| ARTISTS
TALK ON ART
present
Fusion
11/30 ~ 12/12, 2009
Opening Reception: 12/4 (Fri) 6 ~ 8 pm
ARTISTS TALK ON ART proudly
presents Fusion an exhibition of the winners of the 2009 yearly curatorial
contest. The show will run from November 30th-December 12th, 2009 with
an opening reception on Friday December 4th, 2009 from 6-8 PM at the TENRI
CULTURAL INSTITUTE, 43A West 13th Street, NYC.
This event came about as a result of a call for artists for a nationwide
competition run by ATOA and their chosen curator for 2009, Dr. Thalia
Vrachopoulos. The mission of Artists Talk on Art (ATOA)
is to provide a forum for critical discussions in the visual arts. After
over 30 years they are one of the longest running art discussions. We
depend upon artists who are willing to talk about their work, share their
art with others and volunteer their time. ATOA is a not-for-profit corporation
run by artists.
This ATOA exhibition at Tenri features the work of nine winning artists
from the 2009 competition. Because the primary consideration of the curatorial
choice was the quality of art submitted, this is not like other thematic
shows that have a single focus. Rather, we should look at the exhibited
works as examples of the issues and themes concerning contemporary artists
from around the United States presently.
Consequently, Thomas C. Jackson's color photograph
series American Slice depicts the American landscape and way of life.
Thomas C. Jackson was born in Rock Island, Illinois in 1950. He studied
studio art at Western Illinois University in Macomb, Illinois, where he
received a B.A. in 1972. He attended the University of Notre Dame where
he earned an M.F.A. in 1974.
Bill Pangburn's images relate to Jackson's but not literally. Pangburn's
works are abstract although inspired by the Texas Panhandle and his native
Texas. His abstract works, in their blue, slate, white coloration and
shape, flow like the eddies on the banks of his beloved river. Having
completed his undergraduate work at Tulane University, New Orleans, he
received his MFA from Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, New York. Pangburn's
work has been exhibited at the Addison Art Gallery, the Amarillo Museum
of Art, and the Brooklyn Museum, among other prestigious venues.
Mahtab Aslani
who was born in Tehran immigrated to the United States after attending
the Hochschule der Kunste in Berlin. She received her BFA at the Art Institute
of Chicago and her MFA from Brooklyn College. Her recent work downplays
overtly narrative associations in favor of more evocative or conceptual
possibilities. She continues to use fabric as a source of inspiration
but although cloth may be traditionally associated with femininity, the
models for her new paintings are selected for the sake of their color,
texture, and form. She tries to emphasize the sense of light, color and
composition that goes into making an image that edges towards the abstract
and yet induces emotional response.
For four decades Frank Gimpaya has been producing
noteworthy black and white photographs of his travels as well as the local
Spanish Harlem milieu. He has gained recognition as a fine arts photographer
and has been called by Vivian Gaynor of the New York Times an artist who
"paints with light". Gimpaya graduated from Hunter College and
currently teaches at CUNY and at Saint Peter's College in New Jersey.
He has exhibited widely in the United States, Canada and Mexico, Cuba
and Europe. Gimpaya has been awarded many prestigious prizes such as those
by the New York Foundation of the Arts Fellowship, and the CAPS award
from the New York State Council on the Arts.
Olga Hiiva studied art at the Corcoran School of Art in Washington
DC after which she went to Paris on scholarship in 1983 where she worked
at the studio of Henrie Cartier Bresson. She continued her studies in
Brooklyn where she earned her MFA at Pratt Institute and received a scholarship
at Skowheegan School of Painting and Sculpture. Impressed by the visiting
lecturer Joseph Campbell and his views on art and myth her perspective
was reinforced inspiring her to create visionary works. Hiiva paints on
vintage fabrics or clothing that carries within it the previous owner's
history and memories. She is like an archeologist discovering these objects
and rediscovering their meaning within the layers that she has accrued
onto the work's surfaces. Hiiva addresses issues of motherhood, sacrifice,
in both contemporary and historic contexts that serve as catalysts in
provoking viewer contemplation.
Oded Hirsch was initially educated in Haifa,
Israel where he received his BA from the Academy of Design in photography
and education. He now lives in Queens and received his MFA from Pratt
Institute in Brooklyn. In this show he features a video entitled Ms. X
which is looped and presents a woman who for unknown reasons laughs hysterically.
Hirsch juxtaposes the sitter's moods during the filming that swung from
relatively serious to enthusiastic. Hirsch's video imagery seems to touch
upon the bizarre experience that results from repetition and how when
watching or hearing something repeatedly its effects on the viewer are
dulled.
Bernice Sokol Kramer studied with Norman
Raeben at the Carnegie Hall Studios and attended the Masters Class with
Bruce Dorfman in New York City. Sokol Kramer earned her BA from New York
University and has been awarded many distinctive prizes including the
2009 27th Annual Juried Exhibition at Pleiades Gallery juried by Nat Trotman
of the Guggenheim Museum. Her mixed media sculptures are inspired by organic
nature's continuous peregrinations. She documents nature's growth that
sometimes interlocks, changes direction or forces itself upon a neighboring
plant. Sokol Kramer's large sculptures or drawings feature interlacing
shapes that maintain their organic memories.
Jiwon Lee graduated from Hong-Ik University
in Seoul with her BFA after which she immigrated to the United States
to study at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and is expected
to graduate with her MFA from the University of Pennsylvania in 2010.
Lee is interested in opposites. She often depicts scenes of purity, innocence
and creative genius against horror, violence, and death. She emphasizes
their differences while placing them together creating new images. Lee
uses carbon paper to draw her works adding snippets of nature which tend
to unite or neutralize somewhat the contrasting scenes.
Olga Alexander is a painter and installation artist from New York
City. She obtained her undergraduate degree from the University of California
and her M.F.A. from the University of Tennessee in Knoxville. Alexander
who is also a curator and critic herself continues pursuing the expansion
of her conceptual site specific installations and works in a variety of
media. Alexander continues to exhibit her conceptual work which is process
oriented and centers on the fragmented way we make sense of identity,
culture and experience.
For More Information: Please write the curator and Tenri Exhibition Director
Dr. Thalia Vrachopoulos at tvrachopoulos@gmail.com or call at 212-691-7978.
You can also write to the Administrative Director of the Tenri at yuge@tenri.org
or call him at 212-645-2800.
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