Never Ending, Ending by Carol Sanchez
An amusing yet unexpected sense of familiarity emerges from the work of the
three artists converging in the current exhibition at ArtHaus66 Contemporary Gallery titled Self Evident.
A local, well known and well loved artist, Carol Sanchez brings to ArtHaus66 Gallery some of her intriguing mezzotints as well as her new sculptural work. Hers is a world of close up views and magnified beauty. Her images allow us to experience an unprecedented degree of intimacy with the many burgeoning, blossoming and pulsating forms in her prints. Intoxicating nighttime flora that beckons our attention with its rounded contours and languishing splendor. Carol’s new sculptural pieces rise from the ongoing investigation of the physical and formal properties of the mezzotint process itself. Mezzotint is an intaglio
printmaking process in which the entire surface of a copper plate is roughened with a tool called a rocker. Polishing and burnishing the roughened plate creates a gradation in values from dark to light. The pieces present both the original copper plate as well as the final print. In cooperation, plates and prints appear mounted on hinged book like structures that tell the story of their own creation.
Paige Williams is an Associate Professor of Painting at the Art Academy of Cincinnati, Ohio. Her approach to painting has yielded a series of colorful and deceptively effortless panels. Williams has centered her exploration around the use of a more unconventional medium: latex paint. She applies it directly on wood panel creating large areas of flat color that she juxtaposes with candid, playful shapes. These familiar shapes evoke the style of children’s drawings and Williams arranges them in the most intriguing of ways, conveying a sense of tension and conflict. Monochrome rainbows, rounded clouds, bridges and angular shapes compete for dominance of the limited space available. While the delicate, pastel tones draw you in with their innocent appearance, pause a moment to consider the narrative that the paintings disclose.
Ali Gallo prefers to work from a departing point that, for most, could be considered the end rather than the beginning. Gallo finds inspiration in mangled and time worn pieces of scrap metal that she reassembles into magnificent gentle giants. Her sculpture does not only tell a story, but rather has a story that even precedes its creation. She is a collector of endings, broken things and past splendor. With determination, talent and a great deal of strength she infuses new life into the materials and transcends their apparent uselessness to reveal their hidden and true beauty. Gallo also transfers her fascination for the discarded onto her very large paintings on panel. Their dimensions are as massive as those of her sculptures and she chooses seemingly incompatible items such as torn
burlap pieces, bits of metal, marbles and, of course, the occasional rubber chicken in order to bring a new meaning to the term “mixed media”.
Self Evident runs from February 28 to March 22, 2009. The receptions, free and open to the public, will take place on Saturday, February 28 th and Friday, March 6 th from 5 to 9 pm. The gallery is open Tues. Fri. 10 - 1pm and Sat. 1 - 5pm. (http://www.arthaus66.com)
For more info contact Craig Alinder at (505) 2550872 or visit http://www.arthaus66.com/
Photo:
http://www.prlog.org/
