Come visit our POD this weekend in downtown Westville as part of City-Wide Open Studios! We’ll be there Saturday and Sunday, 12-6 p.m.
'Spotlight' at the Mitchell Branch Library
The student exhibition Spotlight opens this week at the Mitchell Branch of the New Haven Free Public Library system. Co-curated with Melanie Carr, the show includes works from students at the University of New Haven and the Lyme Academy College of Fine Arts.
Opening Reception:
Saturday, October 13, 12-2 p.m.
Mitchell Branch Library, 37 Harrison Street, New Haven, CT 06515
Splice Reception on Sept. 28
The reception for my show at the Constance Lavino Bell Library Gallery will be September 28, 6-7 p.m.
There is also an exhibition of photographs by Dan Mead and Sally Eagle in an adjacent gallery on campus.
Ethel Walker School
230 Bushy Hill Rd, Simsbury, CT 06070
https://www.ethelwalker.org/
"Splice" at the Constance Lavino Bell Gallery
Below are some installation photos of my current exhibition Splice at the Constance Lavino Bell Gallery at the Ethel Walker School.
Splice
This show includes two related installations and several works on paper that repeat the double helix form. Together the works create a bridge between genetic engineering, textile traditions, and abstract art. Spreading across a corner, the installation appears viral and organic. Upon closer inspection, a viewer can see that the paper forms have been delicately woven together, mimicking the intricate perforations of lace. Textiles, like DNA, are often rooted in patterns. The connection between the two elements shows that our desires to see and create patterns originates in our genetic makeup.
The show is on view through November and there will be a public reception at the end of September.
Upcoming Show at Constance Lavino Bell Gallery at the Ethel Walker School
I am excited to share that I will have a show at the Constance Lavino Bell Gallery this fall. More information coming soon!
Detail from inside my studio
Filter Bubble, 2018. Corrugated paper on foam core; ellipse: approximately 62 inches (length) by 36 inches (height) by 4 inches (width).
"Everything Happens So Much" opens this Thursday
Opening tomorrow!
If you're in Manchester, New Hampshire this Thursday, check out the opening reception from 5:30 to 7:30 pm for "Everything Happens So Much" at Kelley Stelling Contemporary.
Kelley Stelling Contemporary presents a juried group exhibition titled “Everything Happens So Much,” featuring works selected by Currier Museum of Art Curator Kurt Sundstrom, Ph.D. The show is on view through September 15, 2018
https://www.kelleystellingcontemporary.com/
221 Hanover Street, Manchester, NH
hours: Wednesdays + Thursdays + Fridays 11 am - 5 pm and by appointment
Filter Bubble
Filter Bubble provides a visual metaphor for the meaning of work's title. The concept of the "filter bubble" refers to algorithms that reflect information back to a user based on previous searches and cached information. We are bombarded with information online, though this information is unwittingly biased by our specific experiences and preferences.
Interview on iTunes
Listen to my interview on iTunes with the host, David Livingston, on his new podcast, First Stop Art, here .
Scroll IX, 2016. Ink, gouache on paper, 3.5 by 30 feet.
In this episode we talk about a series of work I started in 2014 called Scrolls. We also discuss more recent works like the knots.
First Stop Art Website
Check out the images on the website for the podcast:
https://www.firststopart.com/
New Podcast — The First Stop!
The First Stop
My colleague and friend, David Livingston, is the host of a brand new podcast featuring artists from around New Haven. The podcast is called The First Stop and I stopped by the recording studio at the University of New Haven to record an interview with David this morning.
Previous interviews with Jeff Ostergren and Polly Shindler can be found on the site for the podcast via Soundcloud.
Coming Soon...
Stay tuned for my interview and the official launch of the podcast on iTunes! Find The First Stop on Instagram here.
Review of 'My Vicious Throbbing Heart' at Franklin Street Works
Last May I went to check out the show My Vicious Throbbing Heart: Animating Desire in Abstract Painting at Franklin Street Works in Stamford, Connecticut. The show was curated by Risa Pueo and features works by Anna Betbeze, Molly Zuckerman-Hartung, Keltie Ferris, Anne Cousineau, and more. My review of the show is in the current issue of Art New England magazine, page 79.
The show continues through September 9.
July/August 2018 issue of Art New England, p. 79
State of Abstraction on Two Coats of Paint blog
Two Coats of Paint
Sharon Butler visited the Washington Art Association a few weeks ago and today there's a post on her blog Two Coats of Paint. Read more here.
State of Abstraction will close next Saturday, June 16.
Artists include Cat Balco, Melanie Carr, Julia Coash, Kevin Daly, Deborah Dancy, Howard El-Yasin, Roxanne Faber Savage, Joseph Fucigna, Elizabeth Gourlay, Hong Hong, Blinn Jacobs, Zachary Keeting, Bob Knox, Connie Pfeiffer, Janet Lage, David Livingston, Ken Lovell, Olu Oguibe, Ryan Paxton, Tim Prentice, Suzan Shutan, Matthew Weber, and John Willis.
The Washington Art Association & Gallery
The Judy Black Memorial Park and Gardens
Washington Depot, CT
Cat Balco, School Sun, 2018
'Folded' Opens this Friday
This Friday I have several works on paper included in Folded: New Acquisitions to the Artspace Flatfile. More information is below and here.
Folded: New Acquisitions to the Artspace Flatfile
June 8-29, 2018
Friday, Jun 8 from 5:00 PM to 7:00 PM
Second Story Gallery and Workshop on 1144 Chapel St, New Haven, CT
Opening reception: Friday, June 8th from 5-7pm
Open gallery hours: Wednesday-Friday, 2-6pm
Artspace invites the viewer to consider the implications of the folded/unfolded as a way of making, a state of being, and a conceptual structure in this survey of works from new acquisitions to our flatfile collection.
Several of these artists embrace unfolding in their creative process, allowing outside forces of materiality and instinct to reveal next steps in their work. Reading “unfolding” in this sense, “folding” does not serve as its opposite. Instead, it sits parallel to it: the difference between giving up and giving in. Some of the subjects celebrated here reject this sense of folding by asserting their own agency—instead of letting their stories unfold they are actively writing their own.
How the human form folds physically is an essential component of our body language and is intertwined with our relationship to space. A power stance reads as such because it spreads the body wide; the protruding elbow-fold of a hand on a hip stakes a claim over the space being occupied. This ability of folding to materially alter a subject can also apply more abstractly to an artwork. Bending a form allows for simultaneous existence in multiple spaces, even blurring the line between the 2-D and 3-D. It can embed or enmesh once disparate forms, removing the space between them and rendering them inseparable.
Compositionally, folds in an artwork open up opportunities that aid the artist in conveying their message. Halving the visual field encourages direct comparisons and highlights juxtapositions. Contortions create compositions that have no beginning or end, inviting contemplation of the infinite. Layering builds complexity, emphasizing the multidimensionality of a subject or obfuscating it to slow down the viewer’s perception.
The principles of what can be achieved through folding structurally also apply to modes of thought: expectations and ideas can fold in on themselves, questioning and subverting what were once oversimplified notions.
'State of Abstraction' is open at the Washington Art Association
Co-Curated with Daphne A. Deeds, State of Abstraction is now open! The exhibition will be on view through June 16 at the Washington Art Association and the Judy Black Memorial Space.
Washington Art Association & Gallery, 4 Bryan Memorial Plaza, Washington Depot, CT 06794
Tuesday - Saturday, 10 am - 5 pm
Sunday, 10 am - 2 pm
Featuring: Cat Balco, Melanie Carr, Julia Coash, Kevin Daly, Deborah Dancy, Howard El-Yasin, Roxanne Faber Savage, Joseph Fucigna, Elizabeth Gourlay, Hong Hong, Blinn Jacobs, Zachary Keeting, Bob Knox, Connie Pfeiffer, Janet Lage, David Livingston, Ken Lovell, Olu Oguibe, Ryan Paxton, Tim Prentice, Suzan Shutan, Matthew Weber, John Willis
New Entry to the Washington Art Association
Suzan Shutan
Zachary Keeting, John Willis, and Hong Hong in the Judy Black Memorial Space
Flatfiles at Artspace
Some of my knot drawings are now included in the Artspace Flatfile Program. Check it out here.
This Week in Art | Rob Pruitt’s “The Church” and more!
The Church is not only Rob Pruitt’s current solo exhibition but also an interactive community space—Kunsthalle Zürich has morphed from a gallery to an educational and spiritual venue. The show combines Pruitt’s work from 1999 to 2017 with educational resources and community events, such as Sunday services organized by the Theological Seminary of University Zürich and theoretical discussions on Theory Tuesdays led by Zurich-based artist Philip Matesic. Yesterday, the museum hosted an Easter egg event, in which the artist dyed and designed Easter eggs alongside local families and community members. “People painted eggs inspired by previous painting projects of mine, but the results were so vast and surprising that I, in turn, was inspired by their creations,” Pruitt told Art21 Magazine. “I’m down for any celebration of the coming of spring, and I think Easter is all about that.”
Read my latest post for Art21's news roundup here.
Rob Pruitt, The Church, Kunsthalle Zürich. Photo credit: Annik Wetter / Kunsthalle Zürich
Paducah Life Magazine
There's a shoutout to our ziggy in Paducah Life magazine this month. The Ziggurat was a temporary, collaborative installation with Ryan Paxton at AIR Paducah, Kentucky. This project was influenced by the natural geography of the area and the strong quilting tradition. The terraced pyramid shape of the ziggurat was used in ancient civilizations as a respite from floods. We also wove painted strips of paper and created a network of colorful strings of embroidery floss on its interior, as a nod to the local quilters.
"Silence Breakers" opening at the Ely Center of Contemporary Art
Join me this Thursday for the opening of Silence Breakers at the Ely Center of Contemporary Art.
March 4, 2018 - April 5, 2018
Public Reception: Thursday, March 8, 5 – 8 pm
Public Closing Reception: Thursday, April 5, 5 – 8 pm
An unjuried exhibition in collaboration with Nasty Women Connecticut
Review for "Mighty Minis" show in Art New England
Read the full review of the "Might Minis" show in Art New England here.
Debbie Hesse, Six Pk #3, plexi, gels, hardware, 18 x 15″. Courtesy of the artist.
"Outtakes" // Art21 Magazine
There's a new column in the Art21 magazine called "Outtakes" and I compiled the first post for the site here. Read about the new exhibition Art in the Age of the Internet and other news from the week.
Nam June Paik. Internet Dream, 1994. Credit: ICA Boston
Stop motion
I made another stop motion video of one of my recent paintings of a knot.
Barbara Kruger's cover for New York Magazine
This Week in Art: 1.29-2.4: Fifty Artists Design “New York” Magazine Covers In Public Art Project
Honoring the fiftieth anniversary of New York magazine last fall, fifty prominent New York-based artists are working with the publication to create a series of commemorative covers. The first eight designs were announced last week, including “PRUMP/TUTIN” by Barbara Kruger. The covers will be shown around New York as a public art exhibition, on view in a variety of venues across all five boroughs, complete with free prints for the first viewers to arrive.
Also this week:
- Laurie Anderson and Kronos Quartet released a new video from their forthcoming album, Landfall, inspired by Anderson’s experience of Hurricane Sandy.
- William Wegman donated 174 short videos to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, encompassing all of the artist’s video works created between 1970 and 1999.
- Finally, Lorde added an excerpt from Jenny Holzer’s 1977 Inflammatory Essays to her Grammys outfit last night as a form of protest. Lorde had considered not attending the awards because she wasn’t given the opportunity to perform solo like the other male nominees in her category for Album of the Year.
READ the rest of "This Week in Art" on the Art21 site here.
Hank Willis Thomas's cover