Gallery Aferro is a platform for the exchange of ideas in service of advancing human dignity and beauty, with a focus on visual arts as the vehicle, proudly located in Newark, NJ.

Identity Blueprint at Camera Club of New York
December 16, 2011 – January 7, 2012
Opening Reception December 16, 6 – 8 PM

Student Artists: Khalida Alexander, Yasmine E. Bacon, Zhana Renee Caldwell, Cheryse D. Damon, Claudia Phillips, Nicole Reynoso, Hilda Saladin, Katerin Salguero, Zafirah Wilson

Teaching Artists: Evonne M. Davis, Lisa Elmaleh, Ann LePore, Emma Wilcox

Guest Artists: Aileen Bassis, Florine Demosthene

In collaboration with the Camera Club of New York, Gallery Aferro presents the last of three exhibitions in 2011 highlighting artwork created by high school- age young women from Newark, NJ in the Identity Blueprint program.

Young women from public schools across Newark’s wards- Malcolm X. Shabazz, Arts, East Side, Technology, University, West Side and Barringer High Schools- came together as a group for 3 months of free Saturday workshops in cyanotype photography, digital animation, and sculptural carpentry, taught by working artists Evonne M. Davis, Lisa Elmaleh, Ann Lepore and Emma Wilcox. The goal of the program is to enable each student’s sense of a competent, expressive self, by supporting experimentation, skill acquisition and peer-to-peer leadership.

Polaroids, cyanotypes on paper and cloth and experimental animation imagery created in the spring of 2011 by the students, as well as photographs, video and installations created by teaching artists and other working female artists, will be on display.

One of New York’s oldest not-for-profit arts organizations, the Camera Club of New York (CCNY) is a workspace for photographers and a hub for the photo community, offering exhibitions, lectures, workshops, an online newsletter and Guest Blog, and a year-round Darkroom Residency Program. Today, CCNY is a thriving base for a diverse community interested in both traditional and experimental directions in photography.

Katerin Salguero

Identity Blueprint at Pierro Gallery
October 27 – December 3, 2011
Opening Reception and Panel October 27 2011, 6 – 9 PM

Panel at 8. Speakers: Ann LePore, Ramapo College, Ted Lind, Newark Museum, Gary Schneider, Montclair Art Museum, Claudia Phillips, 2011 Identity Blueprint student

Student Artists: Khalida Alexander, Yasmine E. Bacon, Zhana Renee Caldwell, Cheryse D. Damon, Claudia Phillips, Nicole Reynoso, Hilda Saladin, Katerin Salguero, Zafirah Wilson

Teaching Artists: Evonne M. Davis, Lisa Elmaleh, Ann LePore, Emma Wilcox

Guest Artists: Aileen Bassis, Florine Demosthene

In collaboration with Pierro Gallery, Gallery Aferro presents the second of three exhibitions in 2011 highlighting artwork created by high school- age young women from Newark, NJ in the Identity Blueprint program.

Relexification
November 12 – December 17, 2011
Opening Reception November 12, 7-10 PM
Closing Reception/Annual Holiday Party/Potluck/Sale December 17, 5-9 PM
Main Gallery and New Media Room

Artists: Katrina Bello, Matt Broach and Deena Selenow, Marcy Chevali, Suzanne Laura Kammin, Anki King, Ann LePore, Visakh Menon, Roni Mocan, Jim Prez, Sam Sebren

Relexification describes language changes that keep grammar intact but replace lexicon with the vocabulary of another language. Primarily used to discuss creoles, the concept is debated by linguists studying the formation of languages. Regardless of validity, the concept is reminscient of lost wax casting, and evokes the necessary substitutions, transfers and textual raiding of much current artmaking. What gets lost, or added, in the process of replicating an idea?

Two Moons
Elizabeth Gilfilen
November 12 – December 17, 2011
Opening Reception November 12, 7-10 PM
Closing Reception/Annual Holiday Party/Potluck/Sale December 17, 5-9 PM

Personal Effects
September 10 – October 23, 2011
Opening Reception September 10, 7-10 PM
Closing Reception October 21, 7-10 PM with Back to Brick City, a performance at 8PM by Irvin Morazan
as part of the 10th annual Newark Open Doors Studio Tour
Main Gallery

Personal Effects is a sprawling exhibition presenting the idiosyncratic, street art based collection of photographer Eric Wolfe, and featuring works by more than 65 international artists including SWOON, Banksy, Shepard Fairey, Faile, Bast, Kara Walker, Brian Eno, Claes Oldenburg and Anna Gaskell.

In 2004, Wolfe purchased a wheatpaste graphic mounted on wood from a high school student known as Gaia. In the following years, his collection grew rapidly, with works being purchased from galleries, at auction, or directly from the artists, sometimes using trade or barter. Many of the artists Wolfe became interested in were in the early stages of their gallery careers or were still relatively unknown outside of a small community.

Wolfe’s collecting impulses connect with his ongoing need to collect and preserve bits of ephemera from his own life as well as the detritus of strangers. Aligned with the burgeoning market for street art, Wolfe’s modus operandi has led to the creation of a collection that eventually no longer fit under one roof. As the years passed, Wolfe’s taste and purchases have evolved along with changes in his own life – a reflection of the deeply personal nature of this collection. While street art remains at its heart, other forms of contemporary art are well represented and thematic groupings crossing all genres and eras have developed, such as works inclusive of the F-word, rabbit imagery and a significant collection of Peter Norton Christmas gifts. A variety of mediums are also represented, including stencil, collage, painting, papercut, spray paint, screen printing and sculpture. From Bushwick to Bristol and beyond, Personal Effects brings together Wolfe’s collection of over 100 pieces of artwork on simultaneous display for the first time.

Artists: Armsrock, Kenseth Armstead, Banksy, Bast, becca, Kelsey Brookes, Kate Bingaman Burt, Borf, Kelsey Brookes,
Liz Brown, C215, Mary Ellen Carroll, Peter Coffin, Christo, Dain, Elboe-Toe, Camilla d’Errico, Faile, Shepard Fairey, Mia Feuer, Jacques Fleichmueller, Ian Francis, Gaia, Anna Gaskell, Graham Gilmore, Rodrigo Gonzalez, GoreB, Mark Grotjahn, Hera, Imminent Disaster, Paul Insect, Jane Hammond, Know Hope, Jeff Koons, Melora Kuhn, Robert Lazzarini, Miyeon Lee,
Anthony Lister, Tessar Lo, Jen Mazza, Mirf, Irvin Morazan, Aiko Nakagawa, Aakasha Nihalani, Claes Oldenburg, Yoko Ono,
Paper Monster,Peripheral Media Projects, Peru Ana Ana Peru, Sesper, Laureen Simonetti, Lorna Simpson, Chris Stain, Stickman, Do-Ho Suh, SWOON, Concha Vidal, Kara Walker, Susan Weil, Lawrence Weiner, Pae White & Brian Eno

Scabs, Bandages and Skeletons
Caroline Mak
September 10 – October 23, 2011
Opening Reception September 10, 7-10 PM
Closing Reception October 21, 7-10 PM
as part of the 10th annual Newark Open Doors Studio Tour
Project Room

By performing and enacting a series of repetitive transformative actions – whether it is painstakingly braiding and knotting length of tubing, or tearing and gnawing through slabs of foam – through the physicality of my actions, I bestow upon the material an ability to further decay, multiply or spread beyond its original confines. The systems that emerge in my installations contain references to disciplines ranging from topography, biology and the decorative arts. Natural processes are translated, reflected and re-created in my installations. In the process of construction, systems become apparent in the spaces they are assigned to, each self-contained worlds with their own inherent logic.

In the past year of making work I have become increasingly aware of the sense of futility that is seemingly always present in my practice; that what I am attempting to enact is ultimately useless, often a failed mimicry of a real organic, biological process. For this exhibition, I have created a new series of sculptural objects from found and discarded materials from my everyday life, as well as from the vast resources of eBay where barely functioning goods can still have a second life.

The objects that have been ‘healed’ or repaired range from broken ladders and chairs, to punctured inner tubes. Like a mad scientist or surgeon, I have constructed disjointed protruding bones (re-imagining the internal skeleton of a piece of furniture) and have obsessively attempted to repair used kitchen towels by stitching every piece back together again. Not content with trying to repair such mundane every day objects, I’ve also attempted to create ‘scabs’ for old wooden floors, plugging up the gouges that decades of use have wrought.

From stitching together tangerine peels to a series of re-constructed pencil shavings, I attempt to show the absurdity and futility of my repair & reconstruction process, but ultimately creating a whimsical and humorous collection of objects that also speaks to the materiality of many of our second hand and discarded objects.

Caroline Mak is an installation and mixed media artist based in New York and Hong Kong. She received her bachelor’s degree in biology from Stanford University (2002) and her MFA from the University of Chicago (2005). She has been the recipient of an Emerging Artist Fellowship from Socrates Sculpture Park, and a BRIC Media Fellowship. Exhibition highlights include the installations at Socrates Sculpture Park, NY; Islip Art Museum, NY and ‘Mirage’ at Hong Kong Art Fair. She was a resident at Gallery Aferro, Newark, NJ in 2010, and her work can be seen in upcoming installations at Brooklyn Arts Council and Artspace New Haven this coming fall.

Barbara Wallace: Facts and Figures
September 10 – October 23, 2011
Opening Reception September 10, 7-10 PM
Closing Reception October 21, 7-10 PM
as part of the 10th annual Newark Open Doors Studio Tour
Liminal Space

Sculptor Barbara Wallace’s spare, confrontational installation in the Liminal Space consists of two large scale sculptures representing the full-sized figures of a man and a woman, and a series of sculpted portrait heads based on the individuals from the artist’s inner circle. The works are created in the faux-bronze technique that Wallace has mastered

Wallace is interested in the meaning of creating a portrait: the physical likeness of a person vs. their inner essence. The process that the artist uses has more to do with her experience and memories of the person involved than of the actual features of the person she portrays. Wallace is inspired by the words of the great 19th century photographer Julia Margaret Cameron: “. . . my whole soul has endeavored to do its duty towards them in recording faithfully the greatness of the inner man as well as the features of the outer man.”

Barbara Wallace was born in Elizabeth, NJ and began her formal artistic training at the Art Students’ League of NY. She received her Bachelor of Fine Arts in Painting from Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, NY and her Master of Fine Arts in Sculpture from the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, PA. Wallace is an Adjunct Professor in the Department of Fine Arts at Kean University in Union, NJ and at the Passaic County Community College, Humanities Department, in Paterson, NJ. During the Fall of 2009 she was awarded a studio in the Residency Program at Gallery Aferro in Newark, NJ. In 2010, Wallace displayed her sculpture in the Penn Alumni Arts Fair at the University of Pennsylvania, the Summer Soul Arts Festival, Warren, NJ, and in The Wreath: Interpretations, at The Arsenal Gallery, New York, NY.

GlassRoots: Collaborations with Matter
September 10 – October 23, 2011
Opening Reception September 10, 7-10 PM
Closing Reception October 21, 7-10 PM
as part of the 10th annual Newark Open Doors Studio Tour
New Media Room

Gallery Aferro and GlassRoots are proud to unveil an exhibition that includes works created by young artists, teaching artists and artist friends of GlassRoots. The exhibition takes inspiration from the three states of matter. At its most elementary level, matter is anything that takes up space. The states of matter refers to the three classical states that matter can take- gas, liquid and solid. Through a highly collaborative process, the works on exhibit represent the artists’ attempt to interpret and reflect the unique qualities of glass and its ability to be transformed into expressions of themselves in one or more of these states.

Each work of art on display is hand-crafted. Made of glass, all were manipulated by fire and heat over open flames, in kilns and in gloryholes to temperatures exceeding 2000 degrees. To create some pieces, the artists had to maintain their hands and face within inches of bright blue flames. Other artists worked with molten glass poured into hand-carved molds. Still others worked with molten glass in a space where the average ambient temperature regularly rests above 110 degrees.

Some pieces on exhibit were created by students who only six weeks prior had no experience or knowledge of glass making. Others were created by highly trained and practiced professionals. All, however, reflect the life experiences, personal beliefs, influences and creativity of their creators.

Artists: Anita Barringer, Tinisha Cook, Deja Flowers, Paris Jones, Stephanie Lopez, Keila Mella, NyAsia Pencile, Tania Ehouloutte
Tianee Gonzalez, Rajeeyah Hayes, Alitishe Lancaster, Yesenia Ocasio, Ayannah Richardson, Kassim White Coleman, Dynayah Gray
Rolene Herod, Jazmin Kemp, Xavier Jiminez, Fantasia Williams, Quasin Williams, Joshua Paul, Kaylah Smith, Maya Curry, Ya’zmine Graham, Kate Dowd, James Blake, Kate Haigney, Jason Minami and others

About GlassRoots, Inc:

The mission of GlassRoots is to provide opportunities for at-risk youth to realize their potential through the creation of glass art. As the only non-profit “hot shop” for young people in the greater Newark/New York City metropolitan area, GlassRoots provides a nurturing environment in which otherwise underserved children can achieve self-esteem and creative expression while also learning basic business skills and valuable life lessons through the exploration of glass making.

GlassRoots was founded in January 2001 with the belief that communities can be transformed and elevated through the arts. We believe that the youth of our community hold enormous potential which can be realized if they are empowered with the gift of creative self-expression. Our arts education programs contribute to the intellectual, physical and emotional well-being of our students.

3rd annual benefit art auction Saturday June 18, 7-10

Tickets on sale NOW

Join us for Art Reaction, our 3rd annual party and auction. For one night only unique artworks by emerging and established artists will be available for sale at prices that will enlarge or establish your collection. Delight a friend, colleague or loved one with the gift of artwork. Enjoy music, novel activities, local food, strong signature drinks and your community. Please contact us for more information at info@aferro.org

This June, we celebrate our 5th year on Market Street.

In that time, Gallery Aferro has:

-become a 501(c)3 nonprofit
-exhibited over 500 local, national and international artists
-granted workspace to 54 artists
-created 19 publications including a sound art CD
-collaborated with dozens of other community-based organizations
-hosted and created talks, screenings and demonstrations for high schools, colleges, universities, professional and senior groups, recovery programs, and others
-created off-site exhibition opportunities for NJ artists
-launched a gift shop that encourages civic pride and creates income for local artisans
-launched an education program connecting young women with creative experiences and computer literacy
-participated in a nationwide protest against the censorship of art

Our mission remains the same, to bring cultural education and aesthetic engagement with contemporary issues to all people equally, and to create an environment where artists can gather and share physical and intellectual resources. We’ve told you how many artists have participated in our exhibitions and workspace residencies. We’ve told you about how many publications have been created to date, how many different kinds of school and adult groups have visited, and about our newest program, for young artists from Newark. Many of you saw the Star Ledger’s recent recognition of our most recent exhibition offerings, which were derived from our collaborations, residency and education program. We’ve told you about our 5 open calls for exhibition and curatorial opportunities, all which close on July 1.

But we are more interested in your thoughts, about the future, about exchanges, programming and other ideas.

Join us on June 18th. Some of you were there 5 years ago as we blessed the building with an original mandala created by Vandana Jain, made from shattered windshield glass. Have a glass of punch, and some homemade local foodstuffs. Listen to live music by NEA award-winning vibraphonist Cecilia Smith. Bid on artworks and experiences by emerging and established artists.

Your support on this one night will allow us to offer year-round exhibitions, artist residencies, publications and education program. More than 80 artists have donated artworks and experiences, including a tattoo-based piece, portrait sessions, custom letterpress work and other offerings impossible to classify but sure to thrill.

Tickets are on sale online at aferro.org for $20 in advance or $25 at the door.

VIP Tickets which include the option of advance bidding at 6 PM are $100 in advance or $150 at the door.

Artists include: Alicia Ackerman, Ibrahim Ahmed III, Michael Amter, Kenseth Armstead, Suzanne Kammin Baron,

Andrew Baron, Lorna Barrowclaugh, Anonda Bell, Katrina Bello, Gianluca Bianchino, Eve Biddle, Terry Boddie, Justin Borucki, Mona Brody, Karlos Carcamo, L.G. Carpenter, Patricia Cazorla, Marcy Chevali, Irene Christensen, Christine Da Cruz,

Lane Cooper, Margarida Correia, Will Corwin, Kevin Darmanie, Sharon De La Cruz, Andrew Demirjian, Wyndi Desouza,

Anne Dushanko Dobek, Lisa Elmaleh, Dahlia Elsayed, Alyssa Fanning, Jerry Gant, Doron Gild, Beth Gilfilen, Tai Hwa Goh,

Janine Graham,Victoria Hanks, Carla Hansen, Marion Held, William Hudders, Stephen Hutchins, Vandana Jain, Rebecca Jampol, Hiroshi Kumagai, Robert Lach, Valeri Larko, Norene Leddy, Kylie Lefkowitz, Ann LePore, Carrie Levy, Carrie Lincourt,

Lara Loutrel, Nancy Mahl, Caroline Mak, Tim Maul, Jen Mazza, Bud McNichol, Vikki Michalios, Traci Molloy, Lydia Moyer, Larysa Myers, Hyo Jeong Nam, Kate Okeson, Nell Painter, Toni Pepe, Blithe Riley, Saul Robbins, Tyson Robertson, Lisa Ross, Steve Rossi, Angela Rossi, Irys Schenker, Laurinda Stockwell, Helen Stummer, Calla Thompson, Kai Vierstra, Joe Waks, Ken Weathersby, Anker West, Andrew Wilkinson, Robert Williams

We would like to gratefully acknowledge our community sponsors:

other local, independently owned organizations who are making this event possible!

Art Kitchen
Appetizers to Go
D’Artagnan
HANDS Inc
Harvest Table Fresh Food Eatery
Hobby’s Deli
Je’s Coffee Shop
Jerry’s Artist Outlet
Mama Mancini’s Meatballs
Mi Gente Cafe
Robert’s Pizzeria
Rogue Video
Rossi and Company
Serrani’s Bakery
Sophia Sobers Photography
StepOn To Design

Congratulations to Gallery Aferro for five years of feeding the eyes and souls of Newark! To celebrate this anniversary, D’Artagnan would like to fill the bellies of hungry artists and art lovers. Just use the promo code AFERRO at checkout to receive 20% off all of our humanely-raised meats and traditionally-made charcuterie at www.dartagnan.com until June 30, 2011 11:59 pm ET.

And because we’re located in the Ironbound section of Newark, you can come pick up your order to save on shipping. But you must call customer service to place your order for pick up at 800-327-8276, because the only option on the website is Fed Ex delivery. Please be sure to mention the code AFERRO to get 20% off when you call.

Offer is not valid on pending or prior purchases or toward the purchase of Gift Certificates, Value Club Memberships or already discounted items or value priced collections and gift sets. Please note: D’Artagnan products ship overnight via FedEx and are available for delivery Tuesday – Friday. You will be asked to select your delivery date at checkout.

Identity Blueprint: Year 2011
Main Gallery
May 7 – June 3, 2011
Opening Reception May 7, 6-9 PM

Artists: Khalida Alexander, Yasmine E. Bacon, Zhana Renee Caldwell, Cheryse D. Damon, Claudia Phillips, Nicole Reynoso,
Hilda Saladin, Katerin Salguero, Zafirah Wilson

Teaching Artists: Evonne M. Davis, Ann LePore, Lisa Elmaleh

Young women from Newark’s Public Schools- Malcolm X. Shabazz, Arts, East Side, Technology, University and Barringer High Schools- came together as a group for 3 months of free Saturday workshops in cyanotype photography, digital animation, and sculptural carpentry, taught by working artists. Come see the results and celebrate the excitement and satisfaction of learning new skills and making new things!

Check out the program blog!

We gratefully acknowledge the support of the Newark Arts Council and the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation, Jerry’s Artist Outlet, Flip Video The Home Depot, Valley Arts and individuals like you!

and special thanks to Peter Brauch, Anne Dushanko Dobek and Jeanne Brasile for in-kind donations!

New News is Old News: Wonder Women 6
guest curated by Doris Cacoilo and Maya Joseph-Goteiner
Main Gallery
May 7 – June 3, 2011
Opening Reception May 7, 6-9 PM

New News is Old News is an exhibition of the work created in the 6th annual Wonder Women residency. Wonder Women is a residency program hosted by _gaia at their studio in Jersey City, NJ. The Wonder Women mission is to engage practicing, yet underrepresented artists who are eager to participate in a collective dialogue about the art world and feminism today. This year the residency program has tackled the concept of real time media and the ramifications of our evolving relationship with news.

The voice of news has shifted. Already, online, the same article that has appeared black on white in the early print edition has been updated, corrected or even replaced on the web. Newspaper stories no longer fit the Merriam-Webster Dictionary definition of news as “a report of recent events: previously unknown information.” In many respects, we have created an endless source of updated information online, a bottomless pit of patter. We cannot possibly consume all the news and commentary published online, and while few people have the time to read the entire newspaper, even fewer can keep up with the minute-to-minute updates via Twitter, blogs, online publications, and RSS feeds.

In this eight week residency, curators and artists construct and deconstruct: their understanding and experience of media; the different perspectives of journalism online vs. print; the future of news and its value. Given the changing landscape of news and media, artists have new opportunity to engage and to create work addressing these intersections.

Artists: Christine DaCruz, Mairikke Dau, Sharon de la Cruz, Escobar – Morales, Melissa MacAlpin, Lindsey Muscato
Laryssa Myers, Cristine Posner, Sharone Vendriger, Nicole Wilson

Doris Caçoilo is an artist, educator, activist and co-founder/director of _gaia. With _gaia, a women’s artist collective, Doris has developed programs and events focused on the social, political and artistic lives of women. She has co-curated the group shows INside and Instant Gratification among many others, showcasing the work of over 200 artists. She helped produce the P.S.1 WACK! Open Studio Artists Tour and began and curates the Wonder Women Residency program, an annual group artist residency and exhibition. In June 2011 she is organizing the first Wonder Women in Nicosia, Cyprus. Doris has an MFA in Integrated Media Arts from Hunter College and teaches courses in media studies and media production at Hunter College and New Jersey City University. She is teaching to learn and learning to teach, freelancing, designing, lecturing, conducting workshops and curating – always experimenting at the intersection of social advocacy, media and art. Her screen-based work, sculpture and performances have been exhibited online, in NY and NJ.

Maya Joseph-Goteiner was born and raised in San Francisco, CA. She studied photography and imaging at NYU’s Tisch School. Upon graduating, Maya spent a summer in New Mexico, working in the operations department of the Santa Fe Photographic Workshop. Returning to New York, Maya worked for portrait photographer, Arnold Newman in the last year of his life, managing his studio and archive. She has also worked for artnet.com where she helped build the Artist Works Catalogues, a comprehensive digital library of artist monographs. Maya has always continued making, and pursuing her passion for curating. She currently facilitates www.365daysofprint.com, a blog that invites 10 new artists every month to create work daily in response to the newspaper. She also co-founded www.ketuv.com, a boutique online shop that seeks to create new streams of revenue for fine artists. Ketuv sells ketubahs (decorative Jewish marriage contracts) by commission and as edition prints.

The Edna Experiments: Blithe Riley
New Media Room and Liminal Space
May 7 – June 3, 2011
Opening Reception May 7, 6-9 PM

The Edna Experiments is a multi-media installation project based on the found diaries of a rural housewife named Edna. The diaries span approximately 15 years—covering the late 1950′s to early 1970′s— and are full of meticulous everyday details but no emotions whatsoever. The books are records of an edited life, where what is preserved is terse, systematic and rooted in domestic and rural labor. Insight is gained only through repetition of action (washing, ironing, mending), as very few entries stand out above the others. In addition, Edna’s writing forces us to interpret and imagine what we assume are the missing details. That act of interpretation is a key point of interest in the project.

The diaries not only represent records of personal discipline (Edna wrote almost every day), they are also archives of banal moments that rarely get memorialized. Edna’s diaries question what constitutes a lived life. They reveal how the things we leave behind frame our lives after we die.

Blithe Riley works in video, performance & installation. Her practice investigates systems that regulate human behavior, including self-induced structures as well as those inflicted from external sources. Riley received a BFA from Alfred School of Art and Design in 1999, and an MFA from Carnegie Mellon University in 2005 where she taught courses in video and performance. In 2009 she was a resident of Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, and an Aferro Studio resident in 2010. Her work has screened nationally & internationally at venues such as the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, The Kitchen, Roulette, Broadway 1602 Gallery and Monkeytown in New York City, The Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh and The European Media Arts Festival in Germany. She has taught classes at Columbia College Chicago, Parsons, and George Washington University. She lives and works in Brooklyn, NY. Riley also makes site-specific video and performance work with artist Mary Coble. Together they have made work in an abandoned spring house in Maine, and in a soon-to-be demolished housing project in Northeast London. Their collaboration is represented by Conner Contemporary Art in Washington, DC.

Tumblecities: Ben Pranger
Project Room
May 7 – June 3, 2011
Opening Reception May 7, 6-9 PM

The work for this exhibition is made from fragments of previous sculptures and drawings. One of the perils of a mid career artist is the accumulation of stuff– boxes of failed experiments, broken and unfinished work filling the studio. After several moves, I decided to break down, reuse and cannibalize this work. I am interested in combining and transforming materials and ideas not intended to go together.

The emerging structures often suggest organic or dystopian architectural forms. Some have no up or down orientation and suggest tumbling cities adrift in the wind. Others start with a structure that is saturated and overwhelmed with poured plaster and paint like buildings exposed to extreme conditions. Sometimes the sculptures are more like paintings in the way that success emerges from failure. I work on the constructions until they become lopsided or collapse and have to be propped up or tied together. Some structures are simply intended to hold and display fragments of an idea.

Ben Pranger has shown his sculpture, works on paper and installation nationally, including recent group shows at City Without Walls and Tiger Strikes Asteroid. His work has been reviewed in publications such as Artforum, Art in America, ArtNews and Art Papers. He has participated in artist residencies at Kohler Art/Industry, Fine Arts Work Center of Provincetown, the Marie Walsh Sharpe Program,Virginia Center for the Creative Arts and the Aferro Studio Residency. He has received sculpture grants from the Virginia Commission for the Arts, the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts and the Pollock-Krasner Foundation. He has taught at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Hollins University, and currently teaches at Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania.

Fall From Grace
Michael Amter
Main Gallery
March 5 – April 9, 2011
Opening Reception March 5, 7-10 PM

“This is one of the most redundant stories ever produced….the narrative often begins with promise, innocence, success, but suddenly turns tragic.”

Fall From Grace is Michael Amter’s ambitious contribution to existing cultural treatments of, in the artist’s words, “the epic FALL.” Created using printmaking, video and sculptural techniques, the works on display are notable for Amter’s fecund vision and bravery in publicly investigating his life since diagnosis with manic depression. The artist’s use of a set of striking, kanji-esque symbols, present in much of his output over the past decade, becomes a kind of sly branding of the exhibition, with symbols for “good” and “evil” created for March 2011.Also present throughout are references to a wealth of classical religious iconography, relating to the artist’s cultural background and major influences during early artistic study. Amter credits his lifelong involvement with popular cultural media venues, such as advertising, film production and internet design in the development of these mysterious and eye-catching characters, which he often animates.

“How does one fall from grace? Is personal choice the most significant factor? Can anyone send destruction an invitation? Or is the abandonment of wellbeing a predetermined design? Some classic mistakes are obviously dangerous. Yet, even the most harmless decisions and commitments can produce the most troubling existence. It is most alarming to find yourself falling out of control.

One can stumble so badly, they can lose everything, including sanity. A destructive path can be so detrimental, even placing personal freedom in jeopardy. Fear only aids the inability to correct one’s downward direction. Some will even find themselves incapable to determine personal existence. The loss of the belief in oneself can become the most frightening of all.”

(The artist) “reflects upon his troubled past, a challenging present, and an uncertain future. A healthy life with humble potential, quickly and painfully became overtly burdened with grave mistakes, obsessive regrets, and bitter loss. The work is essentially a biographical contemplation of someone who has “crashed”. An examination of this specific FALL and it’s numerous implications.

The “Fall From Grace” evaluation includes a number of traditional private themes dominating the Artist’s personal existence: good, evil, morality, sanity, contentment, confinement, depression, defeat, fallibility, perfection, autonomy, strength, weakness, etc.”

Michael Amter‘s prints, drawings, videos and installations have been exhibited nationally and internationally in a variety of venues including in Coney Island as part of Creative Time’s Dreamland Social Club in 2005. Michael has worked in a variety of media, including experimental video with LCD projections. His work is drawn from personal experiences that are expressed through the code of graphic symbolism, and contain thematic properties from scientific theory. He has experience in film production and has worked with Propaganda Films and NBC Television. Previous residencies include an extended stay in Japan most recently, as well as to the former Soviet Union, by invitation of professor Dimitri Ktatch in 1995 and Paris, France, at the Cite Internationale, in 1994.

Momentary Lull
Tai Hwa Goh
Project Room
March 5 – April 9, 2011
Opening Reception March 5, 7-10 PM

“My images evolved from biological form to landscapes. At the same time each image is the boundary in between my spiritual and physical existence. My works are “scenery of the imagination,” a means of self-discovery and a diary of recorded bodily experiences. The gallery is a representational space as an human body which is both outward and inward and not only opened but also closed “site.” It is as a vessel of my soul but also as a path that leads my mind and thoughts into various investigations. Each image is printed by traditional printmaking method and ink jet and hand-waxed. Each layer of the printed, rubbed and hand-waxed sheets will be mounted on the architectural element, which I will build on walls, floor and ceiling and windows. During this layering process, all the different evidences of history, marks from our life and different times will be blended together.”

Tai Hwa Goh was born in Seoul Korea and currently lives and works in NY area. Tai Hwa has a BFA and MFA from Seoul National University, Seoul, Korea. She got another MFA in printmaking and sculpture from University of Maryland in 2004. She has had over 10 solo exhibitions and numerous group shows including Flashpoint Gallery (DC), Greater Reston Art Center (VA), Arlington Arts Center (VA), School33 (MD), and Space Gallery in Cleveland (OH), the Consular Office at Embassy of Korea (DC), IPCNY (NY), and Carriage House (Project10, Islip Museum, NY). She was awarded many grants and residencies including Vermont Studio Center (NY), Lower East Side Print Shop (NY), DC Commissions on the Arts Humanities and Prince George’s Art Council (MD). She was an Aferro studio resident.

fear not my love

Share this:

Like this: