windows - complete with small sills - he orients viewers so that they are inside looking out. What’s seen is a truncated version of events happening beyond the window, where shadows, architectural fragments, and items scattered on the ground offer tantalizing clues for viewers to piece together.

The only exception to this positioning is "War Child," which has viewers first look across a room - where a TV-watching boy in an army helmet sits cross-legged amid toy soldiers - before peering out the window to a bare-chested, and helmeted figure standing astride a hobby horse in the bright day. Like all of Taunton's works, the image vacillates between realism and surrealism, presenting a world at once familiar and alien.

Taunton's compositions are not large, and sky fills much of each frame. The figures and details conveying narrative information are tiny yet precisely rendered, as if painted with the single-bristled brushes used by ancient Indian miniaturists. His palette, for the most part, is richly saturated - from the terracotta of the desert earth to the cerulean blue of the sky - and he uses colors to create subtle relationships between elements.

Although Taunton never veers into full-blown surrealism, the influence of Salvador Dali is evident, particularly in the image "Le Revenant." Here a Dali-faced harlequin holds up an egg (ala Dali's "The Metamorphosis of Narcissus") while kneeling on a dry lakebed by a Dali-esque reflective body of water. Architectural ruins loom in the distance, while closer, a fire-breather walks on stilts behind two circus tents on the right.

Evoking the kind of waking dreams brought on by sun-induced delirium, Taunton's paintings are as brilliant as they are bright.

 

Thanks, Laura, for the thoughtful and spot-on review.

DOUG MAKEMSON - ArtInPlace

I am posting regularly on the recent placement of the 2008-2009 ArtInPlace public sculptures along the byways of Charlottesville. Please follow me in this series as I give you a little tour...

Almost all the raw material Georgia sculptor Doug Makemson uses to create his pieces is recycled from businesses, scrap yards, and farming activities.  From implied motions, Doug brings the animals he creates to life from these discarded hunks of unwanted metal.  As Doug says: “I have always been fascinated by animals, their infinite variety of form, their movement, their inner life. I have also always been a collector of interesting bits and pieces of metal, parts of machines, mysterious shapes and weights of known or unknown origin. My sculpture is a fusion of these two lifelong interests.”

In Doug’s AIP entry this year, Ain't Gonna Work on Maggie's Farm No More, we get a thoroughly thought out and well executed work of art.  Specifically, Doug says this about the piece:

Strong and willing horses were the backbone of agriculture for centuries.  Their old steel plows and other equipment now lay about the landscape rusting, mute testimony to the forgotten labor of generations of horses and farmers.  In the shapes of the metal I began to see the form of the horses that toiled so many years tilling the soil.  I like the historical connection between the horse, the sculptural material, and those who worked the land before me.  I think this horse is energized by the history of these artifacts and the knowledge that it has become the plows, is free to run forever and will never have to work on Maggie's farm again.

Or perhaps the plows are amazed to become the horse, free at last from the impeding earth.

The horse's back legs and neck are turning plows, the front legs are singletrees, the head and rump are parts of a seeder, and the ribs are cultivators.  The upturned hoof is a nod to the modern world, a piece of crushed car wheel, and there are two pickaxes in the shoulders to add the energy of the working man.

Located on Elliot Avenue and Burnett (not far off Ridge Street), make sure you stop the car and get out to see this one up close.  You’ll get a huge appreciation for the hundreds of individual pieces of metal that make up this magnificent horse.  Each had a previous, identifiable life of its own, but now they all have been brought together to form a new being.  A new life from the old.  A renewed life.

ANTOINETTE PRIEN SCHULTZE - ArtInPlace

I am posting regularly on the recent placement of the 2008-2009 ArtInPlace public sculptures along the byways of Charlottesville. Please follow me in this series as I give you a little tour...

When I was presented the images of Maine sculptor Antoinette Prien Schultze's work on the first day of judging, I thought this was a no brainer. Massive chunks of granite imbedded with bits of glass and beautifully constructed. That's what large scale outdoor sculpture is all about. Better yet, in Antoinette's piece titled Syllogism, she has evoked the bodies of two sentries stationed at their post. They brave all weather and stand rock solid. Their simplicity speaks volumes – not an easy feat for a 13 foot tall structure. It got high marks from me throughout the selection process, and they now stand on the Preston Avenue median near Rose Hill Avenue.

Specifically about Syllogism, I am most attracted to its undeniable materiality. It is rock. It comes from the earth. It isn't fancy or polished. It is firmly planted on the ground. No question what it is or where it came from. It is truly elemental in nature and strong in character. Antoinette's skill at giving it life and personality is the cherry on top.

Antoinette says this about the piece:

A "syllogism" is defined as a formal argument with a conclusion that is supported by a major premise and a minor premise.  This sculpture has a strong and imposing presence that evokes the feeling of ancient stele (one larger than another) that stand beside each other and rise up in rhythmic arched unison.  The space created between the two stones is inviting and large enough to serve as a passageway... I like to think of "Syllogism' as a pathway or gateway to peace and harmony.  The small pieces of yellow glass that embellish the front and back of the sculpture represent the spirit of hope in us all.

HANNA JUBRAN - ArtInPlace

I am posting regularly on the recent placement of the 2008-2009 ArtInPlace public sculptures along the byways of Charlottesville. Please follow me in this series as I give you a little tour...

Judging by the number of cars that whizzed by me while I took pictures of Grimesland, North Carolina sculptor Hanna Jubran's Opposing Forces, I think I can safely say this will be the most viewed sculpture in town. Located on the 250 Bypass median between McIntire and Hydraulic (across from the fire station), Opposing Forces is a totemic piece that fits in well with the beautifully landscaped stretch of highway. About this piece, Hanna says:

This sculpture is from a series of sculpture that deals with the concept of gravity and the four elements; Earth, Water, Fire and Wind in our universe on the micro to the macro level. It expresses the cycle of life, growth and opposing forces in our universe with the interplay of line, form, space and colors. These elements are seen in a variety of forms and colors as they occur in nature. They are ever changing. As Gibran Khalil Gibran said, "The mission of art is to bring out the unfamiliar to the most familiar." With this, I would like the viewer to gaze, interact and experience my sculpture.

For me, I see a depiction of the sun in the geometric and puerile colored steel structure. The sun can be either rising or setting (the opposing forces). This is particularly fitting for the east/west directional 250 Bypass. Morning and afternoon commuters on the highway are forever battling the force of the sun on the horizon. Think of that the next time you are speeding down 250 squinting under your flipped down visor as you try to get a clear view of the road through the sun's prismatic glare. That's what I call elemental forms and colors.

This is Hanna's third time as an AIP selection. He exhibited in 2006 and 2007. If Hanna continues to apply, he will always get my vote. It is important for this city to exhibit the work of this world-renowned artist. We are fortunate to have it.

Over the years, Hanna's work has been on exhibit in North America, Europe, Asia, the Middle East, Latin America, and South America. He has participated in numerous international art shows, competitions and symposiums. Currently, Hanna is a Sculpture Professor and Sculpture Area Coordinator at East Carolina University.

JOYCE AUDY ZARINS - ArtInPlace

I am posting regularly on the recent placement of the 2008-2009 ArtInPlace public sculptures along the byways of Charlottesville. Please follow me in this series as I give you a little tour...

At no point in the selection process was I particularly moved by the piece submitted by Massachusetts sculptor Joyce Audy Zarins called Strobus (as in Pinus Strobus... or eastern white pine... or pine cone for short), but other jurors voiced their approval. In the collective voting process, Strobus made the first cut (I never voted for it). During the final rounds of cuts, I could tell certain jurors felt strongly enough about it that I resisted opposition (I exercised diplomacy since I needed their support on some of my favorites).

Now that Strobus is in its place, I’m even more disappointed. Turns out, the photos of Strobus Ms. Zarins provided were of the painted steel piece as it was exhibited on Chicago's Navy Pier... in 2003. Five years of exposure has done nothing for it. Now, sitting on the Fifth Street median near the intersection of Cherry Street, it looks weathered, tired and faded. Maybe during the winter, with a dusting of snow over it, Strobus will come to life.

      

A little bit about Ms. Zarins: Joyce Audy Zarins was born in 1949 and grew up in Lawrence, Massachusetts. Her interests in art and the phenomena of nature developed consistently, leading her to Massachusetts College of Art, then later to the University of New Hampshire and eventually the School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, where she used natural materials and forms in her work and experimented with new media. She has received grants for sculpture performances and outdoor installations relating to natural forces.

GERT OLSEN - ArtInPlace

I am posting regularly on the recent placement of the 2008-2009 ArtInPlace public sculptures along the byways of Charlottesville. Please follow me in this series as I give you a little tour...

As I have mentioned before, selecting individual pieces of sculpture for a city sponsored public arts program has some innate obstacles. Staying within the parameters of general public "taste" is probably one of the largest (and most frustrating) issues faced as a juror. It generally excludes a handful of fantastically provocative artistic pieces. Remaining politically neutral occasionally rears its head as well. In the selection of Gert Olsen's Looking For Ice, I thought this was an extremely attractive and well executed piece of art. But, as a juror, I also kept thinking it was as close to a politically charged piece we were going to get. It got my vote.

Looking For Ice is not a large piece, but it is eye catching and stands out handsomely along Schenk's Branch Greenway (on McIntire Road between Preston and the 250 Bypass). The luminosity of the Colorado Yule marble is absolutely beautiful - a pure white that as soft to the eyes as it is to the touch (give credit to Gert's technique of repeated sanding sessions). But my gut tells me no one will be able to pass by the yearning polar bear in its out-of-place Virginia home without considering the politicized fate of these magnificent creatures in their native northern wilderness. Try to look at this sculpture and not give thought to the destruction many of our actions and habits have on the environment. You don’t have to be a tree hugger to consider Looking For Ice to be a reminder that our actions have consequences. The plight of the polar bear and the warming environment is a litmus test for all of us... even here in Virginia.

Is there irony in its location adjacent to Charlottesville's only public recycling center? You be the judge. All I know is that out of the plethora of objective and subjective means of judging the quality of a piece of art, Gert Olsen has fulfilled two important ones: Looking For Ice is beautiful to look at, and it causes you to think seriously.

About Gert Olsen: Gert was born and educated in Denmark. He immigrated to Canada in 1956 then to the United States in 1962 where he gained citizenship. He has lived and worked in Jupiter, Florida since 1984. Gert started his career as woodcarver which expanded into church carving. He transitioned to stone in the late 1970s.

Regarding his sculpture, Gert says:

My sculpture is the result of working and experimenting with various materials and methods of carving. Twenty-five years of cabinetry and wood sculpture evolved into stone carving. I work with the natural texture and color of the stone to create representative sculpture of animals and human forms and to develop abstract shapes. All of the stone is personally picked from quarries and stone yards in the United States and Europe. The stone block is initially cut and shaped with modern saws and cutters, then further shaped with traditional carving equipment, including chisels both pneumatic and manual.

Gert has shown his work all over the United States at major art shows and has had work shown in galleries in New York, Michigan, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Virginia, Illinois and Florida. He also has work in art collections in England, Switzerland, France, Germany, Japan and his native Denmark. Mr. Olsen is a member of the International Sculpture Center, Washington, DC and has received numerous awards at various art shows.

KEN THOMPSON - ArtInPlace

During the last few weeks, a new selection of outdoor sculptures has been placed along the byways of Charlottesville. This is the result of the very successful ArtInPlace public art program, and has become an annual tradition in this town. Since I participated as a juror in the selection process this year, I’d like to give you a little insight into what is now out there for the public's viewing pleasure. So, please follow me in this series as I give you a tour.

With the holidays soon upon us, the predictable buzz around the hyper-commercial Barracks Road Shopping Center will no doubt increase. But, before you pull into the parking lot, make sure you cruise down Emmett Street and catch Kenneth M. Thompson's ArtInPlace installation called Split 2. I love this piece - a lot! And I’m so happy it is located on busy Emmet Street near the generally packed Barracks Road Shopping Center.

For Split 2, Ken has fabricated corten steel (with zinc rivets) into a graceful and virtually weightless twelve foot tall sculpture. Beyond the warmth of the weathered color and the softness of the form, I am truly attracted to the joyful emotion Ken has created in this monumental piece. Split 2 virtually dances along the Emmett Street median - leaping and defying its grounded state. Ken releases the burden of Split 2's weight by lifting the design lines upward and springing the piece up on one foot. You feel that with just a little more effort, Split 2 could release itself from its moorings and we would see it happily skipping down the street.

Ken holds a Master of Liberal Studies in Sculpture from the University of Toledo and a Bachelor of Fine Arts in painting from Siena Heights College, Adrian, MI. Ken has been making sculpture for more than 25 years out of his car dealership turned studio in Blissfield, Michigan. From this facility he also operates Flatlanders Sculpture Supply and Art Galleries (the gallery has an impressive exhibition schedule). Ken has received a variety of awards and honors in national and international exhibitions.

For additional insight to Ken's work, he says:

I have long felt that profound art contained a high level of spiritual content, not necessarily that of religion, but that of the "spirit of a man" - a spirit defined by his truth and honor. My sculpture is based on this form of spirituality.

Split 2 is definitely a spirited piece; one that we are fortunate to have here in Charlottesville. I predict it will lift a few spirits during the upcoming season of holiday shopping madness.

ADAM WALLS - ArtInPlace

During the last few weeks, a new selection of outdoor sculptures has been placed along the byways of Charlottesville, Virginia. This is the result of the very successful ArtInPlace public art program, and has become an annual tradition in this town. Since I participated as a juror in the selection process this year, I’d like to give you a little insight into what is now out there for the public's viewing pleasure. So, please follow me in this series as I give you a little tour.

During the review and selection deliberations, many of this year's AIP jurors were not exactly overwhelmed by Adam Walls' entry, Mother and Child. Despite Elizabeth Breeden's heartfelt explanation that the piece was intended to depict the relationship of mother and child especially during rain storms where the water runoff from the mother figure flows directly upon the smaller child figure, a majority of the jurors simply didn't like the two slotted spheres. I guess they were thinking, "Exactly who would be hanging out and admiring this kinetic relationship during a rainstorm." Good point. So, what was believed to be the crux of the sculpture's intent missed the mark. I, however, saw it a little differently. Specifically, Walls' Mother and Child reminded of a monumental, bronze Henri Moore sculpture I was fortunate enough to be able to climb and sit on when I was growing up. The two certainly don't look alike, but I was hoping to have a piece that could give people (especially children) a chance to touch and play with - or on. Walls' sculpture captured this potential, and the other panelists saw my point of view and joined my vote. It was a good selection.

With it now in place at the edge of Washington Park (at the corner of Preston Avenue and 10th Street NW), I couldn’t be happier with Walls' work. It is modern, well proportioned, inviting, perfectly situated for its site, and it is the only AIP piece that you can easily interact with directly (like climbing on the Moore). In addition, I particularly enjoy the geometrically reduced forms being given an anthropomorphic relationship. We feel the kinship and the pull between a mother and its miniature offspring. Walls' sculpture is a simplified structure and is easily read, but it captures all the resounding maternal emotions and tenderness… like seeing a protective lioness caring for its young cub.

Adam Walls is currently a professor at UNC Pembroke’s Department of Art. Adam's sculpture has been exhibited in numerous sculpture parks and sculpture exhibitions across the country. His current work is predominantly monumentally scaled steel fabricated forms which often reflect his interest in escapist fantasy.

TIM TAUNTON - New Paintings

Through the Looking Glass

With a renowned 25 year career under his belt sculpting imaginative and dreamlike characters from clay, Georgia artist Tim Taunton has returned to his first artistic love, painting.

Opening this Friday, Migration is especially proud to host an exhibition of Tim’s newest oil paintings. Through the Looking Glass will run during the month of November. Please join us at the gallery for a reception starting at 5:30pm on Friday, November 7th.

Migration has enjoyed a long history with Tim. After being introduced to his sculpture 14 years ago, Laura and I have been very proud to represent his work at Migration. In 2006, we featured his sculpture with a show titled Insights and introduced his "children" Wind Woman, War Child, Layered Bride, Mona Luna (pictured below) and others to our mid-Atlantic audience. Migration also exhibited Tim’s sculptures at the internationally famed SOFA exposition in Chicago last November where 35,000 collectors of contemporary sculptural objects were wowed by Tim’s eye catching craft of detail and depth of story telling sculptural techniques. Laura and I are now especially thrilled to exhibit Tim’s newest body of work.

       

Tim has a passionate and personal relationship with each of his characters and the resulting paintings. These images come directly from his dreams and colorful imagination. Tim’s skill as a painter enables you to grasp his commitment to and the authenticity of each piece of art.

Through his paintings, we now get the rare view into the imagination of the sculptor. Tim spent years sculpting with images of how each of his characters existed in relation to an imagined setting or landscape. The paintings show us what Tim experiences in his mind’s eye – a rare opportunity indeed. To accentuate this special "view," Tim crafts his own frames for each painting in the form of a window. End result: We are given a window into Tim’s psyche and his imagined worlds.

Much like his sculptures, Tim paints with extreme clarity and detail. He uses oil glaze on board. The painting is a laborious process of creating layers upon layers of color with oil paint thinned with a varnish. The process gives a heightened degree of luminosity and saturated colors unmatched by other painting methods. The extreme detail fits nicely with the atmospheric clarity found in the American west desert landscape Tim so often refers to. Atmospheric perspective is negated. What is found in the background is as clear as what is in the foreground. Depth and a distant horizon are often brought forward. However, instead of becoming a primitive flattening of the scene, the rendering suspends the images in a surreal state - dreamlike.

With this new body of work, Tim has explored the concepts of translating his sculpture into paintings. Painting has allowed him to transcend the physics of sculpture. Specifically, Tim explains his return to painting as follows:

This series of paintings have, as a common factor, the subjects or characters I have produced three dimensionally in clay over my career. Painting has allowed me to explore new narrative possibilities that are not possible in sculpture. When I first came up with the ideas for each of my sculptures, I had envisioned them set within a specific location or landscape containing relative details and associated images. Creating these paintings allowed me to address and expand the ideas behind each of my figurative pieces and to present them free and unencumbered by the constraints of materials and sculptural practicality. For these paintings, I travelled the American West to photograph various architectural and/or landscape settings for use as references.

Overall, Tim's art flows from his love of storytelling. In his own words:

I grew up listening to stories that were rich in the cultural imagery of the South, which, in retrospect, I perceived to be incredibly surreal but wonderfully believable. It is this background that both inspires my ideas and enables me to translate them into a form of figurative imagery that combines metaphorical apparitions within a literal context. In this translation, as in any translation, some things are inevitably changed, lost or added. For better or for worse, this is part of the process of storytelling. The figures in my work have become characters engaged in their own story -- spinning around an axis of personal, social and cultural idiosyncrasies. They are personal interpretations of various human attributes aimed at striking the harmonics of emotion through allegorical representations.

Tim’s work has been exhibited nationally and internationally and is in numerous public and private collections including the Yeo Joo Institute of Technology, in South Korea, The Florida Gulf Coast Art Center in Belleair, Florida, The Arkansas Arts Center in Little Rock, Arkansas, and The Mobile Museum of Contemporary Art in Mobile, Alabama. His work has also appeared in several publications, including The Penland Book of Ceramics, Ceramics Monthly Magazine, (Dec. 2002, Dec. 1998 and 1994), Ceramics Art and Perception, (June 2007 and June 2001), and 500 Figures. Taunton's work has been shown in numerous exhibitions in this country and abroad.

Tim is currently a professor of art at LaGrange University in Georgia and director of the sculpture and ceramics program there. Two years ago, Taunton had a 20 year retrospective exhibition of his work called "Telling Tales: A Personal Mythology" at the Lamar Dodd Art Center in LaGrange, Georgia. He was awarded a sabbatical to work on these paintings on exhibit. He holds a Master of Fine Arts in Ceramics from Louisiana State University and a Bachelor of Arts in Ceramics and Painting from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock.

Through the Looking Glass at Migration is the first exhibition of Tim’s new work which is a product of a sabbatical from his teaching responsibilities at LaGrange College.

(Images of paintings above include:  Top, War Child; Middle, The Grand Finale; Bottom, The Bride of the Erechthion.)

GARY MITCHELL – ArtInPlace

During the month of October, a new selection of sculptures was placed around the byways of Charlottesville. It is the result of the very successful ArtInPlace public art program, and has become an annual tradition in this town.

At the northwest entrance to downtown, on the corner of the busy intersection of McIntire, High and Market Streets is one of my favorite selections. Draped Landolina is a nearly six foot tall aluminum female figure made by Gary Mitchell (aka Mitchellini) of St. Louis, Missouri. It is the only sculpture of the human form in this year’s selection. As a juror, I witnessed the other jurors wrestle with the concept of choosing a nude for the public domain. "Phbbthhhh," I said. Regardless, a compromise was reached, and out of the two sculptures presented by Gary, we went with the one that was most clothed. Whatever.

Gary uses a high technology method to make his contemporary metal sculpture. He has developed a technique, which he learned from the aircraft industry, in which an armature is draped with hand-shaped pieces of aluminum sheet metal and registered with respect to each other. The many pieces are fastened together with rivets (see the detail picture below) to make an integrated whole sculpture, which is lightweight and colossal in scale. The nature of the aluminum (being difficult to form) influences and limits the form. In this sense Gary keeps alive a sculptural tradition in which the artist is interested in the world outside the artist's self - namely the nature of sheet metal, its limitations and possibilities.

For Gary, the nude represents the subject that is most loaded with meaning and is the ultimate test of artistic proficiency. The proportions that Gary uses have a subtle and precise. The effect of the generalized lines and proportions make for a nude that is chaste and sensual, not vulgar or dehumanizing.

Next time you drive (or ride or walk or jog) into downtown Cville, take a moment and enjoy our new classically statuesque gate keeper. She really dresses up the place.

Draped Landolina is available for purchase. Gary’s website lists the price at a very reasonable $3,000. Buy it now and by next fall, you can include this magnificent piece in your front yard.

(Writer’s note: Portions of this post were gleaned from Gary Mitchell’s website.)

ANDREW HERSEY at Mudhouse

Fresh off exhibiting at the world famous Kentuck Festival in Alabama, Andrew Hersey is opening a show of his newest photos/collage/poetry on November 7 at the Mudhouse in Charlottesville. Since participating in Migration’s Photography Invitational last November, Andrew has been kind enough to include Laura and me in the development of this newest body of work he calls Nocturnes. From the beginnings, we have been intrigued and supportive.

  Nocturne

Anyone who knows my likes/dislikes in art knows that when I see written words splashed across a canvas, The Robot in me starts flashing, spinning and yelling "Danger, Will Robinson!" All too often the words steal from the visual stimulation supplied by the image – and not in a good way. For Andrew though, his words are absolutely integral to each of his pieces. In his photographs, Andrew includes a single stamped word on the actual item pictured. The words are not an afterthought. They are not add-ons. They do not lie on top of the picture. They are part of the picture. Of course, the words used are those thought provoking types that can pull your mind in challenging directions (overwhelm, hope, foundation, code, nobility). But paired with Andrew’s talented artist’s eye, he brings the deeper meaning within a comfortable range of understanding and contemplation. Harmony and balance is established.

 Visit

Much like Andrew’s successful Geographies series (the ones we showed at Migration), the Nocturnes are mixed media collages consisting of photographs, paper, found objects, paint, pencil, words and resin on board. All are one-of-a-kind. For me, Andrew’s inclusion of collage, resin and poetry is more superfluous than anything else. The real power of each piece is in the photograph.

Don’t miss this show. Go to Mudhouse, get some coffee, and explore Andrew’s art. Buy what you love. You will not be disappointed.

Side note: John and Lynelle Lawrence, owners of Mudhouse, continue to bring some of the finest visual art exhibits to downtown Charlottesville. Their continued participation in and support of the local art scene has given coffee connoisseurs exposure to some of the best art created in the central Virginia area.

"While Rome Burns" - Final Week

Painting is not dead!

 

For a number of years, a debate has quietly roiled:  Has new technologically derived imagery displaced painting as the king of the visual arts?  There certainly are more "modern" forms of creating art available today which seem to be telling the world that older forms of art are obsolete and unworthy of substantial recognition.  But, for me, the act of putting brush to paint to canvas remains the epitome of artistic creation.

 

In our modern day high-tech society, we seem to be consumed by the media and the ease of fast paced imagery.  Jan Aronson’s paintings, however, bring us all back to the reality of what “art” is.  Indeed, Jan’s work embodies the recent declaration in the arts world that painting is NOT dead.  You can’t fake good painting technique; you can’t get lucky; and you can’t paint without a purpose.  All of this is self evident in the finished product hanging on the wall.

 

Jan Aronson’s paintings are internationally recognized and applauded for their sharply colored and textured depictions of basic natural elements: rocks, leaves, clouds, trees and water. Garrit Henry wrote for the publication Art in America, “Jan Aronson has confessed that Abstract Expressionism is a major influence on her landscapes. With some looking, it’s easy to see that she is something of an expressionist herself. She has traveled endlessly in search of the sublime – she has hiked in the Himalayas and barged down the Amazon, and she knows well the American Northeast and West. How the human self perceives, pictures and, above all, enlarges upon the drama of nature is what Aronson’s work is about.” And Mark Daniel Cohen wrote for the publication Art News, “Everything Aronson depicts has a quality of motion that is like the gesturing of a human body.”

 

Jan’s newest series of paintings, While Rome Burns, explores the turbulent and seductive elements of water in motion.  Many of the pieces take a micro part of a water image and make it macro thus forcing the viewer to confront the interior of the experience.  The ominous title While Rome Burns- a reference to Roman Emperor Nero and his legendary apathy in the face of the fires that destroyed the city in the first century- is a sign that Aronson has once again effectively infused her landscapes with her individual perspective. These interpretations result in a visually astounding personal adaptation of the basic elements of nature found around the world. About the series, Jan says, “The title of the series refers to my personal response to current national, international, and ecological events over which I feel I have little or no control.”

 

Jan’s work is in the public, private and corporate collections of the New Orleans Museum of Art (permanent collection), Eiteljorg Museum of Western and Indian Art (permanent collection), United Nations Watch of the World Jewish Congress (Geneva, Switzerland), United States Mission (Geneva, Switzerland), Residence of the Israeli Ambassador to the United States (Washington, DC), Ronald Lauder Collection (New York, NY), Fairfield University (Fairfield, CT), Glenn Janss Collection of American Realist Paintings, Vermont Council on the Arts, Michael Steinhardt Collection, Jerry Speyer Collection, Karen and William Lauder Collection, Isidore Newman School, Altamer Resort (Anguilla, British West Indies), and Delaware Beverage Company Art Collection… just to list a few.

Migration's exhibition of Jan Aronson’s While Rome Burns will be on view for one more week only.

Images include:  Top, Water #8; Middle, Water #10; Bottom, Water #6.

Art In Place

Art In Place is one of the most progressive visual arts programs this little-engine-that-thinks-it-can-of-a-city has successfully produced and executed. Unfortunately, Art In Place gets no press coverage and virtually no notoriety. As a juror for this year’s selections, I thought I would do my part in giving the program the credit it deserves.

Some background first: Art In Place is an eight year old public arts project in Charlottesville created and managed by Elizabeth Breeden. It provides large scale public sculpture placed throughout the city. It is often referred to as "45 mile per hour art" because a majority of the city provided locations for the sculptures are found along roadways and highways (enjoy the art for 1.78 seconds). Bottom line, Art In Place makes art accessible to the public and provides the community a wide range of artistic styles, themes and media. And, for anyone driving through, it helps put Charlottesville on the map as a place where art is welcomed and not just a town made up of car dealerships, restaurants, gas stations, a university and a hospital.

One of the truly inspiring aspects of Art In Place is that it is not stagnant. Every year, new sculptures are selected and installed. This year, Elizabeth Breeden was kind enough to invite me to juror the applications. I jumped at the opportunity to have an active hand in supporting deserving artists and in determining what art people get to see.

As the jurors assembled, I could tell this was not going to be a normal selection process. We were a team of eight diverse people charged with selecting the specific pieces to be exhibited. Some had experience in the arts… some didn’t. Some were civic leaders. A couple were there because of their knowledge of landscaping. And a couple… well…. I’m not sure what they brought to the table. The biggest obstacle during the initial review was giving consideration to each sculpture for its civic "appropriateness". Although wonderful pieces, some had to be disqualified due to their apparent safety risk – too easy to climb on… and fall off of. And, some pieces were tossed out because their inherent fragility would not provide for them to stand up to the daily wear and tear – again, people potentially climbing on them or otherwise physically engaging them. And then there was the issue of those pieces that might possibly "offend" people. This is where I bristled. Come on folks! An exaggerated and stylized image of a nude figure is taken off the list because it might offend someone? Puhleeez.

After two days of contemplating, arguing discussing and judging, the jurors reached a consensus and selected 10 new pieces to be exhibited from October 2008 through September 2009. Here is a list of the artists (and don’t forget to check out their websites):

Hanna Jubran (Grimesland, North Carolina)

Doug Makemson (Commerce, Georgia) http://www.makesculpture.com/

Gary Mitchell (St. Louis, Missouri) http://www.mitchellini.com/

Gert Olson (Jupiter, Florida)

Karl Saliter (Cornwall Bridge, Connecticut) http://www.karlsaliter.com/index.html

Antoinette Prien Schultze (Eliot, Maine)

Kenneth M. Thompson (Blissfield, Michigan) http://www.kenthompsonsculpture.com/

Adam Wells (Pembrooke, North Carolina)

Chris Wubbena (Jackson, Missouri)

Joyce Audy Zarins (Merrimac, Massachusetts) http://www.joyceaudyzarins.com/

Please note where each of the artists come from. The overall pool of applicants represented Virginia and 17 other states. It pleases me to no end to see art created in different parts of this country coming to Charlottesville. Being exposed to what’s going on outside the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains warms my heart. Charlottesville will have the honor of exhibiting the work of some particularly notable sculptors. I’ll post more (and provide more pictures) on these individual artists as their pieces are installed.

The sculptures will be placed in their spots throughout October. So, drive around town and enjoy the work – but try not to take your eyes off the road for too long.

Images include: Top, Gary Mitchell; Middle, Joyce Audy Zarins; Bottom, Chris Wubbena.

“State Papers” at UVa Law Library

I like surprises. Not the jump-out-and-scare-me ones, but the unexpected-discoveries-from-taking-the-road-less-traveled types. And that’s what I got when Laura and I went last night to the University of Virginia Law Library’s Annual Art Show titled "State Papers". The exhibit is curated by local new-comer L. Michelle Geiger. Artists were asked to create works using discarded materials from the Law Library’s collection. The show includes ten artists from all over the United States. Artists include: Brandon Garrett, Melissa Hackmann, Jennie Hinchcliff, Carrie Ann Plank, Andrew Hayes, Daniel Essig, Denise Carbone, Rosamund Casey, Lindsey Mears, and Michelle Geiger.

Although hung in a challenging fluorescent light filled space (a la university library), the show was cohesive and looked great. Despite being a skeptic of including the written word in artwork, I felt this book-centric theme pushed each artist in just the right direction when working with text, book covers and pictures. What resulted was a collection of collage inspired, multi-layered pieces.

Some standouts included Michelle Gieger’s own pieces. She incorporates deeply rich encaustic painting with a collage and sculptural effect. Laura and I particularly liked Michelle’s kinetic box pieces – interesting to play with, fun to look at, and filled with meaning and interpretation.

Laura and I were separately drawn to Andrew Hayes’ metal and book cross-section sculptures. Each nautilus shaped piece was interesting, but as a group, their design elements became far more powerful. For these I would actually have rather had a little more reference to the text captured within the pages, but to avoid contracting myself, I won’t harp on it.

Upon entering the show (at the top of the stairs), we were greeted by the assemblages of Daniel Essig. They combined an ancient talisman feel with references to the natural world. Excellent work.

The real winner of the show was Carrie Ann Plank’s 10 panel piece titled "Imperialism: Colonialism: Colonize: Disease: Popular Culture." In a storybook fashion, Carrie pulls together a grouping of images that resonate with depth, innuendo and detail which captures and retains your attention. It’s worth the trip to the North Grounds campus just to see this piece alone.

It’s doubtful the UVa Law Library is on your regular gallery tour. But, I recommend you make the trip and check out "State Papers." You’ll be surprised. Michelle did a great job of selecting artists, and they all came through by producing well conceived and crafted pieces.

The exhibit runs the entire academic year through June 2009.

What Katie says: Joel-Peter Witkin

Katie Jenkins is Migration’s summer intern. She will be a senior this fall at James Madison University and will receive a BA majoring in Public Relations with minors in art history and film. To give you a much needed refreshing voice on this blog, Laura and I asked Katie to review some shows currently up in Charlottesville. Many thanks to Katie, for these thoughtful reviews.

The exhibit at Second Street Gallery, The Marriage of Heaven and Hell, features photography by Joel-Peter Witkin.

Based on the exhibit name, a reference to poet William Blake, I knew that I could expect to see dramatic and disturbing images. But as a photography amateur, I was more intrigued by the part of Witkin’s Marriage that included the blending of two other mediums that I am much more familiar with: painting and film. Witkin transformed the themes and sets of centuries old paintings into complex and captivating photographs.

Witkin’s still life photography was the best at portraying common themes in paintings of another period. Perhaps it is because a recent professor of mine spent a lot of time focusing on Dutch still life paintings, and a precise definition of "vanitas" is still fresh in my mind, that I found those images to be some of the most inspired. Witkin kept these images simple in contrast to the way that many still life painters would portray a table overflowing with food. One photograph included only a few fruits, a single roll, a plate of fish, and someone’s lost limb. The decay of these items undoubtedly represents the transience of time that was the focus of Dutch still life paintings.

Out of the paintings that Witkin adapted, my favorite is Las Meninas (Diego Velasquez, 1656). Like in his other photographs, Witkin deconstructed the elements of this iconic Spanish painting, and recreated his own version of it (Las Meninas, 1987). He keeps some of the familiar elements of the image, like the reflection of the King and Queen, and Velasquez standing in front of the canvas. However, the maids of honor that the painting is named after are absent, letting the Infanta Margarita be the main focus. As he does in many of his photographs, Witkin has replaced the main figure with an amputee. The new Margarita is perched on a wire contraption with wheels that replicates the shape of the dress she is wearing in the original. Many of the models in Witkin’s scenes are limbless, lending them a higher shock value, but also contrasting them with the idealized portraits that have been common since the Greek Classical era.

I was really impressed with the way Witkin uses set design and other creative elements that generally are associated with film, or even theatre. While some photography seems to be more about capturing a specific moment, person or object, Wiktin carefully directs his set and actors. The gaze of his Infanta Margarita, which matches her counterpart, is an example of his direction in his thoughtful adaptations.

Other highlights of the exhibit include photographs that create or enhance mythological and Romantic themes from some recognizable paintings, including a few by Georges Seurat and Theodore Gericault. (The latter includes a pretty hilarious parody of current U.S. politicians, which I am sure is a favorite for many).

Richmond's Arts in the Park

Sunday was a gorgeous spring day, and since Rob and I have downsized our athletics from three sports (biking, running and swimming) to one (swimming), we found ourselves with a little extra free time during the weekend. So, we headed for Richmond to take in the Arts in the Park Festival. Our main goal was to check in with Foust whose work we represent and will take with us to the Affordable Art Fair in NYC this June. It is always such a pleasure to see her work and talk art. And here’s a little scoop: Buy now, because when the wider world (i.e. NYC) sees her linocuts, prices will rise accordingly!

In between visits with Foust at her booth, Rob and I walked around to check out the art and see if we wanted to buy anything for ourselves. These fairs are always a mixed bag, and this one was no exception. I’ll start with the bad, because that is just how I am.

First, too much travel photography. Yes, you took pictures on your vacation to Tuscany and other exotic lands. Yes, they are nice and colorful. But they are not art. Sorry. Second, if you are going to show paintings, paint well. Respect the craft. Third, to be interesting, jewelry shouldn’t just be a bunch of beads a fifth grader could string together. Fourth, I don’t want to see your signature the first time I look at your work. It should not be that big. One woman even altered the placement of her signature to integrate it into each painting. No, no, no. Let the work speak. Fifth, a woman describing her husband’s artwork tried to make giclees sound like the original egg tempera paintings. We know egg tempera – it’s not a medium that makes multiples possible. Turns out the works being sold were digital prints of scanned images. Her unwillingness to call them digital reproductions bordered on fraud. They were reasonably priced and lovely, but they were simply photocopies of egg tempera paintings. Fine and fair, just don’t say the medium was egg tempera. The medium was a computer. (I’m no snob, at least not completely; we bought a giclee from a different artist. So there. But I knew what it was. No dissembling.)

Finally, a note to the organizers: Show more craft. Don’t fill the booths with bad, repetitive paintings and photographs. It dulls the senses. There was some nice clay work, but not quite nice enough to buy. And, I was surprised to see very little wood - only a couple of turners and maybe three people showing quality furniture.

Since we are the sellers of art in our day jobs, it is always good to see things from a buyer’s perspective. It’s a good reminder that to inspire you to make a purchase, a work must be high quality, presented well and stand out from the rest. A number of things did, and we went home with three of them. This is what came home with us:

Richmond artist Keith M. Ramsey. Wow. Young, talented, and an Edward Hopper fan to boot. Enough said. Look for yourself. We bought a small acrylic painting that feels a little like this one from his web site. Keith is a good colorist and has a great sensibility. Keith also has a lot to say through his art; he takes himself seriously; and he is one to watch.

Maryland artist Curtis Woody. Just look at this…  I love hands. This one made me tear up. Had to buy it. This is the giclee we bought. It’s not an "original", which I’m slightly embarrassed about, but until we get the gallery completely off the ground, we’ll be hard pressed to buy originals from artists as well known as Curtis. We’d love to figure out a way to show his work one day – maybe as part of a group show.

Richmond artist Kim Young creates some terrific jewelry and wall assemblages. Very folk art feeling. I am a new fan and customer. Kim works a lot with found objects and old globes which she cuts and refashions into pins and earrings. I hadn’t seen affordable work like it before which is saying a lot. And, as it turns out, she is friends with Foust. Small world!

We also spent a good amount of time looking through the booth of Eli Thompson. He does cityscape  etchings. Besides loving etchings, Eli’s quality stood out. They require talent and commitment. Eli had that. Although we didn’t pull the trigger and buy one, we’ll keep an eye on his work.

With all that said, I do believe we represent the best artists in the world at Migration. Seriously. But it is always good to look and acquire, if not originals, at least reminders in some form of what touched you on that day.

Seiz, Wade and Dunnan @ UVa Off-Grounds Gallery

This is the fourth report from a series regarding the University of Virginia studio art student exhibits at the Off-Grounds Gallery.

Yet another exhibition of the University of Virginia's 4th year (i.e. senior) studio art students' work was up last week. I dropped in on it Friday evening. Again, I got there as the final set-up of tables, drinks and food for the reception was taking place. I muscled through the noise and general chaos and gave a good look at the work of Alyson Seiz, Emily Wade and Calvine Dunnan.

Alyson Seiz - Beauty and the Blonde

Oh, goodness. Where do I start? My mind is flooded with all the ridiculous blonde jokes we have all suffered through over and over. I can't see straight. Maybe reading Ms. Seiz's artist statement will help…

I have a strange relationship with the culture of which I am part. Being a blonde suburbanite was a context I lightheartedly enjoyed growing up, but as I journeyed further into the world of academia, I began to question the culture that shaped who I am. It is a heavily stereotyped group, sometimes desirable but other times scoffed at for being phony, nondescript, material or mainstream. My work reflects my interest in the perception of this group, by itself and by others. Painting has provided a contemplative forum for me to investigate the subtext involved with blondeness and the women who claim to it. I do not praise it, nor do I reduce it. I am not exempt from this group because I am an artist, nor do I want to be. The exploration of this misrepresented margin of people captivates me, as I hope it does my viewers.

Okay. You're blonde. Your hair color shaped who you were as a youngster. You believe blondes are stereotyped. And, through your art you want to break that cycle.

Sorry. Nope. I don't get it.

I read the title of the show, "Beauty and the Blonde", as blondeness being the Beast amongst the Beauty? Made me want to see some real tortured images.  Seiz’s statement further labels blondes a "misrepresented margin of people" like they are lepers or something. Wow.  Big issues.  But, I didn’t see it in the paintings.

What I expected to see is the real person behind the pain of all the blonde jokes and negative stereotypes. These are real people; not the Paris Hiltons we see splashed throughout the headlines. It should be about what it means to be blonde behind closed doors. How one suffers and struggles by being blonde. Instead, through Seiz's work titled "Sugar and Spice and Everything Nice", "Bride-To-Be", "The Weigh-In" and "Preference", I saw the struggles that everyone deals with concerning big issues such as self image, entering adulthood, and societal pressures. Everyone deals with this: blonde brunettes, women, men…

Siez states that her paintings provide "a contemplative forum for me to investigate the subtext involved with blondeness and the women who claim to it." Instead, I see a young woman who clings to it.

What I did get from Seiz's paintings was a high degree of skill in her craft. At no time did I ever have to look beyond the technique of her painting style in order to get the message. Seiz takes on and conquers the challenge of rendering mirrored images, severely foreshortened figures and raking light with great aplomb. She has proven her skill as a painter, but now we need to work on the message.

One last issue I have with the presentation of Ms. Seiz's paintings: Included on the one page artist statement was a price list of her work. Not a problem and frequently done. However, at the bottom of her price list she says, "all work half off for friends and family." Say what!?!?! Either Ms. Seiz has a lot of friends and family, or she never intends to sell to any one other than her friends or family. I'm not saying don't give friends and family a discount; rather don't ever spell out that fact on your price list.

Emily Wade - Out of the Indigo: Healing Through Art

Ms. Wade (not a blonde) suffers in a different way than Ms. Seiz. Wade struggles with chronic pain in her hands and arms which has challenged her ability to create. In order to circumvent the pain that wielding a brush causes her, Wade has found the use of watercolors on yupo as a bearable medium to work with. Already attracted to her deep blue loosely handled images, I further cheered her use of yupo. (I have written in the past about one of my favorite artists, Randall Tipton, and his magical watercolors on yupo. Read the article here.) By abandoning a precisely held brush and beng able to push the water based pigments across the plasticized paper, Wade creates very fluid, expressive and beautiful images.

Wade says she uses both indigo and Payne’s grey to "…convey sadness and pain in my own work. By painting with these colors, I discovered that they possess an intense beauty that I cannot move away from." The technique, imagery and use of color have converged for Wade to make a collection of lasting and moving images. All are good choices.

Wade also included a painting of her hands in the exhibit titled "As They Are." This was the one piece that was executed on paper and not yupo. Artists’ rendering of hands is both a rite of passage and very intriguing. Hands are their tools of the trade. Their livelihood. Getting in touch with their own hands through their own imagery is a classic art school project. In "As They Are" Wade confronts her hands... her tools... and the source of her pain. Strangely, she chooses to render them in precise and delicate brushstrokes required by the application of watercolors on paper. I can only imagine the grimaces on her face as she completed this particular painting.

Calvine Dunnan - Postcards, 1947-1963

Dunnan transforms old postcard pictures to lithograph prints. All are landscapes – coastal scenes, rivers, canyons, bridges, etc. In this, he displays an excellent body of prints. Lovely work. However, I think Dunnan misses the mark he sets out to hit. Dunnan’s artist statement refers to the nostalgia of not just the landscape images of the past caught on the decades old postcards, but also the messages found on those cards – memories of long past family vacations. The breakdown of Dunnan's lithographs to three (sometimes four) colors and simplifying the lines and images makes for a lovely design, but striking the nostalgic chord in my mind is only present in the titles listed on the gallery price list.

For young artists, I generally discourage the use of the written word on their art. I prefer the image to tell me what is being said. Let me figure it out through your imagery, design and choice of colors. Here, however, it’s the text found on these 50 and 60 year old postcards that is fascinating… and truly nostalgic. Dunnan’s prints present an excellent situation to add the written snippets of these quaint travel journals. Throw me back to the 50s when exploring the country from the backseat of the family station wagon was the norm.

For the exhibit, Dunnan included a book of the actual postcards from which he drew his inspiration: Pictures on one side and the handwritten message on the back. Finding myself more interested in reading the postcards than looking at the art simply confirmed my thoughts about Dunnan’s body of work. Regardless, I did find Dunnan’s prints to be well executed and very pleasing.

Kempson, Kleberg & Rivera-Morales @ UVa Off-Grounds Gallery

This is the third report from a continued series regarding the University of Virginia studio art student exhibits at the Off-Grounds Gallery during the months of April and May.

Last week, a Distinguished Major Studio Art Exhibition at Off-Grounds Gallery featured Emily S. Kempson, Matt Kleberg and Camila M. Rivera-Morales. I dropped in prior to the Friday evening reception and checked out what was hanging.

Emily S. Kempson – Things Worth Sharing

Regarding Emily Kempson’s paintings, I really only have a couple of things to say.  First and foremost, I recommend that Ms. Kempson remember to respect the viewer.  This has little to do with her actual artwork.  Rather, I am focusing on the fact she spelled out (literally) what she intends to make us see and feel.  Part of her display was a series of four large scale painting titled, as a group, across the top "Four Responses to an Offense".  They also included individual subtitles: "Self Blame," "Justice," "Mercy" and "Revenge".  Yes, spelled out in big black letters under each painting were these words.  Thanks, Emily, I got it.  Believe me, I was able to see that in each respective painting… without the words.  In the future, remember, the moment you hang your work publicly, it is more about the viewer than it is about you.  Let us gratify ourselves by allowing us to figure it out.  It is far more powerful to show and not tell.

One of the real treasures of art is that a single piece can be and/or mean different things for different people.  When a piece is labeled with a distinct emotion, the viewer is robbed of his or her own interpretation.  Trust that the work says what you want it to say, but also trust the viewer will see it for himself.

About the artwork: Kempson focuses primarily on the human figure (strangely, the image she chose for the show card – although her best – was very much unlike all the others she hung).  Pleasant structure in each piece, but nothing over the top.  She uses dynamic modeling and plenty of symbols to tell her story.  Clearly, a lot of thought and emotion went into the creation of each piece.

Matt Kleberg – And Also With You

More portraits this week!  This time they were small.  Kleberg executes his paintings with a nice style and top-rate craftsmanship.  I particularly liked the flat, angular brushstrokes which add to the sense of artistic drama.  However, I’m not sure if Kleberg’s strong color palette lends itself to each portrait.  Is color used simply for the sake of using it, or as a design element, or (like the Fauvists) is it used to convey a sense of emotion?  If color is used to convey emotion, its success will have to be determined by his individual sitters.  Portraiture tends to be such a personal genre – made even more so by the intimate scale of many of Kleberg’s paintings.  Kleberg admits to this in his written statement:

As a painter, I look to portraiture as one way to honor relationships that teach me, challenge me, and refresh me…   [M]y desire is to use color and mark making to illustrate the richness of each subject’s identity, while the smaller scale of many of the works welcomes close inspection.

Due to the kaleidoscopic use of color, my first reaction was to compare it all to Matisse’s 1905 portrait of his wife titled  "The Green Line" (pictured right).  With this in mind, Kleberg’s portraits were derivative.  But I shook that.  After looking a bit longer at the collection, they did become more personal.  Tenderness and a genuine sense of caring by the artist shone through.  I credit Kleberg’s painterly technique for this.

The good news is that Kleberg’s portraits were not hung with last week’s exhibit of James Dean Erickson’s oversized portraits on cardboard.  A comparison would have been unavoidable and unfair to both artists.

Camila M. Rivera-Morales – I’m So (Maybe) Sorry

Camila Rivera Morales exhibited two different bodies of work in the show.  One, her aluminum lithographs (printed on a waxed paper, I believe), were particular strong abstracts.  Primarily monochromatic, they felt like highly refined yet dreamy Rorschach ink blots.  After giving up trying to find any identifiable images caught in the layers, I was able to relax and simply enjoy the lightness and balance of each piece.

Rivera-Morales also exhibited handmade books.  First were small story books. They were cute and engaging, but, ultimately, they did not hold my attention for more than the first couple of minutes (alas, I should blame myself for that).  The other book exhibited was much more substantial.  A small label implored the viewer to take the time and read the whole thing.  Since I had a chunk of time and found the physical texture of the cover and pages pleasing in my hands, I gave it a whirl.  I got through the forward and well into the following pages.  Despite claiming that she is no journal writer rather a "list maker," I found her lists to be daily journals – plain and simple. Standard rants and thoughts of a college student. I put the book down.

Her statement poses some moderately simple questions: 

Can you react to something personal in an impersonal setting?... Can you and I relate here?... Is this about me or about you?

From my experiences, I can safely say, absolutely, I often react to something personal in an impersonal setting.  And, yes, we should be able to relate with one another through your art.  But, Cami, your journal is so clearly about you and not me (or any one else).  There is no doubt in my mind that some day your journal will have a tremendous amount of value.  To whom… I don’t know.

After leaving the exhibit, I felt like I had been beaten over the head.  Too much was spelled out (literally) leaving very little to discover or appreciate on my own. A little subtlety would have gone a long way.

What Whitney says - JOHN GRANT

Whitney Strickler is Migration’s current intern. She is a 4^th year art history student at the University of Virginia. To give you a refreshing voice on this blog, Laura and I asked Whitney to review some shows currently up in Charlottesville. Many thanks to Whitney, for these thoughtful reviews.

John Grant - Along the Garden Path @ McGuffey Art Center

After seeing a sampling of John Grant’s recent works at Migration’s photography invitational this past winter, it was interesting to see a large collection of his photos of flowers, fruits and vegetables on display at the McGuffey Art Center. Grant has been experimenting with materials to print his digital photographs on, and I am particularly intrigued by those he prints on sheets of aluminum. One image at the McGuffey exhibit, "Radishes", reflects light as you move past it giving the red color of the vegetables tonal variation and a 3D quality that is not found in the photos printed on paper. I know it is an extremely difficult medium to print on but the effect created by the metal on the image is fascinating. The canvas material also provides a unique perspective on the photographic subjects; the flowers in these works have a softness and serenity that is lost in the sharpness of the metal works. Each medium contributes to the photograph with its own distinctive qualities.

One piece in particular caught my eye; it is entitled "Mystical Rose" and shows a single rose encased in a faint glass bulb. The image is reminiscent to me of the rose from "Beauty and the Beast." The faint outline of the bulb around the flower gives it the sense of being untouchable, preserved in timeless beauty. The flower shows minor flaws: a slender tear in one petal, a few petals have begun to slightly droop at the edges. The rose represents flawed beauty but its imperfections make it only more mystical and unattainable to the viewer. Grant’s simple, direct, and organic approach to photography provides insight into the beauty available for viewing everyday ‘along the garden path.’

What Whitney says - ROB TARBELL

Whitney Strickler is Migration’s current intern. She is a 4^th year art history student at the University of Virginia. Laura and I have asked Whitney to review some shows currently up in Charlottesville (keeps you from having to read my yammering). Many thanks to Whitney, for these thoughtful reviews.

Rob Tarbell - The Smokes @ Les Yeux de Monde

Rob Tarbell’s works are created with a process involving smoke. He burns sentimental things such as photographs using the smoke to create the images. He claims the burning of these types of objects removes their emotional burden. His artist statement says that he likes to use smoke because it makes both good and bad marks. An example he gives of the negative effects of smoke is the damage it did to the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel; but when smoke is controlled and given a new purpose it can be good. This series portrays performing animals: horses, dogs, elephants, zebras, and bears. Tarbell likens the use of smoke to the choice of using performing animals in that "something that once had a practical or natural use is removed from that environment at the expense of its original purpose. Transforming its original purpose, transforming it and replacing it in the form of entertainment art." In the way that an animal is taken out of its natural habitat and trained to jump through hoops or balance on platforms, smoke is removed from its destructive purpose in nature and controlled by the artist to create a new image.

At first I thought the works were charcoal on paper, when I read the medium was actually smoke I found the works slightly more intriguing. One picture in particular of a horse caught my eye. The pattern the smoke had left on the paper makes the horse look ghost-like. The wispy smoke lines trail off the horse’s body and its white eyes all add to the perception that the dark horse is charging out of the white expanse directly towards you. This piece, being one of the few that was framed, was enhanced by the glass in front of it because the light of the gallery shining on the glass gave the white paper a glow adding to the eeriness of the "ghost horse." I don’t think this was necessarily the artist’s intention, but, for me, the effect gave the piece life and movement. Overall, I found the exhibition very interesting though it may be more beneficial to the viewer to understand the artist’s methods and goals before seeing the works… Tarbell’s works require a deep contemplation to understand the artist’s agenda.

Costello, Erickson & Wells @ Off-Grounds Gallery

This is the second report from a continued series regarding the University of Virginia studio art student exhibits at the Off-Grounds Gallery during the months of April and May.

Last Friday, I dropped by the Off-Grounds Gallery to catch the Distinguished Major Thesis Exhibition titled Trying, Despite. It featured the work of James Dean Erickson, Jesse Wells, Patrick Costello and Andrew Mausert-Mooney. Although the gallery was closed at the time, I was lucky enough to have been there when the students were critiquing. I give a special thanks to Howard Singerman, associate professor in UVa's Art Department (20^th century art and theory), for letting me in despite the gallery being closed.

James Dean Erickson

Entering the gallery, I was greeted by a collection of 6 to 9 foot tall portraits. Frontal staring faces. Confrontational in a Chuck Close manner (note: I’m a crazy Chuck Close fan). The emotions were neutral but Erickson's technique is expressive. Each piece was done on sheet(s) of cardboard. Acrylics, spray paints, crayon and charcoals are used to scratch out the images with dynamic and loose gestures. A couple of the faces are void of color which simply shows off Erickson's superlative drawing skills. The more powerful portraits were those filled with color.

Although no text was associated with the images, I found out the individuals used for the portraits are Charlottesville locals who are often found on the downtown streets. Although we have seen them before, we tend to looked right through them. Look past them. Avert our eyes when they approach. These are the people society overlooks and, sometimes, steps over. Now, in Erickson's portraits, there is no avoiding them. They stare directly at us - we stare back. We notice every wrinkle and crease etched in their hard-scrabble faces.  They are real. They are important. This is when artwork hanging in a gallery has social implications.

Even the use of a common cardboard is elemental in Erickson's art. What is generally considered utilitarian, Erickson alters its throwaway quality and elevates it to precious art. Kind of like he did with his subjects. Well done James, well done.

Jesse Wells

It took me a minute, but I ended up really liking Jesse Wells' paintings. Initially, I found them to be nice as they struck a few chords that are dear to my heart: the flattening of spaces, the use of negative space, and making unseen elements come to life. Specifically, I found Staring Contest to be the most powerful painting of the group. Good technical skills coupled with the inclusion of all that falls outside of the frame. What are these two starring at? Where are they? Reminded me of Michelangelo's David (bare with me… it's not as big of a stretch as you may think). David is not just a marble statue of a young man.  What you don't see - Goliath lurking in his presence - creates the real drama.

What ultimately pulled Wells' work together was the inclusion of four prints hung opposite the paintings. It suddenly worked for me - or my cup of coffee finally kicked in. I liked the quality of the printing technique/skill as well as the subject matter. Adults playing kids' games is an intriguing subject. Wells depicts old games such as Three Legged Race, Marco Polo, Double Dutch and I Spy. Turning back to the paintings, I saw games being played there too: a string and cup phone, staring contest, and thumb wrestling. These games develop relationships skills. They are games taught to us as children, but they have very adult implications.

Patrick Costello

Patrick Costello owes a lot to Jesse Wells. I trust they are good friends. I say this because without Wells' paintings and prints, Costello's monumental piece in the show falls flat. What we have is a gigantic sofa cushion fort built in the corner of the gallery. The kind we all built in the living room of our childhood homes. You remember. We pulled all the square paneled cushions off the couch and chairs and built a little-person sized house of cards. Costello does the same, but uses the cushions of about 50 couches. And instead of using an old afghan blanket as the roof, he stitched together yards of varying fabric remnants and strung it circus-tent style.

Alone, Costello's installation was forgettable, but paired with Wells' paintings of childhood games, the fort became a stronger entity and integral to show. Something was comforting about being able to step into the fort and backwards about 35 years for me. Made me smile.

Costello also hung a small series of prints. Nice etchings coupled with a continuation of his textile work. Again, I am a huge fan of etchings and the print making process. Costello also tugs on my desire for simplified renderings. But these prints did not move me – for no other reason than I just didn’t have a personal connection with them. Maybe more refined sewing would have generated a higher level of importance in these few pieces. As Tim Gunn might say, "Make it work, Patrick."

While I was in the gallery, Andrew Mausert-Mooney had a viewing of his film titled "Flok". I missed the viewing, but did eavesdrop on a portion of the subsequent discussion and critique. Not being a film guy, I left it all alone. But, I'm particularly happy to see that film (16mm) was included in the show and is fostered by the UVa Art Department. Keep it up guys.

Without a doubt, this exhibit was the best I have seen at Off-Grounds Gallery. Top flight work; thoughtful presentation; and thoroughly enjoyable. Too bad for us it was only up for 5 days.

What Whitney says - SANDOW BIRK

Whitney Strickler is Migration’s current intern. She is a 4^th year art history student at the University of Virginia. Laura and I have asked Whitney to review some shows currently up in Charlottesville (keeps you from having to read my yammering). Many thanks to Whitney, for these thoughtful reviews.

Sandow Birk - The Depravities of War @ 2^nd Street Gallery

Sandow Birk approaches the controversy of the Iraq war with wall sized prints made from woodcuts. The scenes have a cartoon-like feeling to them making them look like editorial cartoons cut from a newspaper and blown up to fill a wall. One of the first prints I came across was a scene of army recruiters signing up new recruits at a table with posted signs reading "Free College" and "Don’t Ask Don’t Tell" as temptations to young men wandering by. A line of soldiers prepare to leave corporate America which looms behind them; and men say goodbye to their parents and girlfriends. The scene portrays young men excited to be leaving home for new opportunities and experiences. Around the corner in the gallery was another woodcut titled "Repercussion" showing a line of men out the door of a building marked with a sign "Veteran Services." The men from the first scene had come home, but were not the same. Here they were shown in wheelchairs, on crutches, and with missing limbs. The army, so quick to recruit them, has left them desolate and broken, forced to wait in long lines for care from veteran services.

Birk attempts to address the problems of war by focusing on the current events in Iraq; each print is a snapshot, the U.S. Senate, Army training, the hanging of Saddam, etc. He aims to document the tragedies of war for future generations. His artist statement says the series displays his "continual, perpetual frustration with the very fact of this war." It also describes his goals to "make smart political art, and to make a work that lives beyond this war to speak to warfare and all wars." The pieces are certainly readable and it is not difficult to understand what the artist is attempting to convey to the public through these scenes but I did not find them as effective as they could have been. I found the motivation behind the series to be more fascinating than the works themselves.

More on Tate, Timmers and Janis

Here are some media mentions of our current sculptural glass exhibit featuring Tim Tate, Erwin Timmers and Michael Janis:

From The Hook, here.

From cvilleMUSE, here and here.

From Lenny Campello, here and here.

Reinhard, McCann and Katz @ UVa Off-Grounds Gallery

This is a report that will be part of a continued series regarding the University of Virginia studio art student exhibits at the Off-Grounds Gallery during the months of April and May.

I dropped by Off-Grounds Gallery on Saturday to catch the first of the final exhibits of 4^th and 5^th year student work. This show included the work of three 5^th year Aunspaugh Fellows: Adam Reinhard’s paintings, photographs by Libby McCann, and the collages and prints by Jessie Katz

ADAM REINHARD - Playing With Matches

Adam Reinhard takes on an ambitious subject matter: stripping children of their innocence in order to expose the effect adults' actions (and an adult world) have on them:

By projecting my scenarios onto the purity of children, I am trying to show what can happen when technology is abused and consumerism preoccupies our lives, without directly indicting the viewer.  In this way, my artwork serves as a mirror of sorts, but only insofar as I want my viewer to be aware of the world around them.

In his statement, I am glad to see Adam also admit to his reliance on images of consumerism and commercialism in the "despoilment of innocence." Unfortunately, it can easily get in the way of the overall image. It often appears there is more interest placed on the commercial logo than on the person depicted. Loose sharp brushstrokes used for facial features turn to precise thoughtful lines spelling corporate names and logos.

I am always a fan of an artist (in any 2 dimensional medium) who flattens their scenes. Pulling the background forward is an inherently modern element to the visual arts, but it’s not an easy trick to pull off well. I believe Adam gets it done. However, his flat spaces (the filler around his people) are often overweighted compared to the chopped brushstrokes used in his faces. An evening of technique would create a greater balance.

Adam captures the often undetectable dangers of playing games, or, more importantly, in role playing. He displays the potential harm of adult behavior through the actions of children. I found "Boredom" (pictured) sums up Adam’s premise well. Despite the vast availability of stimulating board games, today’s youth still cannot overcome TV’s mind numbing effect. Well done.

If Adam's exploration continues, I'll come back for more.

LIBBY McCANN - Conversation

Libby McCann photographs close-up studies of the face in black and white. High contrast lighting plays an important part in detailing the landscape of each individuals face. We are met eye-to-pore with the space between the upper lip and nose, the brow, an adams apple, and a cheekbone. The effect and consistency of the dramatic, raking light used gives the haunting essence of film noir. However, I found only a couple of hints of displays emotion out of the 19 individually framed photos. Because of this, the conversation between them is thwarted.

I preferred the tone of the grouping of the photos over the narrative. Having hyper-real close-ups of human facial features thrust at you is stimulating. And, high contrast black and whites are always jarring and a little bit spooky. But, for them to work better as a group, I would suggest better use of the negative space between each image. Negative space is often a forgotten design element, but effectively using it can tie a group of photos such as these together and create a finer sense of "conversation."

JESSIE KATZ - The World is my Living Room / My Living Room is the World

Jessie Katz's collages and prints tell a story: Katz anthropomorphizes potted house plants and pits them against their wishes for the freedom to live wild. But do they really? They are given rolls within mid-America households and have dreams of their own. They pose the quintessential question whether it is better to live a sheltered life or one in the hard, wild world.

Ultimately, Katz answers her own question with her piece aptly titled "It's Not So Glamorous Out There As You Think." Ah, yes, the grass is always greener… until you get to the other side.

Katz's process, however, leaves me feeling like an under-watered begonia. My biggest complaint lies in the work that includes a few too many words on the images. Note to young artists: be very very careful about including words and sayings on your art. Show the viewer what you want them to think, don't tell them. It is a rare artist who writes on their work successfully. A much more cleaver use of expressing ideas is when Katz gives her plants thought bubbles. No words, just the pictures of lush grasses and greenery. This is exactly the language a plant would use – not words.

Overall, I would have liked to see a better, crisper product from Katz. I know she has excellent print work in her oeuvre, but the inkjet on paper included in this show needs a much higher resolution for it to really make a punch. The images are something of a throwback to the '50s and '60s. Sharper and bolder colors were the design norm back then. This element is lost in Katz's grainy translation.

One last thought… For those students who have been given the task of manning the gallery: Show a little bloody interest when some one walks in! I understand you may be bored out of your mind sitting in a quiet gallery for a couple of hours on a Saturday. But, the best way to break out of your stupor is by engaging in some conversation with the people who have come to see the work.

Glass 3

I spent Saturday in Baltimore at the American Craft Council Show, but during my drive home I made a stop in DC to catch an exhibit in Georgetown called Glass 3. It is a collaboration of three glass art groups: The Washington Glass School from DC, The Arts Commission of Greater Toledo, and Cohesion (a network of glassmakers from Sunderland, United Kingdom). Having spent a number of hours at the ACC Craft Show looking at dozens of talented glass artists doing beautiful things with the craft of glass blowing, it was a treat to immerse myself in the next level of studio glass art. Glass 3 is a fantastic showing of where the studio glass art movement is going. We are not talking about pretty bowls and goblets here. This is conceptually rich museum quality work. Read a review of the show here.

With that said, my main goal was to check out the work of Tim Tate, Michael Janis and Erwin Timmers (all from the Washington Glass School). We will be featuring their work in our April show. This will be a "don't miss show" for all of Central Virginia. So mark your calendar now… April 4... Tim, Mike and Erwin - the rock stars of today's art glass movement - will be in Charlottesville celebrating the opening of their exhibit at Migration.

Images include:  Left, Time Tate - The Envy of the Inertia.  Middle, Michael Janis - Cannot Undo.  Right: Erwin Timmers - Testing Limits.

Other than Tim's, Mike's and Erwin's work, I was impressed with these Glass 3 artists:

Allegra Marquart (DC)

Sarah Blood (UK)

Phil Vickery (UK)

Glass 3 runs through March 9 and is at the Shops of Georgetown (3222 M Street – ground floor).

Amercian Craft Council - Baltimore Craft Show

I spent Saturday in Baltimore attending this year's American Craft Show presented by the American Craft Council (unfortunately, Laura couldn’t join me). It's the premier craft show in the country and featured over 700 artists this year. Laura and I never miss it. My primary reason for going this year was to visit the artists we represent at Migration who were exhibiting. Since most of our artists live all over the country (and not often close to Charlottesville), it's a terrific opportunity to visit with them when they come to Baltimore.

I got to see Jeremy Newman & Allison Ciancibelli. They are our glass artists from Twisp, Washington. Laura and I took their work to SOFA Chicago this past November and did extremely well with it. Jeremy had planned to come to Chicago but ultimately was not able to make it. So it was especially great to see him and his wife, Allison, Saturday. As usual, their work looked great. And, in just the few minutes I hung out with them, a collector bought Ancestry (no doubt, an excellent addition to their collection). I can report that Jeremy and Allison are moving their work to an even higher level. Great to see.

Next, I dropped in on Michael Bauermeister. We also took Michael's giant wood sculptures to SOFA - and he joined us there. Michael is from Missouri, so it has been a real treat to see him twice in the last three months. Michael's booth looked great. Of special note were his wall sculptures. I particularly loved his new water piece. Wood made to look like the ripples moving across water. Beautiful and majestic.

My next stop was to check in on Karin Worden. Karin is a jeweler from California, one of our favorite artists, and someone we always love to chat with. Karin reported an active weekend - no surprise since we think her work is so special and crowd pleasing. Also good to see how her work has developed and where she is placing her focus. Meticulous.

I also stopped in and said hi to Harry and Wendy Besett. They came down from Vermont for the show. Other than talking about - and plotting to resolve - the world's problems, Harry gave me a great tour of their newer work. Most significant is the inclusion of new hues to their landscapes. Really nice art. FYI: We are down to only one of their pieces left at the gallery. It would be a nice addition to anyone's home.

For those of you who may have missed the Baltimore show and don’t regularly travel across the country to look at art, I encourage you to drop by our gallery, Migration, in Charlottesville. We have a wide collection of these artists’ work. Stop in or give us a call.

Having visited our artists, I spent the rest of my time cruising the show aisles with my eye peeled for new talent and other beautiful art. The following are my highlights.

  Janice Ho

Marty Fielding

Joel Hunnicutt

MT Maxwell Furniture Co.

Geoff Buddie & Chris Rom

Maggie Casey

Finally, I was able to say hi to Washington, DC glass artist Erwin Timmers before he started a live demonstration of his eco friendly "green" glass art (an extremely large crowd gathered for it).  We talked a bit about the current show he is in called Glass 3.  More on this later.

James Scheuren & Cecilia Steel at Off-Grounds Gallery

I made a stop at University of Virginia's Off-Grounds Gallery this weekend. I'm kind of fascinated with this little space and like to check out what is going on there. Unfortunately, it takes a little shoe leather to stay up on its happenings – I wish there was better advertising for the shows. Yet, it is an invaluable learning opportunity for UVa art students to get their work out there in a commercial gallery setting.

I also like to analyze the exhibits. Not necessarily for my own purposes, but, I think it is important for someone from outside the University to review the work. From my experience, art students get a bulk of their reviews from friends ("Oh my gosh! You are like sooooo talented. I could never draw an apple to look that real. Do you think you could draw a picture of this beer bottle for me?"), their parents ("Oh, honey, we are just so proud of you. No one in our family has ever had any artistic talent. I don't know where you get it from."), and teachers ("Uh, right, yes… Good use of tonal contrasts and color. You get a B-."). Bottom line… It’s a real challenge for a student to get objective criticism. Even harder in Charlottesville where there are only a few art critics in the mainstream media. With that said, I offer my opinions in a constructive manner and with no hidden agenda.

So, I trundled over to the Off Grounds Gallery with pen and paper in hand and checked out the photography of James Scheuren and Cecilia Steel. My first impression was good. The last exhibit there was haphazardly hung and unprofessional. This one was smartly hung - I say this because each photo measured 16"x16", was framed exactly the same, hung perfectly in align and spaced equally apart. Although appealing to my Monk-like need for order, this uniform presentation ultimately gave the grouping of 32 photos a homogenous feel. I almost lost interest in the first minute. But I broke it down, examined the individual pieces, and made it make sense.

The obvious theme here is Nature in one form or another. James Scheuren's 16 photos seemed to speak of the age old battle of Man versus Nature. But was it about urban decay? Urban renewal? Or maybe the plight of the environment? Hard to tell. I found intrigue in the strong images of a landscape zambonied by a line up of bulldozers making room for the next Wal-Mart. And, the most powerful images offer signs of Nature springing forth from the raped landscapes. In those, I felt hope and a promise of Nature overcoming Man's destruction. For me, Scheuren's best photo, titled "27 November 2007", pictures a sweet dew covered field of grass belittling the mechanical power towers cast in the unfocused distance. The effect is accomplished by Scheuren resting his camera on the ground allowing us to stand eye-to-eye with the blades of grass. It is this altered perspective that makes this piece stand out. Virtually all the others are taken from the obvious and readable point of view of a person standing on the ground before the images. Mixing up vantage points would satisfy a need for drama. Without it, the images are all too easily readable and don’t say much.

Going back to the homogeneity issue… All of Scheuren's photos are simply titled by the date they were taken. Sixteen photos taken from June 2007 through December 2007. That’s fine. What bothered me, however, was that the photos all look like they were taken on the exact same clear, sunny day. Possibly just a few hours apart. There is very little atmospheric variance or change in the weather. No foreboding storm clouds on the horizon. No darkness in the destruction. No mist shrouding the steel and concrete constructions looming over us. No tension. No drama. Just clear, sunny days.

In Cecilia Steel's photos I had a much better sense that Nature is the clear winner in its struggles with Man. Made me feel better inside. For Steel, manmade objects are pictured in a state of decay instead of birth. Linear elements are overcome by the organic ones that surround and overtake them. Pretty and a little easier to look at.

Steel's raises the level of her art in the photos that shorten the focal point. As in "Footpath", she has rendered the backdrop a mere abstraction of leaves and the focal point rests on a single unobtrusive branch. Takes a moment to read, but is effective due to the beauty of the colors and patterns captured.

Unfortunately, Steel runs into the same problem as Scheuren: A majority of her photos seem to have been shot on that same clear, sunny day. Early fall, maybe? When Steel submits herself to the weather, she is more successful. Two photos stand out: "James" includes a discernable change in weather - maybe a misty morning or the moment following a light rain. Regardless, "James" is more about neglect, desperation and loneliness and less about the beauty of the natural world. The same with "Stasis"; its touch of fog and predominant use of red make this image unique.

As I stood in the middle of the Gallery, the 32 photos framed identically, lined up perfectly, spaced exactly, and captured on what felt like the exact same cloudless day did not represent two bodies of work to me. The art of landscape photography should convey that single special image captured at that single special moment. The intensity of the light, the shadows, the mist in the air, the hues of the sky, the altered perspective… they all must play a part.