Dedicated to covering the visual arts community in Connecticut.

Thursday, April 24, 2008

Ron Sloan paintings opening Saturday in New Haven

New Haven Free Public Library Art Gallery
133 Elm St., New Haven
"I Paint": Visionary Artworks by Ronald J. Sloan
Apr. 19—May 23, 2008
Artist Reception: Sat., Apr. 26, 2008, 2:30—4:30 p.m.

Press release

Outsider, Obsessive, visionary, self-taught, Surrealist. All of these describe Ron Sloan's artwork. The imagery in his paintings carries elements of the mysterious, the morbid, the natural, and the magical. The vivid intensity of his color palette and the echoing, leaning sinewy figures consistently builds each piece into a Blakean Fearful A-symmetry.

Obsessive, indeed, as a visit to Ron Sloan's studio revealed at least four work-areas of on-going multiple painting projects, with dozens of vivid and completed works populating all available spaces and walls!

Sloan's work is part of numerous private collections and has been included in hundreds of group and solo exhibits around the country during his forty plus years of painting.

Ron Sloan was born in Brooklyn, NY, in 1932. The Fellowships he has been awarded over the years—1984 and 1985, at the Provincetown MA Fine Arts Work Centre, an NEA Grant for Painting in 1987, and a 1995 Grant for Painting by the Connecticut Commission on the Arts—have enabled him to generate a vast array of paintings. He presently lives in Norfolk, CT.

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CCSU Mural Slam this Saturday

CCSU Mural Slam
Welte Garage Rooftop
1615 Stanley St., New Britain
CCSU Mural Slam
Sat., Apr. 26, 9 a.m.—5 p.m.

Press release

Calling all graffiti artists, muralists, scenic painters, air brush artists, and activists! The 1st International Mural Slam is being held in New Britain, CT in conjunction with the community-based mural painting program at Central CT State University. Artists will paint 4’ x 12’ sections of wall on the roof of Welte Parking Garage, with prizes awarded for the best and worst pieces.

Featuring:
• Internationally recognized artists!
• Internationally unrecognized artists!
• Muralists!
• Graffiti artists!
• Moderately attractive people making art!
• Awkward prizes!
WHO: GRAFFITI ARTISTS, MURALISTS, SCENIC PAINTERS, AIR BRUSH ARTISTS, ETC./ HIGH SCHOOL (AGE 16) AND UP COST: $10.00 PER PERSON

IMPORTANT:
• Any Imagery is allowed. However, use better judgment.
• All Artists need their own supplies.
• Artists are given 4ft by 12ft space to work. The areas will be primed ahead of time .
OPEN TO ALL ARTISTS

Registration information: Email all registration information to
CCSUMURALSLAM@YAHOO.COM. In your email, please state the following:
• Name(s) of person(s)
• Phone number where you can be contacted
• Any alternate email addresses you might be using
• Age(s) of all participants
• medium you will be working with (i.e., Graffiti [spray paint])
A confirmation email will be sent once your registration is received.

Anyone spraying paint must wear an OSHA-approved respirator.

Fortin/Pagano opening Friday night with music

The River Street Gallery @ Fair Haven Furniture
72 Blatchley Ave., New Haven, (203) 776-3099
1/1: An Exhibition of Work by Oi Fortin & Liz Pagano
Apr. 11—May 23, 2008
Opening Reception: Fri., Apr. 25, 5—8 p.m.

Press release

An opening of artwork by Oi Fortin and Liz Pagano at Fair Haven Furniture. With music by the Inflatables.

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A/V showcase at City Lights in Bridgeport Friday night

City Lights Gallery
37 Markle Ct., Bridgeport, (203) 334-7788
An Experiment in Light and Sound
Fri., Apr. 25, 8—11 p.m.

Press release

Four different projections and monitors ll over the gallery. Sangria and popcorn. BYOB, $3 donation to help the gallery. Featuring works by Dustin DeMilio, Tony Baloney, Kim Mikenis, Keith Lorraine, Dan Comboni, PeteFromAcrossTheStreet, Drake & Moesha, Simon O'Reilly, Gobler Toys, Sean Corvino, Rob Beam, gordon*, Sarah Comboni, Robert Matthew, more TBA.

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Thursday, April 17, 2008

Art and "moral geographies"

In writing about the current show of work by photographers Hank Paper and Marjorie Wolfe at Kehler Liddell Gallery in Westville, Israel at 60: Time and Diversity, I stated that "the show eschews the political controversies swirling around the Middle East for a couple of personal travelogues." I didn't choose to address the implications of that focus while also noting that the militarization of Israeli society was implicit in the guns bristling in several of Paper's prints.

But Stephen Vincent Kobasa, the New Haven Advocate's acute art critic (as well as a deeply conscientious peace activist), has—unsurprisingly—thought about the show in those terms. Kobasa writes:

All photographs censor the world. And it is customary to accept the frame's arrogance as we do the proscenium arch—the invisible extended landscape must exist, or else the visible image would vanish.

In the panoramic work of a photographer such as Sze Tsung Leong, we are confident that the horizon continues, that the geography of the world remains intact, even though it is out of sight.

But there are moral geographies, too, and their absence from the frame cannot always be reconstructed by the imagination. It is impossible not to think about this when making one's way through the exhibition Israel at 60: Time and Diversity at the Kehler Liddell Gallery in Westville until Apr. 27.

Like all of Kobasa's articles, it is an essay well worth reading, written with uncommon grace and unafraid to probe uncomfortable but necessary questions. When oppression is a reality (as is terrorism), can there be a truly neutral art?

Kobasa concludes, "It may be that the power of what is on the gallery walls here is what it demands that we see without being shown—the lines of Palestinians, standing at the checkpoints, just out of sight."

Riggs opening at Westport Arts Center Friday

Westport Arts Center
51 Riverside Ave., Westport, (203) 222-7070
Harvee Riggs: Found
Apr. 18—June 8, 2008
Opening Reception: Fri., Apr. 18, 6:30—8:30 p.m.

Press release

Artist Harvee Riggs is having a show at the Westport Arts Center, with an opening tomorrow evening. Riggs specializes in mixed media box assemblages. He was profiled on Connecticut Art Scene as part of coverage of the 2006 City-Wide Open Studios.

According to his artist statement, "My mixed media works are attempts to create intuitively. Juxtaposing objects, typically within a box. I explore and discover what is possible and create the jamais vu, the never before seen. Unrelated objects acquired at different times and from different places, seemingly by chance, can be assembled into new, dynamic apparently inevitable relationships. The medium allows for an unconstrained freedom and produces a mystery of coincidence."

Opening Reception & Creative Cocktail Hour at Real Art Ways tonight

Real Art Ways
56 Arbor St., Hartford, (860) 232-1006
Ellen Shattuck
Apr. 17—May 11, 2008
Opening Reception & Creative Cocktail Hour: Thurs., Apr. 17, 6—10 p.m.

Press release

Real Art Ways opens an exhibition of prints by Ellen Shattuck Thurs., Apr. 17, 2008, during the monthly Creative Cocktail Hour, from 6—10 p.m. Admission is $10 for the general public, $5 for Real Art Ways members. Gallery hours are Tuesdays through Thursdays, and Sundays, from 2—10 p.m; and Fridays and Saturdays from 2—11 p.m. The gallery is closed on Mondays. Ellen Shattuck's exhibit runs through May 11, 2008.

The phrase "domestic arts" takes on new meaning in the work of Ellen Shattuck. While that phrase conjures up a vision of tranquil perfection, Shattuck's work exposes a truth more familiar to many mothers: homemaking is code for "organized chaos." In the midst of chaos, emotions run high.

While her two young sons nap, Shattuck retreats to her kitchen to create prints full of spite, self-pity and selfishness—the flip-side emotions of motherhood. For example, in some prints, she represents her personal struggle with homemaking in the form of human figures, overwhelmed and vengeful as they work, who battle human-sized kitchen utensils.

Shattuck explores quieter emotions—concern, frustration and even monotony—in her wallpaper. Basing this work on the repetitive style of 18th Century toile textiles, she explores the never-ending and minutiae-focused aspects of her daily childcare routine.

"In my wallpaper," Shattuck says, "the pleasant garden scenes [shown in 18th century wallpapers] have been replaced with work: laundry, nursing, expressing breast milk, dishes, feeding, and cooking."

Shattuck grew up in Rutland, Vermont. She graduated from the University of Massachusetts with a B.A. in Art and Women's Studies and received an MFA from York University in Toronto. Her work has been exhibited in Ontario, Vermont, Massachusetts, Arkansas, Wisconsin and New York. She lives with her husband and two boys in Boston.

Ellen Shattuck is one of six artists selected from 236 who submitted work to Real Art Ways' 2007 open call for emerging artists living in New York and New England. Each of the six artists receives a solo exhibition, a print publication documenting their work, and participates in an artist's talk.

Ellen Shattuck's artist talk will be at Real Art Ways on May 1, at 6:00 p.m. This is a free event, and is open to the public.

Monday, April 14, 2008

Art opening at Gallery 195 on Tuesday

Gallery 195
195 Church St., 4th floor (NewAlliance Bank), New Haven, (203) 772-2788
Ginger Hanrahan & Amanda Martin
Apr. 9—June 27, 2008
Opening reception: Tues., Apr. 15, 5—7 p.m.

Press release

The Arts Council of Greater New Haven presents works by Ginger Hanrahan and Amanda Martin at Gallery 195 at NewAlliance Bank on 195 Church St., fourth floor. The exhibit takes place Apr. 9 to June 27, with an artists' reception on Tuesday, Apr. 15, 5—7 p.m. The public is invited to attend.

In this exhibit, Ginger Hanrahan's rich paintings explore her intricate relationship to the environment, with a particular focus on the shape and color of nature's often overlooked items. Amanda Martin's photographs—represented as circular mandalas—explore the colorful and repetitive structure of flowers and plants.

Ginger Hanrahan received an MFA in painting at Western Connecticut State University and a Masters in Public Health at Yale. She has exhibited her work extensively, including the Bowery Gallery in New York City, Silvermine Guild Art Center in New Canaan, and The Bruce S. Kershner Gallery in Fairfield. She currently resides in Bethel, CT.

Amanda Martin studied architectural history at Smith College and did post-graduate work in textile design at the Rhode Island School of Design. Her work has been showcased extensively in the region, including the John Slade Ely House, the Eli Whitney Museum and the New Haven Lawn Club. She currently lives in New Haven, CT.

For further information about the exhibition and Gallery 195 at NewAlliance Bank, please call the Arts Council at 203-772-2788.

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Israel through two pairs of eyes

Kehler Liddell Gallery
873 Whalley Ave., New Haven, (203) 389-9555
Israel at 60: Time and Diversity
Apr. 3—27, 2008

Two photographers, two different but not unrelated takes on the same subject. In this case, photographers Hank Paper and Marjorie Wolfe are showing images shot in Israel at the Kehler Liddell Gallery. Ostensibly marking the 60th anniversary of the establishment of the state of Israel, the show eschews the political controversies swirling around the Middle East for a couple of personal travelogues.

Paper is gifted at the art of street photography. (In an objectivity alert, I work for Hank Paper at Best Video in Hamden.) He has a strong intuition for seeing telling juxtapositions, amusing correlations and compositional complementarities. There are numerous examples of this among his images in this show. It's noticeable in his first picture, entitled "Palms." On first look, the picture seems to be just a shot of a couple of young women on a pool deck in the foreground leading a group of people in the pool in water aerobics. It is the second glance that is the hook. The two women have their arms raised in "V"s-a stance mirrored by two large palm trees in the background. Their long fronds arch up from the trunk.

This show isn't about the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. But its presence is implicitly felt in several of Paper's images. In "Love Not War," a male and female soldier in fatigues gaze joyfully into each other's eyes. The conflict is there in the image of two soldiers, backs to the camera and guns slung over their shoulders, among the four people at the Wailing Wall ("Four Figures at the Wailing Wall.")

Throughout his shots is a running theme of the tension between, or the coexistence of, the ancient and the modern. This angle is present in the aforementioned "Four Figures at the Wailing Wall": an Orthodox man in traditional dress black suit and hat is seated facing the ancient wall in a molded white plastic chair. It is represented in images that capture people in modern dress with, primarily, men in the raiments of the Orthodox.

This tension is also evident in the architecture and is captured metaphorically in the large image "World of Spices." In this image, brightly colored plastic trays—purple, yellow, red—display mounds of powdered spices for sale. Heaped in the modern plastic containers, the spices (shades of gold, brown, orange, red and gray) look like ancient colored sands. From the lower left corner, a hand reaches in toward one of the containers. The purple in the sleeve of the sweater complements the color of the container. The weathered hand reinforces the evocation of antiquity. The impact of "World of Spices" is heightened by its display below "Jordanian Night Clerk, Haifa." This image is of an ultra-modern hotel reception desk with a background of rich, almost blacklight-glowing purple. The design diagonals around the desk echo the diagonals marked by the edges of the spice bins.

Paper's stock-in-trade is as a street photographer, capturing snapshots that rise to the level of art. His technique is strong enough to serve the power of his images but it isn’t that of a master photographer. Marjorie Wolfe, on the other hand, is well-schooled in photographic technique. As she notes in her artist statement, in Israel she worked differently from her usual method, which is to photograph "slowly, precisely and formally." Notwithstanding her self-conscious attempt to adopt more of a street photography approach, her images are notably more formalistic than Paper's. Details are sharp and subjects appear to have been chosen more for their compositional coherence.

About half of her photos are in color, a departure for Wolfe, who has long worked primarily in black and white. She approaches the addition of color to her imagery much as a chef might experiment with adding a new seasoning to a cuisine—starting with a pinch and not a tablespoon. As an example, the decrepit peeling building wall in "Façade" is mostly monochromatic. Exposed gray concrete, chips of white, stained beige paint. But catching the eye are the three window frames, painted in bright turquoise.

Texture and architecture take precedence in Wolfe's images over figures. There is a particularly beautiful black and white image of the ruins at Masada ("Ruin, Masada"). The crumbling stone wall curves around, the left side embedded with geometric curves and lines of mosaic. In the right center there is one arched open window space. Through this opening and above the walls one looks out into a cloudless sky, its silken spotlessness a contrast to the hard-won cragginess of the ancient architecture.

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Wednesday, April 09, 2008

Tribute to Walter James opening Friday

Small Space Gallery
70 Audubon St., 2nd floor, New Haven, (203) 772-2788
A Tribute to Walter James
Apr. 4—May 30, 2008
Opening reception: Fri., Apr. 11, 5—7 p.m.

Press release

The Arts Council of Greater New Haven presents A Tribute to Walter James at the Small Space Gallery at 70 Audubon Street, second floor. The exhibit takes place from April 4 to May 30 at the Arts Council's offices, with a reception on Friday, Apr. 11, 5—7 p.m. The public is invited to attend. Regular gallery hours are Monday to Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

A Tribute to Walter James features a stunning selection of sculptures and masks created by the late artist Walter James. An active member of the community, James devoted much of his life to the arts, including designing and building a Newhallville monument on Bassett Street. The show is organized by Walter's son Darius James and friend Fethi Meghelli.

•••

Walter James was not only a talented sculptor. He was also a true gentleman. I had the privilege of meeting and talking with James in 2001 when I was putting together a package of articles on that year's City-Wide Open Studios for the New Haven Advocate. James was then sharing studio space with other metal sculptors in a building on Front Street. This is what I wrote at the time:

A brass lock. A candleholder. A pitchfork. A rusted catalytic converter. What do these objects have in common? They all have second lives as elements in masks created by sculptor Walter James.

James himself has had a second life. While he studied clay and stone sculpting at the Art Students League in New York City in the late 1940's and early '50's, marriage and family forced him to put his art aspirations on the back burner. For almost three decades, he made his living in the aerospace industry. Fifteen years ago, after retiring on disability following a series of heart attacks, James had the time and desire to return to sculpture. He got involved with Creative Arts Workshop and studied with sculptor Ann Lehman.

"I had to learn the principles of art all over again because I was away from it for 25-30 years. Everything had changed," says James.

One difference was in the acceptance of metal as a sculptural medium. And, drawing on the example of forebears like Marcel Duchamp, James gravitated toward incorporating scrap-found objects-into his creations. He rejects the view that found objects are "not art."

"If a form is beautiful and it's a readymade article and you can use it something else, I see no harm in it," argues James.

In fact, he often lets the objects he collects suggest ideas. Much of his work in the past half-decade has been making metal masks inspired by those of so-called primitive cultures. Hanging on the wall of the riverside industrial studio he shares with fellow metal sculptors Diane Platt, Catherine Ocalewski, Val Kropiwinicki, Michael Teitsh and Allen Braman is "Oba," named after one of the main spirits from the voodoo religion, according to James. The fearsome mask with jagged, squared-off teeth has a band arching across its forehead made from the "beauty ring" of a car wheel.

"I try not to copy any particular mask but assimilate the spirit of it," he says.

What fascinates James is how motifs recur in disparate human societies separated by distance and time—the masks, music, pottery, weaving, religion. One of James' recent observations is the recurrence of the use of a bird symbolism on masks.

"Northwest Indians, New Guineans, Africans—you couldn't get any further separated and they all make masks with birds perched on top. And it's all a symbol of wisdom," says James. "The more I observe these things, the more I realize we're more alike than different."

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Tuesday, April 08, 2008

Artspace auction preview opening on Thursday

Artspace
50 Orange St, New Haven, (203) 772-2709
Spectacular! Benefit Auction Preview Exhibition
Apr. 10—May 3, 2008
Opening Reception: Thurs., Apr. 10, 6—8 p.m.

Press release

Artspace, New Haven's premier non-profit contemporary art gallery and project space, is holding their annual Spectacular! Benefit Auction on Sat., May 3, 2008 from 5:30—8 p.m. The Auction is Artspace's main fundraising event, with proceeds supporting award-winning visual arts based community and education programs, innovative exhibitions and public art. The multi-venue event begins at 5:30 p.m. with a Silent Auction at Artspace showcasing multimedia work of over 90 area and national artists. Guests will bid on these unique, affordable artworks while enjoying hor d'ouevres provided by 116 Crown, New Haven's newest New York Times rated "excellent" small plate bistro, with cocktails featuring TRU Vodka, the new organic, sustainable, eco-friendly vodka.

Following the Silent Auction at 6:45 p.m., the event moves down the street to the former Woolworth's storefront at 868 Chapel Street, this year's live auction space. Upon arrival, guests will place bids on special Silent Auction items at the Live Space. Lots this year include ceramics by Hayne Bayless and Louise Harter, a library of coffee-table contemporary art books from Yale University Press, gift certificates to Tuscano Ristorante, tickets to the New Haven Symphony Orchestra, and a special Chef's Tasting at 116 Crown.

The Live Auction—beginning promptly at 7:15 p.m.—will be moderated by dashing Auctioneer Guy Bennett, Head of Impressionist and Modern Art at Christie's. On the block this year is artwork by renowned artists Steve DiGiovanni, Maira Kalman, Zachary Keeting, Nathan Lewis, Liz Markus, Edward Steichen and Chuck Webster. Also up for bid in the Live Auction are unique art experiences including a full-color custom portrait by artist Tim Nikiforuk, original artworks by Clint Jukkala, Christopher Mir and Kammy Roulner, accompanied by a case of top shelf wines from Nicholls Wine, and a private tour of the Yale Center for British Art.

Tickets to the Artspace Spectacular Benefit Auction are available for an advance price of $75 per person and can be purchased online at www.artspacenh.org/auction, or by calling (203) 772-2709 x12. Tickets will also be available at the door on Sat., May 3, 2008 for $100 per person. All artwork available in the Silent and Live Auctions will be on view at Artspace from April 10 through May 2, for viewing and placement of early bids, with no ticket required.

There will be an Opening Reception for our Spectacular! Benefit Auction Preview Exhibition this Thurs., Apr. 10, from 6—8 p.m. Artspace has gathered over 90 contemporary works by well-known national and local artists, and will auction them to the highest bidder at our annual Spectacular! Benefit Auction on May 3. Preview unique art experiences and silent auction lots at our exciting opening reception. Place early bids on your favorite pieces, and chat with the many participating artists in attendance.

Wednesday openings in Cheshire and Hartford

The opening reception and award ceremony for the Cheshire Art League's Annual Visual Exhibit will be held at the Cheshire Public Library in the Mary Baldwin Room, on Wed., Apr. 9. from 6:30—8:30. The awards will be presented at 7:30. This event is free and open to the public. Refreshments will be served.

This exhibit will run through the month of April. The Cheshire Art League is a non profit organization dedicated to individual and community awareness of the Arts and how they reflect and affect our culture. For more information please e-mail cheshireartleag@aol.com or call 272-2500.

•••

Paper/New England
56 Arbor St., Hartford, (860) 729-1146
On Paper II: Large Works on Paper (Presented at Paper/New England at the Bushnell's Promenade Gallery)
Mar. 4—Apr.28, 2008
Opening reception: Wed., Apr. 9, 5:30—7 p.m.

There will be a reception for the show Paper/New England has organized at the Bushnell's Promenade Gallery tomorrow evening from 5:30—7 p.m. As with all shows by Paper/New England, it features works on paper or made of paper. The featured artists are Willow Bascom, Sarah Bliss, Patricia Carrigan, Leigh Craven, Diane Fine, Kathleen Florance, Jane Goldman, Meghan Gordon, Sabrina Marques, Amaryllis Siniossoglou, David Skora and Matthew Woodward.

The Promenade Gallery is at the Bushnell Center for the Performing Arts at 166 Capitol Avenue in Hartford.

Saturday, April 05, 2008

Photo show opening at Kehler Liddell Sunday

Kehler Liddell Gallery
873 Whalley Ave., New Haven, (203) 389-9555
Israel at 60: Time and Diversity
Apr. 3—27, 2008
Opening Reception: Sun., Apr. 6, 2—5 p.m.

Press release

Kehler Liddell Gallery is proud to present a photographic portrait of diversity in Israel. This ancient land of the "chosen people" has today given way to a population of multifarious origin and religious orientation that is both the promise of-and impediment to-a secure and harmonious future. In recent trips, independent of each other, photographers Hank Paper and Marjorie Wolfe used techniques of street and landscape photography to capture the texture and state of Israeli life today. The exhibition entitled Israel at 60: Time and Diversity will be on display from April 3-27, 2008.

Israel's blue light and golden stone stands witness to more than 3,000 years of recorded history. Today it finds many rivers running turbulently indifferent directions, often at cross purposes, yet hopefully toward a common and tranquil sea. This exhibition is not an exercise in immediate journalism or contemporary conflict, instead it is a portrait of what the country was and of the people today going about their spiritual, vocational, and recreational business in a democratic land.

Hank Paper is a new member at the Kehler Liddell Gallery; this will be his first show at the location and his second exhibition in collaboration with Marjorie Wolfe. Paper has photographed around the world and has had work featured in a variety of publications including Art in New England, Hassadah Magazine, The San Francisco Examiner, and The L.A. Times Sunday Magazine. He has curated an exhibition at ALL Gallery in New Haven and shown at Hebrew University in Jerusalem. Paper's photographs range from the whimsical, to the contemplative and melancholic, but always portray their subject matter with insight, dazzling color, and light.

The highly textured and vividly colored photographs of Israeli street happenings by Marjorie Wolfe are a departure from her previous subjects which allowed for slow, precise, and formal capturing. The rapidity of the memories and activities swirling around forced Wolfe to do away with her tripod and instead walk and shoot as the country unveiled itself in front of her. In her vibrant photographs, Wolfe conveys the bright colors of the Neve Tzedek and Jerusalem Arab tunnels, the soft light of the Dead Sea and harsh textures of the desert, the sounds of language and traffic, the aromas of seas and spices, and the clash of high-rise modernity against the ancient ruins of Masada and Caesaria.

The public is welcome join the artist and community in celebration of the artist reception on Sun., Apr. 6, from 2—5 p.m. at the Kehler Liddell Gallery, located in Westville Village at 873 Whalley Ave. There is no admission fee for the gallery or reception. Hours of operation are Thurs.—Sun., 11 a.m.— 4 p.m. and by appointment. Further information on the gallery and Hank Paper can be seen online at www.kehlerliddell.com.

Thursday, April 03, 2008

Hello My Name Is Gallery opening Saturday

Hello My Name Is Gallery
838 Whalley Ave., Apt. 4, New Haven
PLUSH!
Apr. 5—26, 2008.
Opening reception: Sat., Apr. 5, 6:30—10 p.m.

Press release

Hello My Name Is Gallery is proud to present PLUSH!, a group exhibition featuring the work of 30 national and international established and emerging plush artists. These artists use textiles and soft sculpture to create curious creatures and objects that incorporate Pop Art, Surrealism, fantasy and childhood nostalgia.

PLUSH! examines the burgeoning artistic practice of "designer" plush, an art form that has it's roots in toys (and nostalgia for toys), soft sculpture, pop art, urban illustration and design, and the do-it-yourself craft uprising. The artists in PLUSH! present a diverse range of work. From the ultra-cute and Pop Art-inspired, to work that is darker, more adult-oriented, and everything in between. The work in PLUSH! blurs the boundaries between fine art and consumer product, akin to the rising designer toy movement embodied in the limited edition toys sold at stores like KidRobot and New Haven's own Channel 1.

PLUSH! at Hello my name is Gallery, runs from Apr.5—Apr.26. The opening reception is Apr. 5., starting at 6:30 p.m. and ending 10 p.m. Gallery hours are Sundays, 12—4 p.m. and by appointment Monday through Saturday. For more information, or directions to the Gallery, please visit: www.hellomynameisgallery.com.

Also on Apr. 5, starting at 6:30 p.m., our opening is partnered with a music event downstairs. ArLoW presents sets by DJ's Johnny Strangler and Garage Flower of Shag Frenzy, Hartford's only indie dance night. The weekly event has been located at Sweet Jane's on Pratt Street in Downtown Hartford for a year now, and the crowds are getting more mad for it as time goes on. Johnny Strangler and Garage Flower are the resident DJ's, playing the best in classic alternative dance and postpunk, new indie dancerock, and the occasional campy disco number. Opening up for the Shag Frenzy DJ's will be a live set by The Spigot Orchestra. Making their triumphant return, they will play a selection of the only the most ironic of 80's cover music. For more information about music at ArLoW, please contact Adam Kubota at adam.kubota@gmail.com

City Gallery Invitational show opening Saturday

City Gallery
994 State St., New Haven, (203) 782-2489
City Gallery Invitational
Through Apr. 27, 2008.
Opening Reception: Sat., Apr.5, 2—5 p.m.
Meet the Artists: Sun., Apr. 27, 2—4 p.m.

Press release

City Gallery is pleased to invite four area artists to show their work in a mixed media exhibit, City Gallery Invitational. The artists are Sal Naclerio, Thomas Stavovy, Gregory Vershbow and Jonathan Waters. The exhibition dates are April 3—27.

In Sal Naclerio's paintings, which have a limited palette of black, gold, blue and red, the inspiration comes from his subconscious and natural surroundings. The paint is applied in thin layers similar to glazes.

In his monotypes, Thomas Stavovy derives his inspiration from process, where he seeks abstract forms that are in conversation with each other and the edge of the image. The relationships raise questions about time and change.

Gregory Vershbow's photographs, titled "Emerging," are formal studies of subjects ranging from antique maps to water teeming with eels. They explore how a subject moves in and out of optical clarity in different light environments. Vershbow has previously been profiled on Connecticut Art Scene.

In Jonathan Waters' wall pieces, which include drawing and sculpture, the edge becomes line, encompasses the mass, which simply changes visually as one passes, alternately revealing or hiding the whole.

The Opening Reception is Sat., Apr. 5, from 2—5 pm. In addition: Meet The Artists is Sun., Apr. 27, from 2—4 pm. The gallery is open Thursdays through Sundays 12—4 pm, or by appointment.

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