ALL Gallery reception Saturday

ALL Arts & Literature Laboratory
Erector Square, 319 Peck St. Building 2, New Haven, (203) 671-5175
Transformations
Aug. 17—Sept. 23, 2007
Artists' Reception: Sat., Sept. 8, 5—7 PM

Press release

Arts + Literature Laboratory (ALL) is proud to present a juried exhibition of recent sculptural work by ten artists from Connecticut and across the nation: Amelia de Neergaard (West Cornwall, CT); Peter Dellert (Holyoke, MA); Rachel Green (Savannah, GA); Jim Jacobs (Ogden, UT); Jason Lanka (Williamsburg, VA); Joseph Saccio (North Haven, CT); Paul Sakren (New Preston, CT); Mari Skarp (Harwinton, CT); Stephanie Victa, (West Palm Beach, FL); and Fay Wood (Saugerties, NY).

Transformations features non-site specific works that explore an innovative bricolage of natural and/or discarded materials as an expression of environmental remediation and the spiritual materiality of the sculptural form. Highlights of the exhibition include:

• "Twig Field" by Amelia de Neergaard evokes a sense of structure and randomness. The artist is drawn to the linear peculiarities of twigs and branches and their similarities to calligraphic markings. By connecting them with man-made elements and form, she seeks to emphasize their naturalness and individuality.

• Peter Dellert's sculptures "Accretion" and "Gleaning" are based on biomorphic forms inspired by seeds, shells, pods, and his imagination. These forms are reduced to a minimal essence while still allowing for multiple interpretations.

• "Shell Game" by Rachel Green is constructed from used shotgun shell casings. Her sculptures examine and question our collective values by transforming postconsumer items.

• "Plumb" by Jason Lanka focuses on his memory of his place within the disappearing residue of an agrarian culture tied so closely to the land on which it depended for its survival. The land has a mythic history within the contemporary experience of what the West should be and what it truly is.

• "Cocoon" by Jim Jacobs is an intersection of processed and non-processed natural materials. The limbs gradually penetrating and disrupting the structured maple are entwined with the processed material overtaking and strangling the mulberry limbs.

• Paul Sakren's "Tine Anns An Bolg" references one of the early tribes of Ireland, known as the Bag People (Fir-Bolg), who carried everything in bags. They were also a people who reverenced the sun and moon, and had fire feasts at strategic times of the year. "Tine Anns An Bolg" means 'fire in the bag', or 'fire in the belly,' and it refers to that skin bag carrying a glowing ember to keep the eternal fire alive.

• "Wire" by Mari Skarp (see image) is a commentary on the disappearance and destruction of farmlands in the United States, and the farm animals, who no longer have the ability to live naturally. All of the materials used in her work were found at abandoned farms.

• Stephanie Victa's "Spiral of Horns" was inspired by the natural growth patterns of horns. Horns of bovids are important social organs; their growth is often indicative of population characteristics and habitat quality. She has stripped away the physical being and left only the fundamental characteristics as a trophy.