re:Purpose exhibition

WFG gallery

July 26 - September 13, 2014

31 Mill Hill Rd., Woodstock NY, 12498

845-679-6003

presents

re:Purpose

(Conceptually interesting art on or from non-traditional materials)

Canvas, marble, watercolor paper, linen, limestone, papyrus, walls, even ceilings. Since the beginning of time, these have been the traditional surfaces upon which or with which artists have created their work. Since the beginning of the modern age, however, these surfaces have been frequently cast aside, as artists began to make their work on any surface and from any material that struck their fancy. This exhibition presents a small survey of art by artists who have made their art on or from non-traditional materials.

Below are some of the pieces that will be in the exhibition.

Jill Vasileff

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Laura Moriarty

Artist's statement:

Considering strata as historical formations, I create sedimentary beds made from materials and experiences, from seeing and feeling. Making imperfect and cross-sectional records of flows and floods, shifts and breakthroughs, ideas and resonances is a way for me to think about human and geologic time. Working in layers of solid pigmented beeswax, often embedding paintings within paintings, I compare parallel processes of mineral deposition with a profound difference in time and scale.

Sliding Scale - 16.5 x 10 x 2.75 in.

Scraper - 44 x 4.5 x 4.5 in.

Push Ups - (set of 3, not sold individually) 20.5 x 7.25 x 3.25 in.

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Molly Rausch

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Robert The

Artist's statement:

An obsession with the semiotic erosion of meaning and reality led me to create objects that evangelize their own relevance by a direct fusion of word and form. Books (culled from dumpsters, library sales, and thrift store bins) are lovingly vandalized back to life so they can assert themselves against the culture which turned them into debris.

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David Goldin

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Dina Bursztyn

(from her "Artifacts" series)

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Franc Palaia

Artist's statement:

In 1990 I began a series of works that incorporate photographic images, sculpture and illumination. The early and current pieces are composed of found and recycled domestic and industrial objects and containers that house back- lit transparencies or Duratrans.

    The thrust of my work involves images that either relate to or contrast their host container.  They manifest themselves in crates, paper bags, suitcases, steamer-trunks, heating ducts, mirrors, refrigerator boxes, automobiles and auto parts, toys, oil barrels, lamps, furniture, kitchen appliances and the like. These “Iconic Lanterns” are made of unorthodox materials that add to the perplexity and surprise of encountering glowing array of images that can include volcanoes, fires, pollution, landscapes, guns, war, geological sites, classical architecture, industrial parks, bridges, Roman antiquity and derelict architectural structures with everyday 1950s suitcases, trunks, crates and antique luggage.  My photo sculptural light boxes have been characterized as surreal, quirky, romantic, biting, nostalgic, humorous, clever, and all together amusing by critics and the public in general. 

"Extinguisher", 2005, 30"x35"x 8", antique fire extinguisher, Duratrans, light

"Tower of Towers", 2007, 72"x20"x8", suitcases, Duratrans, lights

"Leaning Tower of Suitcases", 2007, 96"x24"x10", suitcases, Duratrans, lights

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Carl Van Brunt

Artist's statement:

The title "Walking the Changes" is a play on the phrase "running the changes," a jazz reference to the process of improvisation. I changed the first word to "walking" as a bow to Thich Nhat Hanh, the great Buddhist teacher, who often speaks of the practice of walking meditation. The wall component of the piece is a basic mandala form. The projected images are improvised digital paintings I made on a Mac with Photoshop, Painter, Fractal Domains and Carrara software. 

Click here to watch Carl's video installation, North Star. His piece in the show will be "Walking the changes."

Walking the Changes 2014

A repeating sequence of 12 digital paintings

Wall sculpture 48" x 48" x 4" (Ultra Lite MDF)

Image dimensions 56" x 56" 

Digital projector

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Lenny Kislin

Artist's statement:

I am an Assemblage Artist. After graduating from Brooklyn Law School, my wife and I decided to pursue an alternative lifestyle and moved to Woodstock, New York to physically build our own house.  While in this transitional phase, we discovered the Antiques and Art business, to which we devoted the rest of our business lives.

I have been selling unusual antiques since 1973. In the course of hunting for interesting objects to sell, I came across many pieces which I bought and put aside for the future. I have saved these objects through the years with the intent of eventually finding a way to enable others to see what I saw in them.  In 1991, I began to physically join these forms into conceptual and narrative art pieces that I felt utilized those objects to their best advantages.  What you see in my pieces is the fruit of my passion for these here-to-fore under-appreciated objects.

"Jack In the Box, Jack In the Box"   29" x 48" x 6" deep.  2007 

 Two old sets of painted boxes that fit into one-another, two early never-used carved wooden puppet heads, nice old wood panel.

"God of Punctuation"  11and1/2" x 69" x 9" deep.  2009

 One panel from antique blue chest, gilded commas and periods from antique American signage, antique painted handmade wooden pond boat hull (never used).

"Hierarchy"  22and1/2" x 46and1/2" x 9and1/2" deep.  2007

 Two sections of what were once old horizontal compartmentalized storage units from a barn (now vertical), 11 antique American lawn bowling balls made of very hard, heavy wood.

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James Charles

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Norm Magnusson