Emily Bellinger and company
at
"The Big Picture"
Rochester Contemporary Art Center
Looking towards the year end festivities, for the moment it is quiet here and I can reflect on the year just past. The pace of life is fast, so it is great to have a moment to recall noteworthy events, and the people who made things happen, and be thankful to be alive on this planet - even with all the really difficult things going on in the world.
I lost a close friend and colleague when Keith Howard passed away suddenly, early this year. Two art galleries that I frequented ( 1975 , and Ock Hee's Gallery ) have shut their doors recently. On the other hand Wall/Therapy is brightening up old industrial buildings in Rochester and creating a re-awakening of pride in the city and artistic entrepreneurship. Look at all the people who come out for First Fridays - that is a real art constituency - something to develop for our future.
Growing up in New York City into a family of artists, I was shaped by the people around who were always engaged in creative endeavors, so naturally I feel at my best when I am able to join in and stretch my imagination. "The Big Picture" this year is the Annual Member Exhibition at the Rochester Contemporary Art Center on East Avenue and it will certainly stretch your imagination and satisfy your needs for colors and textures in a variety of art forms.
George Wegman's "Digital Divide #1"
Some of the art on display grabbed my attention right away, and I will share some of my impressions with you. Once I crossed the threshold, looking at a wall of art that greets you, I noticed Lee Hoag's sculpture with its distinctive shape, and a wonderful painting "Digital Divide #1" by George Wegman.
"Yes or No" by Rose Mary Hooper
Acrylic on canvas
I studied a single head floating in a grey sea of acrylic paint by Rose Mary Hooper and was engaged by the risky business of creating a veil of brushstrokes that cover the face in what looks like anguish or ecstasy. Paintings weren't the only thing that caught my attention at RoCo, but I was surprised that there were so few serious sculptural works and barely any video or digital productions...
Nick Ruth
"Say What You Will" Axom Gallery Award Winner
The Axom Gallery Director's Award was given to Nick Ruth for his monoprint "Say What You Will" and this work melds three dimensional illusion with a two dimensional colorfield - and it tends to defeat the normal push-pull of color and composition in a surreal manner making the viewer really work to feel the space that is present.
Sheldon Berlyn
at RoCo
Nearby, I was attracted to the painting on paper by the artist Sheldon Berlyn who creates his art with a sweep of mixed color that is in a way related to calligraphy ( it is all in the wrist action ), but at its heart it is a carefully improvised abstraction. Sheldon Berlyn will be featured in the new year in RoCo's next iteration of "Makers & Mentors" coming up in February - so keep an eye out for that!
Two unusual works - "Human Dragon Bike" in cast iron
and
"Boogie Board"
on exhibition at Rochester Contemporary Art Center
Toward the back of the show there is a striking duo - one piece made out of florescent pink foam ( "Boogie Board" ) and a cast iron sculpture that bordered on being a cartoon ( "Human Dragon Bike" ).
Some of the most satisfying artworks can be found deep into the show including a sculptural piece called: "Shiva Nataraja" or "The Dancing Lord" by Susan Pullman Brooks which had a wood armature covered in detailed metal fragments that communicate something of the devotional deity that is alluded to in the title.
"Vera" by Dan McCormack
pinhole camera work
We have some really interesting photography in this show and one work went back to the basics: a pinhole camera print called "Vera" by Dan McCormack which has some old-fashioned charm and an unusual distortion that can hold the eye. I only wish that the art in this show had more space - many of the works seem crowded, but that is the nature of these salon-style exhibitions. With so many artworks on exhibition you can go and vote for your favorite and I think that is a fine way to celebrate what has been accomplished this year.
"Shiva Nataraja"
by Susan Pullman Brooks
at Rochester Contemporary Art Center
thru mid-January 2016
