Bruno David Gallery: Friday, 21 November 2014
TOM REED: everybody knows this is nowhere
LAURA BEARD: The Ravenna Suite (Project Room)
AMY ENKELMANN-REED: Walk with me (New Media Room)
November 21, 2014 – January 10, 2015
Opening Reception: Friday, November 21, 2014 from 6 to 9 pm
Gallery Talk: Saturday, December 13, 2014 at 3 pm
In everyone knows this is nowhere, the artwork is rustic in appearance and in mood. The pieces are often characterized by colorfully muted tree stumps, teepees, totem poles, and flowers; however, instead of a blank canvas, Reed begins most of his paintings on pages torn out of coloring books or word finds, which show through the layered paint and add new dimension and character. This process allows him to “start his work with a dialogue.” From this unconventional beginning, he transforms these pages into beautifully stylized panels that can tell a story with just one image.
Reed states that “the link between experiencing nature and imagining it is at the foundation of my practice. The landscape becomes a setting for imagined realities and personal references to outsider art, poetry, and folk art. Taking cues from Joseph Yoakum and Martin Ramirez, I map out poetic and highly stylized depictions of natural settings where fiction and reality meet. In these compositions, intricate patterns elaborate a means to reinvent and question our relationship to nature. Ultimately, my pieces exist somewhere between reality and dreams, opening up a compelling and poetic window on both.”
In the Project Room, we are pleased to present Laura Beard’s exhibition The Ravenna Suite. This exhibition is organized by Cleo Azariadis. Beard writes on this new series of work “Working from the tenant that nonobjective painting in its purest form is both conceptual and primal, I am constantly drawn to the elemental force that remains painting's highest potential. The Ravenna Suite is based on a recent summer residency in Italy and Austria in 2014. My compositions create a balance between the forces of expansion and the forces of contraction. Expansion taken to its extreme results in the creation of bold negative space and demonstrative asymmetry. Contraction taken to its extreme results in a dot of infinite compression. There is significant velocity and volition present in my mark making which describes my process in terms of time, speed, direction, the ability to make conscious choices and exercise control, while continuously embracing the accidental and the random. Perception of my environment, both physically and emotionally, keeps my imagery in flux. I concentrate on creating a body of work but resist any connection to style or reproducing the same painting again and again. What is communicated in my painting can be said in no other way.”
In the New Media Room, the gallery presents a new video work by Amy Enkelmann-Reed, Walk with me. “Walk with me is an extension of my practice in focused attention and observation. Interruptions have become the norm and genuine moments of listening and being “present” are less and less familiar. Walks allow me the chance to directly experience internal thoughts. Thought clutter as the soundtrack in nature lies in contrast to the cell phone, text vibration, or air conditioners cranking on. I am interested in unplanned, stolen moments always seeking metaphors that reflect on our culture’s current preoccupations and movement towards the loss of real moments of observation.”
LAURA BEARD: The Ravenna Suite (Project Room)
AMY ENKELMANN-REED: Walk with me (New Media Room)
November 21, 2014 – January 10, 2015
Opening Reception: Friday, November 21, 2014 from 6 to 9 pm
Gallery Talk: Saturday, December 13, 2014 at 3 pm
In everyone knows this is nowhere, the artwork is rustic in appearance and in mood. The pieces are often characterized by colorfully muted tree stumps, teepees, totem poles, and flowers; however, instead of a blank canvas, Reed begins most of his paintings on pages torn out of coloring books or word finds, which show through the layered paint and add new dimension and character. This process allows him to “start his work with a dialogue.” From this unconventional beginning, he transforms these pages into beautifully stylized panels that can tell a story with just one image.
Reed states that “the link between experiencing nature and imagining it is at the foundation of my practice. The landscape becomes a setting for imagined realities and personal references to outsider art, poetry, and folk art. Taking cues from Joseph Yoakum and Martin Ramirez, I map out poetic and highly stylized depictions of natural settings where fiction and reality meet. In these compositions, intricate patterns elaborate a means to reinvent and question our relationship to nature. Ultimately, my pieces exist somewhere between reality and dreams, opening up a compelling and poetic window on both.”
In the Project Room, we are pleased to present Laura Beard’s exhibition The Ravenna Suite. This exhibition is organized by Cleo Azariadis. Beard writes on this new series of work “Working from the tenant that nonobjective painting in its purest form is both conceptual and primal, I am constantly drawn to the elemental force that remains painting's highest potential. The Ravenna Suite is based on a recent summer residency in Italy and Austria in 2014. My compositions create a balance between the forces of expansion and the forces of contraction. Expansion taken to its extreme results in the creation of bold negative space and demonstrative asymmetry. Contraction taken to its extreme results in a dot of infinite compression. There is significant velocity and volition present in my mark making which describes my process in terms of time, speed, direction, the ability to make conscious choices and exercise control, while continuously embracing the accidental and the random. Perception of my environment, both physically and emotionally, keeps my imagery in flux. I concentrate on creating a body of work but resist any connection to style or reproducing the same painting again and again. What is communicated in my painting can be said in no other way.”
In the New Media Room, the gallery presents a new video work by Amy Enkelmann-Reed, Walk with me. “Walk with me is an extension of my practice in focused attention and observation. Interruptions have become the norm and genuine moments of listening and being “present” are less and less familiar. Walks allow me the chance to directly experience internal thoughts. Thought clutter as the soundtrack in nature lies in contrast to the cell phone, text vibration, or air conditioners cranking on. I am interested in unplanned, stolen moments always seeking metaphors that reflect on our culture’s current preoccupations and movement towards the loss of real moments of observation.”
BRUNO DAVID GALLERY
3721 WASHINGTON BOULEVARD
SAINT LOUIS MO 63108
314.531.3030
posted by Bill Barrett at 2:44 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home