EXHIBITIONS
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Artist Reception: Friday, 7/12/13, 5:30pm - 7:30pm MULTIPLICITIES features drawings, paintings, wall installations by Milosz Koziej, Megan Klim, Bill Rybak, Loura van der Meule, Nyugen E. Smith, Vincent Salvati, William Stamos, Liz Cohen, Winifred McNeill, Greg Brickey, Max Velez and James Pustorino. Curated by James Pustorino and Anne Trauben MULTIPLICITIES is an exhibition of imaginative visual systems. In philosophy, multiplicity can be defined as the multi-faceted nature of reality. The writer Italo Calvino described the concept of multiplicity in literature as seeing the world as a system of systems. In our MULTIPLICITIES exhibition, this summer, our DRAWING ROOMS walls will be covered with engaging systems of numerous, various and re-occurring aspects; arrangements of multiple shape, form, color and image. Building with both simple and complex graphic forms through repetition and variation, pattern and contrast, each artist creates a cohesive vision expressive of their own perspective, yet enveloping the viewer in new experience. MULTIPLICITIES brings together artists who are fascinated by the interplay of repeatable parts, pattern, and structure. Their work develops an intensity because of their investment in the arrangement of smaller forms, like notes in a musical composition. Milosz Koziej’s large, spin art paintings acknowledge this connection literally. The inscribed notation of a Bach Nocturne becomes calligraphic marks spiraling out from the center of the multilayers of colors. These energized movements of color are generated using a motor to spin the canvas while the artist moves across applying paint and stopping, assessing and renewing the process. In Milosz’ work, rhythm and structure are carefully built with the use of an outside system. The same can be said of Bill Rybak’s RA series. The piece in our exhibition is composed of seventy-seven individual print-outs taped together; each a section of a whole a 3D construction created rendered entirely on a computer program–which is in itself, a part of a suggested larger construction unseen by the viewer. Another multi-piece work, Nyugen E Smith’s Borderlines image is composed of many small drawings on shaped papers that are stitched together with thread-fit together like pieces of a puzzle, the outlines of the curved paper-forms emphasized by the colors of the threads. For this artist, who grew up in Trinidad, his technique underscores the concerns of his art, which investigates the psychological, cultural and social implications of colonialism. Loura van der Meule’s art also makes use of multiple paper forms is also greatly enriched by her cultural background. The enormous portraits of her grandparents are set in a system of layered, drawn, painted and collaged imagery derived from Dutch design and graphic heritage. She has developed a striking and rich visual language through years of working with this imagery and through her personal investment in her subject matter. Winifred McNeill’s system of both drawn and cut-out layers that obscure and reveal are suggestive of windows or portals: multiple stories taking place at the same time, or synchronistic events that may or may not affect each other. Her work combines realistically rendered and abstract form along with translucent template overlays to allude to complex narratives. William Stamos’ works for this exhibit also employ a template. His fantastic, light-into-dark drawing animates the repeated form of the classic artist’s palette, turning the space within and without into celestial, cosmically charged alternate realities. In Greg Brickey’s circle paintings, the artist uses both structural templates and systematic painting techniques that work to counter his loose, colorful painting style. The interplay of circles painted with grids that are laid out in grid-like patterns across the wall, produces a remarkable visual tension. As the circles appear to push against the space between them, the wall itself becomes a part of the artwork. Likewise, Vince Salvati applies his expressive, bold drawing style to a system of grids, in works that engage the space of the page and also group together to engage and energize the space of the room they fill. Megan Klim makes use of a variety of systems, both physical and drawing-based to create appear to describe something but are actually evocative of many things. Her circle grids and rectangular grids appear to be scenes or windows, but as her titles suggest, there is a fog or an atmosphere that obscures our understanding. In some works, the repetition of small linear forms and changes in scale can suggest a map or aerial view, but again one that evokes rather than clarifies, and makes us look longer, revealing a bit more with each viewing. Liz Cohen’s obsessive ball-point pen drawings mirror her obsession with her “dolls” the varied forms and characters that move through her compositions, the intensity of fine lines that comprise the forms heighten the drama of their interaction. Max Velez creates complex compositions through a myriad of graphic marks, text, and descriptive rendering. In his drawings, both a multiplicity of thought and structure are evinced to create a narrative of transforming imagery and concepts. |
