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PAST
GALLERY EVENTS
WORD
Curated
by Paul Laster and Renee Riccardo
October 30 - December 6, 2004
Opening Reception:
Saturday
October 30, 2004
3-6pm
Bronx, NY.
The Bronx River Art Center (BRAC) is pleased to present Word, a
group exhibition organized by Paul Laster and Renee Riccardo, exploring
language as an integral part of an artistÕs work. The exhibition presents
painting, sculpture, installation, and works on paper by eight emerging
talents, including Chris Caccamise, Robin Dash, Deborah Grant, Greg Lamarche,
Navin June Norling, Shinique Smith, Scott Teplin and Michelle Weinberg.
Chris
Caccamise constructs intimate, playful paper sculptures of natural
scenes such as mountains and streams and manmade objects, including trucks,
cars and ships. Meticulously crafted and painted with shiny enamel, they
often include bright blocky letters that express a clever sense of humor.
Robin
Dash cuts up boxes and reconfigures the packaging into messagesÑat
times cryptic, nonsensical, or ominousÑset against backgrounds of shimmering
metallic paint, flat anatomical shapes, and bursts of color. Her exuberantly
na•ve work hovers between the comical and the tragic.
Deborah
Grant uses small-scale blackboards to make emblematic drawings of
historical figures and cartoon characters juxtaposed with social commentary.
Her graphic imagery, culled from pop culture, mixes metaphors to illustrate
the human condition.
Greg Lamarche
combines non-narrative, font-driven content, repetition and bold colors
with a fine art sensibility and application to create skillfully crafted
displays of words and symbols. His dynamic installation in the galleryÕs
windows captures the energy, movement and immediacy of contemporary life.
Navin
June Norling juxtaposes cultural stereotypes and pop iconography in
witty painting-filled installations. Artworks and objects are stacked,
piled and leaned against one another to conjure subtle layers of meaning
from altered urban debris.
Shinique
Smith makes paper-based sculptures and installations that combine
streetwise calligraphy with elements of abstract expressionism. Addressing
the architecture of the space, she constructs multi-dimensional scrawls
that explode from corners and tumble down walls.
Scott
Teplin skillfully mixes ink and watercolor to create puzzling images
of words and objects in implausible situations and strange juxtapositions.
His affection for puns, both verbal and visual, is expressed with an illustrative
style and an amusingly naughty nature.
Michelle
Weinberg constructs ambiguous tales about the visible world. Using
collages of cut found paper as her point of departure, she makes large-scale
paintings on paper that cleverly compress and edit single moments and
scenes from the larger continuum of life.
About
the curators:
Paul Laster
is an editor at Flavorpill.net, Art Asia Pacific and Boldtype.com, as
well as a contributing writer for Art in America,Tema
Celeste and amNew York.
Renee
Riccardo is an independent curator whose recent shows include "Paper
Chase" at Axel Raben Gallery and "Orchard," a fine art exhibition for
the Big Apple Fest, a citywide public art project.
***
The curators
will give a gallery talk on Saturday, November 20th, from 12-2pm.
This event
is made possible with public funds from the New York State Council on
the Arts, a state agency. Additional support is provided by the New York
City Department of Youth and Community Development, Bronx Council on the
Arts, the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs (and it's Materials
for the Arts program), Bronx Borough President Adolfo Carrion, the Bronx
Delegation of the New York City Council and US Congressman JosŽ E. Serrano's
WCS-NOAA Lower Bronx River Partnership. Foundation support is provided
by The New York Community Trust, The Carnegie Corporation of New York,
The Chase Manhattan Foundation, Helena Rubinstein Foundation and Citigroup.
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