Announcement card for the
Windsor Whip Works Art Center
including yours truly!
A wave of exhibitions is about to roll in, and all that energy that has been spent ( on making the art and preparing the shows ) is about to be put to the test. How will the public respond?
I brought my paintings down the interstate to Windsor, New York to the Windsor Whip Works Art Center for a new show with a few other select artists. The group show that came before us was still up on the walls and included an old friend from New York City - Anthony Santuoso. Mr. Santuoso is a figurative artist who I knew years ago, so it was a surprise to see his new sometimes difficult images in this place at this time. Also on view were the paintings of Melissa Sarat, that I had seen
in other galleries, and her work is very intricate with an underlying interest in voodoo masks and sorcery.
Artistic Journeys into Mysticism, Mystery, & Spirituality
painting by Melissa Sarat
at
Windsor Whip Works Art Center
Bill and Johanne Pesce, the couple who own and run the gallery are great, and the art shown in the gallery is interesting and engaging on many levels. Windsor Whip Works really supports art in this upstate community near Binghamton, and you have to respect their attention to the artists who show there, and the people who come to see the exhibitions and take part in support of their art center.
So, if you are driving along Route 17, stop in and see what they are doing, they have a beautiful building and it is so well taken care of.
Albert Paley and the faculty of the
College of Imaging Arts and Sciences
at
Bevier Gallery
Rochester Institute of Technology
Closer to home, for the faculty at R.I.T. our annual show has just opened in the Bevier Gallery and there is also the artwork I reviewed in my last blog post from Wendell Castle. Both shows are excellent and at the Bevier Gallery, located in Building 7a, the new members of the faculty who now on board have a lot to offer, and to that point, Denton Crawford from the School of Art is having a solo exhibition that just opened at Gallery r, 100 College Avenue in the city..
"Revival" by Denton Crawford
at Gallery r
Denton creates an environment with one room in this presentation and it is a little bit of a trippy eye test in some sense along with unusual sculpted objects, and graphic wall treatment as part of the show which may challenge your belief systems. In the first room at the entry there is an unusual shaped painting that includes high key color and a luxuriance of imagery that greets the visitor. Denton calls his show "Savage Sanctuary" and he remarks in his artist statement that in his " most recent paintings and sculpture he explores the relationships between religious belief, political affiliation, and individual rights and freedoms". This sounds like it is ripped right out of today's headlines! For me Denton Crawford shares some compositional energy with the likes of James Rosenquist, so it will be interesting to see how this work develops.
Denton Crawford's inner sanctum
at Gallery r
Down East Avenue at Rochester Contemporary Art Center we have prints on view in a curated show that is a collaboration between RoCo and The Print Club of Rochester. The show is called "Under Pressure" and it brings together four well known artists: Ellen Heck, Jenny Robinson, Heather Swenson, and April Vollmer for a wonderful show of works on paper and much more.
April Vollmer presents her new book
on Japanese Woodblock Printmaking
at
Rochester Contemporary Art Center
I talked briefly with April Vollmer and Heather Swenson at the opening and there were many questions I wanted to ask of them about their techniques. April presented her new book on Japanese Woodblock printing and Heather Swenson reflected on her education as a printmaker at SUNY Purchase.
A visitor surveys the prints of Jenny Robinson
at the opening of "Under Pressure"
There is much to see at RoCo including some big brave works by Jenny Robinson who uses cityscapes, and roadside architecture as the basis for some of her content. Ellen Heck was there with her works in series, and she was actively entering into a dialog with the gallery-goers at the opening on Friday night. I look forward to more great shows developed in this new relationship between the Print Club and Rochester Contemporary, and I plan to go back a few times to look over all the works in the present show "Under Pressure".
Printmaker, Ellen Heck
at
"Under Pressure" Rochester Contemporary Art Center
