A cool first Saturday in August
At the Ithaca Farmer's Market
But it is not a work of art by any one person, the Ithaca Farmer's Market is where this artist found family members shopping for just the freshest raspberries and just the right texture and taste in some green beens for dinner later that day. You could go and gain some inspiration shopping for food, and meet friends there you haven't seen in a while. I want to go back and buy some flowers for the table...
"Difficult Decisions"
Mixed media by Kaleb Hunkele and Nathan Lewis
In the middle of the day, I went over to the CAP Artspace at 171 The Commons in Ithaca to see some mixed media pieces by Kaleb Hunkele and Nathan Lewis. In this small scale art there is a theme of one -liners that borrows heavily from the wit and brevity of magazine and advertising headlines from the 1950's and 60's. This approach married to a certain droll humor ( one might find in a New Yorker cartoon ) is not going to tax your patience, but subtract the typography and what have you got? Maybe this borrows too much from the Richard Prince playbook for my taste, though I appreciate the nostalgia for a world prior to the digital onslaught.
At CSMA ( 330 East State Street ) writer and curator Arthur Whitman has mounted a show of drawings simply titled: "DRAWN". Figurative works, and landscapes abound, but I was caught by three large works on paper by Pamela Drix that greet you when you first walk in from the street. I welcomed the chance to look over this body of work, also glad to see that drawings ( which are often overlooked ) by several artists who were new to me were given their chance to be considered.
The Ink Shop organized a show by
Alex Contino
Down the hall there is another show organized by The Ink Shop comprised of prints and paintings by Alex Contino ( which also borrows something from Richard Prince ). This art shows some humor and deft handling of printmaking techniques in the works on display. Brushy portraits are identified by single word titles that work like the "hooks" in a pop song... you keep coming back to them...
Out on a walk up Cascadilla Creek, just below the bridge at Stewart Avenue I met up with a group of totems made of the local stone, and they had a touch of Andy Goldsworthy about them. Such an attractive location for an art show, and so unassuming... There was no one in attendance to run the gallery, and so I will have to wait and see how long the show will be up - I plan to return!
Out for a walk along Cascadilla Creek
