Art Districts Magazine

ARTDISTRICTS Open Call Winner

raisa — Tue, 15 May 2012 18:29:45 +0000

Patricia Schnall Gutierrez. The Package Project, 2010.

ARTDISTRICTS is proud to announce the winner for its June/July Open Call to artists. We are very pleased with the submissions received. It was very difficult to choose a winner because of the number of excellent applicants. Our editorial committee has voted for artist Patricia Schnall Gutierrez as the winner of this open call. She will be our FEATURED ARTIST in our upcoming June/July 2012 issue.

Performance 'Rope and Stool,' 2010

Patricia Schnall Gutierrez was raised in Buffalo New York. She grew up on the doorsteps of the Albright-Knox Art Gallery and was influenced by such fellow women Buffalo artists as Susan Rothenberg and Cindy Sherman. She received her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from SUNY Buffalo. Through her work, Gutierrez deals exclusively with the feminine character and the stereotypical roles of women in our contemporary society.

Learned Behavior, 2011

After many decades in New York City, she moved to live and work in Wynwood Art District (Miami) in 2007. Her mixed media work and installations have recently been exhibited in, the Naples Museum of Art, Boca Raton Museum of Art, Museum of Florida Art, Lowe Art Museum, Appleton Museum of Art, as well as University Exhibitions in and outside of Florida.

Organic Female Forms, 2011

Her work has also been selected and showcased in the private Sotheby’s auction at the Margulies Collection at the Warehouse. In 2012, Schnall Gutierrez received the “Award of Excellence” from the Biennial Six Exhibition at the Florida Museum of Art. She was selected as a finalist for the Florida Department of State/Division of Cultural Affairs Visual Arts Fellowship, and most recently she was selected by Rebecca Wilson, Director of Saatchi Gallery of London, as an artist who stands out and apart from the pack as serious talent.

Flower Girl 1, 2012

The deadline for our upcoming Open Call to Artists is June 28th, 2012. The winner will be featured in our 3rd anniversary issue (August/September), 2012. For more information click here: http://artdistricts.com/open-call-for-artists-2/

Microscopes and Museums: The Reductive Creations of Julie Davidow

raisa — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 03:08:28 +0000

Julie Davidow, The New Strain #9 (Arcade/ Julie Mehretu) with site-specific graphite wall drawing, dimensions variable. © Julie Davidow. Photo credit: Juan E. Cabrera

“The function of Art is to disturb. Science reassures”

George Braque

By Claire Breukel

Julie Davidow began painting with a colorful palette using gestural markings. However, through her decade-long career she has increasingly reduced her approach to painting appropriating a reductive aesthetic and less-is-more approach to mark making. Bordering on abstraction, her works have become “samplings” of visual cues that provide both aesthetic and conceptual challenges through a series of constructed contradictions. Her work suggests danger yet is visually enticing; forms appear organic yet evolve from scientific and architectural data. It is these opposing forces in her work that create tension, yet by following the map of indicators she constructs, Davidow provides a safe distance from which to decode and observe ordinarily ominous data.

Julie Davidow, The New Strain #11, 2009, gesso, acrylic, latex enamel, transference pigment, chrome paint on canvas, 60” x 60.” © Julie Davidow. Photo credit: Juan E. Cabrera

Julie Davidow grew up in Miami and became an entrepreneur at an early age, which helped her develop her business acumen and analytical talents. Ten years later, when she decided to follow her passion for art, Davidow returned to study painting at the New World School of the Arts. It is there that she began experimenting with new media and honing her skills, developing a painting technique for which she has become renowned-layering her canvas surfaces with thick masses of white paint before adding detailed color imagery, often abstracted, with pristine accuracy and within seductively precise compositions.

Julie Davidow, Diagram #29 (Denver Art Museum/ Libeskind/ Interior stairwell), 2011, gesso, acrylic, latex enamel, transference pigment, chrome paint on canvas, 64” x 64.” © Julie Davidow. Photo credit: Brian Burkhardt.

Davidow’s early work explored a range of colors and gestural markings. Then, inspired by a presentation about molecular structures she saw while accompanying her veterinarian husband to a conference, Davidow began to study the shapes and colors of virus molecules under a microscope. Viewing these virus strands both as aesthetic objects as well as for the potential dangerous, and even ominous threat they posed, Davidow became fascinated with their structural makeup and the connotation of what these molecules mean in everyday life. In response, she created the series of works Reservoir Hosts in 2003 and Virulent Strain in 2004, which depicted these microscopic virus molecules in spontaneous and organic strands. Set against the undulating textured surface of white paint that mimics the finish of a stucco wall, the pastel- and monotone-colored molecules are sprawled across the muted canvas with a creeping intensity that is on the one hand disconcerting and on the other enticing in its beauty. It is this opposition that creates tension in the work, making it appear simultaneously aloof and cold, as well as delectable in its color palette and pristine, detailed application. In essence, this juxtaposition guises the gravity of the connotations of these virus strands beneath a cool, reserved and appealing presentation.

Julie Davidow, Diagram #31 (Milwaukee Art Museum/ Calatrava), 2011, gesso, acrylic, latex enamel, transference pigment, chrome paint on canvas, 48” x 48.” © Julie Davidow. Photo Credit: Brian Burkhardt.

Yet these strands are indeed ominous, so Davidow contains them within the painting grid, muting their potential for chaos by constructing a systematically formatted and controlled picture plane. In this way the relationship between man-generated scientific data and the organic natural flow of these depicted forms find balance. On the one hand, by re-creating this data in visual form, Davidow renders these molecules powerless, allowing her audience to observe them from a renewed viewpoint of distance and visual appreciation, thus renegotiating their relationship to their potential strength. On the other hand, the latent ability to infect and transmit illness is omnipresent, making the hair on the back of one’s neck rise at the daunting prospect of its contagious escape.

Seizing this potentiality for virus molecules to spread, Davidow expanded her approach to her painting grid series by creating work that moved out of the confines of the canvas to incorporate the exhibition space. Sprawling on to the walls, floors and ceilings and creeping over surfaces like a parasitic plant climbing its host, these site-specific installations expanded Davidow’s interest in the experiencial, creating environments into which the audience becomes immersed. As part of two series, The New Strain in 2007 and Diagrams for a Seismic Bioscape in 2009, these installations were not only encompassing environments, they also developed Davidow’s idea of forging relationships between the biological (the natural world) and the architecture of space (built environment). Using the structure of the installation room, Davidow responded to the corners, scale and flow of the space, allowing it to dictate and guide the manner in which the organic and sprawling marks of molecule strands infiltrated the space. This interaction with architecture is a theme that continued to greatly impact her work.

Julie Davidow, Diagram #27 (Falcon Origami/Sarah Morris), 2010, gesso, acrylic, latex enamel, transference pigment, chrome paint on canvas, 48”x 48.” © Julie Davidow. Photo credit: Brian Burkhardt.

When “archiTECHTONICS” opened at Diana Lowenstein Gallery this February, Davidow used the opportunity of her seventh solo exhibition to cast her eye on the contemporary-art viewing experience. Specifically, looking at the manner in which the museum structure dictates, defines and aids the artwork it exhibits, Davidow began taking inspiration from a selection of artists’ works hanging within these spaces. Selecting both linear and abstract works by artists Julie Mehretu, Sarah Morris, Sol LeWitt and Clyfford Still, she began extracting shapes, forms and techniques to subtly re-appropriate in her work. Using these extractions as guiding principles, Davidow folded and scored these shapes and lines observed in these artists’ artworks into her raw canvasses, adding layers of paint along the original folded lines and both building up and removing sections of paint as needed. Later, Davidow returned to the canvas to fill in further clues from the work, and her experience of it, by adding color and detail.

Julie Davidow, The New Strain #12(Ariel/Julie Mehretu), 2009, gesso, acrylic, latex enamel, transference pigment, chrome paint on canvas, 48” x48.” © Julie Davidow. Photo credit: Juan E. Cabrera

Turning her eye to the contemporary art museum, culling images from the Internet as well as from her own visits to these spaces, Davidow began extracting key elements of the museum architecture and landscaping to incorporate, as gestures, in to the canvas grid. Looking at signature art museums designed and built specifically for the art viewing experience, such as the Denver Art Museum designed by architect Daniel Libeskind, Milwaukee Art Museum by Santiago Calatrava, DeYoung Fine Arts Museum in San Francisco designed by Swiss architect firm Herzog & de Meuron and Tadao Ando’s Modern Art Museum in Fort Worth, Davidow identified the key architectural elements that impacted the way in which the visitor negotiated its space, guiding interaction. Instead of describing her subject, Davidow ciphered the museum’s key elements, focusing on essential form and color to suggest content and mood, and reference the museum-going experience. Again scoring and folding the raw canvas to mimic the lines and forms of these museum extractions, Davidow creates a base of lines and painted surface. She then returns to paint selected details of the museum structure, capturing its light, shadow and form in abstract blocks of line and color. Using the same color palette as that of the building-gray for steel and concrete, white and black for light and shadow and samplings of color from its environment-she re-creates the aesthetic of the museum through reductive mark making. The result is a series of paintings that map an experience of art, both of the work and the space in which it is seen, through a series of visual cues that connote contemporary art today.

For more information visit, www.juliedavidow.com.

Claire Breukel is a contemporary art curator and writer living and working between Miami and New York.

Fabio Mesa: Painter of Multitudes

raisa — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 02:44:17 +0000

Fabio Mesa, Humanos optimistas I (Optimistic Beings), 2010, mixed media on canvas, 51” x 55”

By Raisa Clavijo

During the month of April, Zadok Gallery in Wynwood is presenting an exhibition of the Latin American artist Fabio Mesa. The exhibition includes large-format paintings and sculptures, the fruit of this author’s most recent creative efforts.

Throughout his career, Mesa has explored the theme of the multitude as an entity whose strength lies precisely in its collective conscience. “I am attracted by crowds, since I am fascinated by the presence of so many lives in one place, actively going from one place to another, walking, running, protesting, working, laughing,” he says.

Mesa has been working on this theme since the 1990s, shortly after he graduated from the Instituto de Bellas Artes in Medellin, Colombia, where he began studying drawing and painting at the age of 14. “My career as a professional artist started as soon as I left the Bellas Artes. I started searching for a theme that would excite me, that would be different and original,” he notes. “I felt that I wanted to do something different, which would identify me with my era. I thought about what I had lived through and remembered my time at school. At that time, I was very anti-establishment and very involved in social activism. That is how I developed the principal theme for my work. In the beginning, I was inspired by marches and protests against the Colombian government during the 1990s and the beginning of the 21st century. Later on, I began to conceptually focus on peace as the message in my work.” Since then, Mesa’s multitudes have become “peace marches” for human progress. The artist comments, “In my work, crowds march toward common goals, which revolve around dreams that we human beings share as a society: the search for peace, the struggle for a better life.”

Fabio Mesa, Noche en el tiempo (Night through Time), 2010, oil on canvas, 51” x 55”

Mesa’s oeuvre has been nourished by Impressionism, German Expressionism, American Abstract Expressionism and Informalism. In a recent interview, he said that in his scenes of multitudes there is an imprint that channels the legacy of Monet, Cezanne, Seurat, Van Gogh, Munch and Saura. An analysis of his pieces reaffirms to me that his work has been inspired by this legacy, but it also undeniably reminds me of some of the early works of the Valencian, Juan Genovés, another passionate defender of that latent force in human multitudes, who was able to capture in his oeuvre the painful period in Spain during the transition from the Franco era to democracy.

From a formal standpoint, Mesa’s works outline a structure in which the human mass is the center of the composition. In some pieces, his approach is more Impressionist, concentrating on the general features of the figures that he captures with gestural strokes that in some paintings become more textured, expressive and energetic. In other paintings, the figures become more realistic, with softer strokes and beautiful chiaroscuro. Sometimes the crowd covers the entire surface of the canvas; at other times, the artist re-creates the surroundings and city architecture that frame the scene.

Fabio Mesa, Buscadores de sueños (Dream Seekers) series, 2010, mixed media on canvas, 39” x 55”

In his works, the artistic presence of chromatic material is so vigorous that it becomes embossed upon being displayed on the naked canvas, generating physical forms that appear real. In this way, the painter is able to make the relationship between the icon and the material appears like a bas-relief of expressive visual force.

In recent years, Mesa has incorporated artificial light into his pieces. This developed by chance when he placed some paintings near a balcony and natural light from outside penetrated the canvases. It was then he realized that it gave the scenes a three-dimensional quality. From that moment on, artificial light became prevalent in his work and is manipulated to create a wide variety of effects.

Fabio Mesa, Humanos optimistas II (Optimistic Beings), 2010, mixed media on canvas, 71” x 47”

In 2011, as a result of an exhibition in Miami, he started using Plexiglas sheets as support for his paintings. What started as an experimental exercise opened a new universe of possibilities to him. He was able to add to his oeuvre two-dimensional pieces in which figures cleanly drawn on the background acquired depth when light was projected on them. It also allowed him to go beyond the limits of painting and expand into sculpture. His small- and medium-format sculptures are made up of various sheets of Plexiglas, each one with a different scene painted on it and displayed as if they were various planes in another larger scene. Mesa adds artificial light to these works, giving them a distinctive appeal. These pieces have been very well received by American collectors.

Mesa’s works do not re-create precise scenes; instead, they are anonymous snapshots of the past and present, snapshots that at times remind me of the scenes of multitudes in some of Eisenstein’s movies. This intentional lack of allusion to specific references allows the viewer to construct his own interpretation of the piece, starting with an open narrative structure, which allows him to recall his own memories and experiences.

Fabio Mesa, Migraciones series (Migrations), 2012, acrylic on Plexiglas, 39” x 32”

Visitors to Zadok Gallery can enjoy a selection of pieces from his Migraciones series, which functions as a dramatic testimony of our time. Mesa captures in this series the tragic reality that millions of people in the world face every day-people who have been forced to migrate to other territories, to abandon their homeland in search of a better life or escape from dictatorships, social uncertainty and violence. These works are populated by multitudes who walk carrying their hopes and dreams as their only belongings.

Mesa’s works have been extensively exhibited in his native country, as well as in the United Arab Emirates, Spain and the United States. Since 2007, his work has been presented in New York and Miami, where it has received very good reviews. Following the Zadok Gallery exposition, he will have another solo show at Galeria Arte Actual in Bogota before preparing for international shows in Barcelona and China.

Fabio Mesa, Migraciones series (Migrations), 2012, acrylic on Plexiglas, 18” x 31” x 8”

In this exhibition, Fabio Mesa presents us with a collection of works resulting from a combination of talent, sensibility and technical skills. This new portfolio clearly demonstrates his commitment to the social reality in which he lives.

“Fabio Mesa: Recent Works” is on view at Zadok Gallery through May 2012.

2534 North Miami Avenue. Miami, FL 33127. Hours: Tuesday - Saturday 10 am-6 pm. Phone 305-438-3737 / info@zadokgallery.com / www.zadokgallery.com

Raisa Clavijo is a curator and art critic. She is the editor of ARTPULSE and ARTDISTRICTS magazines.

Looking Toward the Future of Contemporary Art in Jacksonville. A Conversation with Marcelle Polednik

raisa — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 00:45:22 +0000

Museum of Contemporary Art in Jacksonville, Florida.

Marcelle Polednik joined the Museum of Contemporary Art Jacksonville (MOCA) as director last February and is part of a cadre of dynamic, young curators who are passionate about contemporary art and equally passionate about finding creative ways to engage the public with it. Polednik has introduced exhibitions that provide for deeper learning and interaction with artists and thereby has dramatically increased the museum’s impact as a significant source of enrichment within the purview of contemporary art and made it a more interesting cultural destination for the local art public and beyond. ARTDISTRICTS had an opportunity to speak with Polednik recently about her modus operandi for spurring MOCA’s reinvigoration.

By Jenifer Mangione Vogt

Jenifer Mangione Vogt - Please tell us about your professional background and expertise and how you arrived at MOCA?

Marcelle Polednik - I have a Ph.D. in art history from New York University, and my field of specialization is contemporary art. I started my career working for a private collection in New York as a curator and registrar and then received an appointment at the Whitney Museum. I worked there as an assistant curator and helped to bring about a major exhibition focused on the earlier part of the 20th century. I also did a number of permanent collection rotations, which were very well received because frequently they brought out works that had not been on display for a long time. I was working there for a few years, and then I became heavily recruited for a position at the Monterey Museum of Art in California to serve as the chief curator. I accepted and, over the course of the five years I was there, I was put in charge of the whole curatorial division and shaping the collection of the museum, as well as creating an exhibition schedule for several years in advance. Over the course of the five years, we both increased the contemporary art focus of the museum and we created a very balanced schedule. I was ready at the end of the five years to take on a new challenge and thought about moving if the right opportunity presented itself, and it was right about that time that one of the trustees of the MOCA Jacksonville contacted me.

Marcelle Polednik, Director of the Museum of Contemporary Art | Jacksonville.

J.M.V. - How do you think that the years at the Whitney influenced your professional training?

M.P. - Well, immeasurably, I would say. The Whitney is a very large institution, and I learned a tremendous amount from my colleagues, all of whom were incredibly talented and passionate about contemporary art. I also got a sense for the larger, institutional framework of a museum of that scale. I was interfacing constantly with members of other departments and having that great connection-with colleagues in marketing, colleagues in publications, colleagues in education, the director’s office -created a firm blueprint in my mind for the kind of institutional culture and talent that’s necessary to bring forward an excellent art museum.

J.M.V. - How do you define contemporary art at MOCA?

M.P. - Well, it’s interesting. We’re in the midst of our strategic planning process and, up until recently, the museum had defined it chronologically, meaning 1960 and onwards, but we’re right now changing that description and instead using the term ‘the art of our time,’ which I think is a more relevant way of thinking about it. ‘The art of our time’ is made today, or could’ve been made a hundred years ago, but reverberates with the experience of art and artists today. I think it’s a much more flexible way of describing contemporary art, and it doesn’t paint you in a corner as much as choosing a particular date might.

J.M.V. - So the phrase ‘art of our time‘ will be incorporated into your promotional materials? This is a conscious decision?

M.P. - It’s incredibly conscious. Right now it’s being written into our mission statement so, from that, everything else will emanate, and we will interpret that phrase and make sure that the public understands what it means in our context. I think if you look at other contemporary art museums across the country you’ll see that it’s part of a national trend where a number of institutions have chosen that particular phrase as opposed to one that’s tied more chronologically because it’s a blunt tool to be able to work with contemporary artists, and we need to be more responsive to the ways in which our culture is always looking back as well as looking forward. That’s one of the difficulties in a contemporary art museum because everyone is always concerned with how do you define it and where do you cut it off, but instead of focusing on how to cut it off we’re focusing on how to include all the aspects that make contemporary art interesting.

Larry Clark, Dead 1970, 1968, black and white photograph. MOCA Permanent Collection, Gift of Mr. Knox Burger. Courtesy of the artist and Luhring Augustine, New York.

J.M.V. - How large is the MOCA‘s permanent collection? What type of work does it include in terms of sculpture, painting, mixed media and photography?

M.P. - The collection is rather small at this moment. It numbers about 800 works. It spans across most media-photography, printmaking, painting and the sculpture collection is fairly small. I would say the strength of the collection is abstract painting from the 1960s onwards and also photography. We have a number of excellent examples of post-war up to the present in terms of photography.

J.M.V. - What inspires or excites you about the permanent collection? What are the standouts?

M.P. - One thing that excited me was that the museum owns Larry Clark’s Tulsa series, which is very important in terms of the history of photography and also in what’s happening in contemporary photography with eyewitness documentation and accounts. We displayed it for the first time in its entirety last year. In terms of painting, we have a great collection of works by Frank Stella. We have a phenomenal Jules Olitski painting and a Joan Mitchell triptych.

J.M.V. - Any interesting acquisition or donor stories?

M.P. - There are two couples that have been responsible for the painting collection. Maria and Donald Cox have donated upwards of 80 objects to the museum, and theirs was one of the founding collections that gave the museum its contemporary focus. The other important collection is from Preston and Joan Haskell, who are local collectors, and they have one of the most important collections of contemporary art in Jacksonville-and, I would argue, in the Southeast.

Gorgoni Gianfranco, Robert Smithson's Spiral Jetty, 1976, silver gelatin print. MOCA Permanent Collection

J.M.V. - How many exhibits do you program annually?

M.P. - We have three featured exhibitions, three Project Atrium exhibitions, and we have about six to eight exhibitions in the University of North Florida Gallery. MOCA has a close collaboration with the university, so we actually have a gallery on site that is programmed by UNF Art & Design faculty. We also have an education gallery that has three to four exhibitions a year.

J.M.V. - What do you see as the mission and role of the MOCA within the greater Jacksonville community?

M.P. - Well, the mission of the MOCA is to advance a passion and knowledge of contemporary art within our community. One of the advantages of what MOCA does is that we provide a place for exchange between the art, the artists and the public. We frequently bring in artists from other parts of the country to work on projects, and they get to meet and interact with the public through programs. So our public is exposed not just to their work, but also to the artist’s interpretation of that work, and sometimes hearing and having knowledge of the person who made these objects can be a powerful tool of engagement, which really changes the way you think about contemporary art, which can be very challenging. So making it more human and more personal is one of the things we really strive for.

J.M.V. - When you say you ‘bring in artists‘-is that in a formal residency program?

M.P. - No, it’s not a formal residency, but we have one particular exhibition series called Project Atrium, which has been really successful. We’ve just finished the first year where artists come in from all around the country and create site-sensitive, or site-specific, work in our Atrium Gallery, and when they’re there they’re usually ‘in residence’ from anywhere from a week to two weeks. They are engaging with our public and talking about their work, and the public can see them while they’re making their work. I think it demystifies the process, and with contemporary art I think the more you know about the process that’s involved and the decisions the artist made, the more interesting the interpretation can get.

J.M.V. - That sounds great because it‘s frustrating, especially for art writers like myself, when we ask artists to explain their work and they seem intent on maintaining that mystique.

M.P. - Well, context has a lot to do with that because if you were asked in the middle of a large group, ‘What’s the meaning of your work?’-that’s a very difficult question to unpack. But if you’re having a casual exchange with a group of visitors and one asks, ‘Why did you choose the color blue?’-that gives you a launching pad to get to that deeper conversation. We try to structure the exchanges in a way so that we’re not necessarily asking artists to wax poetic about their work, but we’re asking them to tell us about their decisions. You start to realize that there’s a thread and a connection and that each artist has a vocabulary when they speak about their work that is also very telling. Each artist has a language that we as viewers and interpreters need to be sensitive to and use to decipher some of the larger negotiations that they go through.

J.M.V. - Can you tell me more about Project Atrium? It sounds similar to the In Process program you created at the Monterey Museum of Art?

M.P. - Project Atrium is a very similar concept to the In Process series in Monterey. That series was also inspired by one of the most challenging galleries that we had to work with, which had extremely high ceilings and it was a very cavernous space and-depending on what kind of work you made-could be seen as a detriment or an opportunity. We worked with a number of artists who saw it as an opportunity. The atrium in MOCA Jacksonville is another cavernous space. It’s about 35 feet high and 30 feet deep, and it’s a very public space in the museum. It’s the first gallery you see when you come through the door, and it also opens on to the second and third floors, which contain our featured exhibitions and the permanent collection. So it’s a very monumental and important space. Project Atrium is the first series of exhibitions that has emphasized this particular space as an exhibition gallery. We started it last July, and since that time we’ve had three artists come in, each one making very different work, and that has really galvanized the community. We feel that every time we have a Project Atrium event and the artist comes to town and starts making the work, it’s wonderful to see the people who come to watch and engage with them and that attend all the lectures and events and enjoy the work even after the artist leaves. Each project is imaginative and intriguing, incorporating different mediums and different concepts. It’s given new life to the building as a whole because the gallery functions effectively as a backbone. You see it from every vantage point as you’re moving through the galleries, and it anchors how you perceive the rest of your experience at the museum.

J.M.V. - Project Atrium invites artists from around the country, but does the museum interact with local artists?

M.P. - We’re in the planning stage of how to create a more sustained engagement with local artists-both through exhibitions and other types of involvement. There are many artists who are docents of the museum, who participate in our educational efforts, some of whom have curated exhibits here. We’re mindful that we need to be thinking about more exhibition opportunities. So, that’s part of an ongoing discussion, and we’re talking about the possibility of doing a juried exhibition in a couple of years. We think that would be an interesting place to start.

Richard “Dickie” Landry, 1, 2, 3, 4, 1975, silver gelatin print. MOCA Permanent Collection.

J.M.V. - You‘ve revisited your permanent collection in an engaging way with the ReFocus exhibition series. Can you tell me more about that?

M.P. - Shortly after my arrival at the museum what I was hearing from our community-and sharing those insights with the curatorial team and the management team who confirmed this-was that the museum had not done a very thorough job explaining contemporary art to the public. So we decided to put together three exhibitions that ‘refocused’ the art of the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s and would provide our public with a more firm grounding in the pivotal years of contemporary art. The exhibitions function, in part, as an educational tool for those who are less aware of the major movements or major artists of those decades, but they also provide deeper information for those who are already keenly interested and aware. They are really a reduced primer, if you will, on contemporary art. They are very large in scope, and they’re divided into different movements that were present in each decade. There’s a lot of information-both written information and public programs that accompany each exhibition that really emphasize the materials that are present in the galleries, but also explain and provide a deeper meaning behind the different movements that emerged. So, it’s either an introduction or a deeper study if you’re already aware of those decades and movements.

J.M.V. - What exhibitions can visitors see at MOCA during 2012?

M.P. - With ReFocus, we’re heading into the 1970s, and after that we’ll do “ReFocus: Art of the 1980s.” That will happen in the fall. In the spring, I’m curating an exhibition titled “Slow: Marking Time in Photography and Film,” which looks at questions of time and duration in recent photography and film projects-artists that create works that actually evolve over time while you’re looking at them. So they extend the process of viewing beyond just the 30 seconds in which we apprehend an image.

J.M.V. - These are exhibits that you cull from your permanent collection or loans?

M.P. - The ReFocus series is drawn from our permanent collection and then augmented with loans. The Slow exhibition is an all-loan exhibition.

Installation view. Exhibition “Stranger in Paradise: The Works of the Reverend Howard Finster” (April 22 – August 28, 2011)

J.M.V.- And beyond this year-any interesting future initiatives to share?

M.P. - There’s one upcoming project that we’re very excited about happening in the fall of 2013, and that’s a retrospective of works by Michael Goldberg, who is a second-generation abstract expressionist. He died in 2007. We’re going be looking at the entirety of his career, which is unprecedented. He’s an artist that did some really exciting work, and he’s very highly regarded by artist colleagues but is not as well known nationally. So we’re in the process of putting together his first major retrospective, which we hope will travel to additional venues around the country.

The Museum of Contemporary Art / Jacksonville is located at 333 North Laura Street. Jacksonville, FL, 32202. For more information visit, www.mocajacksonville.org.

Jenifer Mangione Vogt is an arts writer based in Boca Raton, FL.

David Michael Bowers: Flesh Up Close

raisa — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 00:21:19 +0000

David Michael Bowers, Made in America, 2011, oil/linen, 45” x 24”

By Veron Ennis

The initial impression when first viewing paintings by David Michael Bowers is one of immediate awe and appreciation for the exceptionally realistic detail. Then, like a wave crashing, the bold use of conspicuous symbolism is promptly addressed thereafter. The focus shifts back and forth between these two prominent aspects of the work, then settles finally when, almost nose against canvas, you find yourself inspecting the multitude of layers that comprise the featured subject’s flesh.

The elaborate process involved in preparing some of Bowers’ surfaces, combined with the sophisticated and thorough system in which he paints, requires what would seem to be interminable time. Put into perspective, Bowers explains that he “spend(s) up to ten hours a day painting an area smaller than the diameter of a coffee cup.” After crafting gesso from scratch by way of dissolved rabbit-skin glue, chalk and zinc white, Bowers applies the transparent underpainting, mapping light and shadows onto his preliminary drawing. The second layer is opaque and establishes the first step that provides the vibrant depth found in all of his work. Numerous layers are painstakingly painted, then each is smoothed with pumice stone powder, until the final varnish layer is applied, which enhances the color and leaves no trace of any brushstrokes.

David Michael Bowers, It's Coming, 2007, oil/linen, 24” x 16”

Bowers’ technique, a reflection of those of 15th-century masters, is far from modern. On the contrary, his compositions contain quite contemporary innuendos. This juxtaposition is highlighted in the selected works on view at 101/Exhibit during his solo exhibition, “The Human Condition.” Indeed, the human condition is addressed, both as a voyeur of surrounding society and of internal investigation. Family Tree, the most recent large work in the show, is a self-portrait trois fois in which Bowers features himself balanced in a literal tree while pruning limbs and branches, seemingly preparing it for his own admittance after passing. From an alternate viewpoint, a societal observation, Blondes Have More Fun, depicts two miserable women, perhaps considered beautiful by America’s cultural standards, both gazing with glassed-over eyes into the nothingness of their lives. Each awkwardly handles an infant doll, as if they had overlooked the potential of raising a family, distracted by life’s vices.

David Michael Bowers, Family Tree, 2011, oil/linen, 48” x 36”

Included in the show at 101/Exhibit is a rare collection of watercolors created by Bowers as a result of time he spent in coastal Florida. Not having painted in watercolors in decades, he found it adventurous and challenging to work in the unforgiving medium. Congruent with the themes of his oil paintings, Bowers delights in exposing another sad observation of life without rose-colored glasses. The series of beach scenes illuminate with whitening sunshine, the “ever-expanding waistlines,” as Bowers puts it, of sunbathing America.

Honey Baked, 2010, oil on canvas, 32” x 28”

Bowers admits he “bounces around and seems like [William-Adolphe] Bouguereau on drugs,” yet it is clear that his work is connected by his obsessive concern for the treatment of color, light and composition, and that in many instances he “just wanted to paint flesh up close.”

David Michael Bowers is represented by 101/exhibit. 101 NE 40th Street. Miami Design District, 33137. Phone: 305 573 2101. www.101exhibit.com / info@101exhibit.com

Veron Ennis is an artist and art critic based in downtown Fort Myers, FL. She is also the director of UNIT A Contemporary Art Space.

Susy Iglicki: Rendering Reality

raisa — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 00:06:05 +0000

Susy Iglicki, Morgue, 2011, lightbox.

By Veron Ennis

Across time and place, pervasive suffering has plagued the human race. Some is inflicted by natural disasters, though much is appallingly ladled from the hands of man. Voices calling out from the devastation, whether from today or a century ago, are suppressed or silenced. Photos are confiscated, protesters are arrested, and media is shut down. An artist of many decades and of many mediums who has heard these truths, Susy Iglicki prominently delivers her socially and politically concerned messages using the modern technique of digitally rendered photography.

Susy Iglicki, Contemporanea I, 2005-2011, digital print.

Born in Austria but raised since early childhood and still living in Venezuela, Iglicki exposes past, current and projected truths concerning the human condition. Charged with compassion for those affected by the Holocaust as a result of her family fleeing to Venezuela from the murderous campaign of Nazi Germany in 1939, Iglicki composes work that amplifies great emotion from essentially manageable concepts.

Susy Iglicki, Contemporanea II, 2005-2011, digital print.

Recently exhibited in Arteamericas 2011 at the Curator’s Voice Art Projects in Miami, Wir Waren is comprised of 25 pairs of disheveled shoes. Each is segregated into their own dark square, arranged in grid form. The photograph is presented in a lightbox bearing the words, “WIR WAREN,” (”We Were”) in black-letter typeface. These pairs of shoes are just a few of millions removed from the victims of the extermination camps during World War II.

Susy Iglicki, Contemporanea III, 2011, digital print.

Aware of the violence, poverty and hunger that are epidemics today, Iglicki conveys these plaguing atrocities through digitally rendered photographs of the “barrios” in the slums of Caracas, Venezuela. In a series of three, the revered mountain El Avila iconically stands as a focal platform upon which Iglicki stages three distinct metaphoric scenarios. In Contemporanea I (2011), the “ranchos,” or crude shacks, are piled endlessly upon each other, haphazardly constructed and utterly inadequate at providing safe shelter. They seemingly spread like a strangling fungus, suffocating the mountain while well-maintained modern buildings thrive in the foreground.

Susy Iglicki, Wirsind, 2011, light box.

Contemporanea II (2011) is a haunting homage to the devastating mudslide that occurred in 1999, claiming more than 30,000 lives on the north side of the mountain as well as in the neighboring area of Vargas. Still, the foreground of pleasantly placed, upscale buildings remains the same, as if Iglicki is commenting on the ability of the fortunate to ignore the struggle and suffering of others, despite how close and pronounced their hardship.

Susy Iglicki, RED, 2011, digital print, 21” x 42”

Though works in Iglicki’s current series portray destitution, distress and the consequences of violence and apathy, Contemporanea III (2011) is perhaps an uplifting glimpse of what could be if compassion is turned into benevolent action. In the photograph, El Avila stands proud, blanketed in ripe vegetation, gleaming over the buildings below. There is a sense of relief and hope.

Highlighting individuals within the masses is a powerful approach that Iglicki exercises in her work. In Red, a singular “rancho” is saturated in the bold color, distinguished from the rest of the brick-and-cardboard homes. Her ability to force the viewer to focus on one particular human being and simultaneously contemplate the plight and misfortune of many is transcendent.

Iglicki’s venture to undertake the challenge of learning and applying a new technique is not a foreign endeavor to her. The digital world of photography is one of many that she has explored and employed during her long-standing career as an artist, yet it is undeniably the one with the clearest voice.

Susy Iglicki is represented by Curator’s Voice Art Projects. 2509 NW 2nd Ave. Between 25th & 26th St. Wynwood Art District. Miami, FL, 33127. Phone: 786 357 0568 / www.curatorsvoiceartprojects.com / www.susyiglicki.com

Veron Ennis is an artist and art critic based in downtown Fort Myers, FL. She is also the director of UNIT A Contemporary Art Space.

Florida Exhibit Showcases Significant Renaissance and Baroque Art

raisa — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 23:48:34 +0000

Jacopo Robusti, called Tintoretto, Sacrifice of Isaac, 1550-1555, oil on canvas. Collection of the Uffizi Gallery, Florence, Italy.

By Jenifer Mangione Vogt

“Offering of the Angels,” now at Museum of Art | Fort Lauderdale Nova Southeastern University until April 8, 2012, is a thoughtful exhibit that will delight visitors of every age. The show contains 45 paintings and tapestries from the Renaissance and Baroque periods that have been loaned by Italy’s Uffizi Gallery with the help of the Palm Beach-based nonprofit Friends of the Uffizi. South Florida is the first stop for these works, which will travel to three other U.S. cities before returning to the Uffizi in Florence.

Works of art from this time period are a rare sight in Florida. The Uffizi Gallery contains what is considered the greatest collection of the world’s most significant Renaissance artworks. Most were funded by the powerful Medici clan, history’s most referenced family for art patronage. The fact that the Uffizi has allowed these works to travel here is no insignificant matter. It provides an unparalleled opportunity to view these masterpieces in an intimate setting.

This exhibit hinges on the belief within the Christian faith in the Eucharist, or the power of the body of Christ to forgive sin and begin anew. That is what is referred to by the “offering,” which is translated from the Italian “Il Pane,” or “bread,” because the Eucharist wafer is commonly referred to as the “bread” of Christ. However, the show is accessible, and applicable, to visitors of any faith-the operative word being “faith,” which transcends one particular religion.

Within the realm of faith there are challenges and victories, and these served as the artistic inspiration for Renaissance and Baroque painters. The themes are universal: birth, death, love, sacrifice, suffering and victory. In Christianity, in particular, there are significant milestones within the journey of the savior, Jesus Christ, to earth, and it is within these phases that the show’s works are segmented.

Alessandro Di Mariano Filipepi, called Sandro Botticelli (and restorer from 19th century), Madonna with Child (Madonna della loggia), circa 1466-1467, oil on panel. Collection of the Uffizi Gallery, Florence, Italy.

The first significant event in the history of the Christian faith was the “Annunciation,” for it was at this moment that it was made clear to the Virgin Mary that she was to be the mother of Christ. However, “Offering” first begins with a series of paintings that illustrate Old Testament themes that foreshadow the birth and death of Christ. In one of these, Tintoretto’s The Sacrifice of Isaac (ca. 1550), Abraham is called upon by God to sacrifice his only son.

In Pietro Liberi’s The Annunciation (ca. 1670), we witness the very moment when an angel startles the Virgin Mary. This work, as with all of the paintings in this exhibit, has been restored to its original splendor. So, one is awe-struck by the sheer beauty of the work-the masterful skill of the painter, the brilliant depth of color, the ethereal quality of this poignant event and the historic significance of the work.

From the Annunciation, the show moves into a segment of works that deal with the Nativity, or the birth of Christ. These works illustrate the deep bond of love between Mary and the infant Christ, as depicted in the Botticelli’s masterpiece, The Madonna and Child (ca. 1466). With his delicate treatment of color and nuance, Botticelli captures an affectionate moment as Christ seeks respite within his mother’s gentle arms.

The remaining segments of the exhibit deal with The Last Supper, The Crucifixion and The Resurrection. One of the two tapestries shows The Descent from the Cross (ca. 1546) woven by Nicola Karcher from a drawing made by Il Salviati. It’s astonishing to see, from a fairly close viewpoint, the intricacy of the weave and the details included within the border, including images of Christ’s face, lovers, hands and animals.

The Museum of Art has endeavored, with great success, to transform this show into a teaching and learning exploration for visitors of every age. The price of admission includes an audio tour that contains narrative for most of the works. For children, the museum provides a booklet that follows “angel” symbols throughout the show, as well as handouts. Both contain quizzes and games that are ingenious teaching tools.

Florentine Manufacture. Weaving of Nicola Karcher, from a drawing by Francesco De’ Rossi, called Il Salviati. Tapestry depicting the Deposition From the Cross, second half of 16th century, silk, gold and gilded silver. Collection of the Uffizi Gallery, Florence, Italy.

One of the most exciting learning aspects of the show is a visual tutorial on the restoration of the The Madonna and Child with Saints Luke and Catherine of Alexandria by Titian. This work dates from 1550 to 1560 and not only is the actual painting displayed, but the Uffizi has provided reproductions of the various stages of the restoration. The documented transformation is fascinating.

“Offering of the Angels” transports the visitor to the historic realm in which artistic achievement arose from religious devotion and faith, a period of time that found God to be the center of the universe and professions, such as art, that spoke of his omniscience. It’s a journey of faith, and an inspiring journey at that.

“Offering of the Angels: Old Master Paintings and Tapestries from the Uffizi Gallery” is on view through April 8, 2012, at the Museum of Art | Fort Lauderdale Nova Southeastern University. One East Las Olas Blvd. Fort Lauderdale, Florida, 33301. Phone: 954 525 5500 / www.moafl.org.

Jenifer Mangione Vogt is an art historian and writer based in Boca Raton.

Sri Prabha Studio Gallery

raisa — Wed, 28 Mar 2012 00:15:52 +0000

Sri Prabha Studio Gallery
The Artisan Lounge, Studio M4
500 NE 1st Avenue
Miami, FL 33132
info@sriprabha.com
www.sriprabha.com

Lighthouse Art Center, Museum and School of Art

raisa — Wed, 21 Mar 2012 03:17:55 +0000

Lighthouse Art Center, Museum and School of Art

395 Seabrook Rd.

Tequesta, FL 33469

ARTDISTRICTS Announces the Winner of its Open Call

raisa — Wed, 14 Mar 2012 17:57:40 +0000

Julie Davidow, The new strain # 9 (from ‘Arcade’/Mehretu), 2009, gesso, acrylic, latex enamel and enamel paint on canvas, 60” x 60”.

ARTDISTRICTS magazine selected Julie Davidow as the winner of its April/May 2012 Open Call for Artists. She will be the FEATURED ARTIST in ARTDISTRICTS upcoming issue.

Julie Davidow received a B.S. in Communications from the University of North Florida in 1986. After 10 years as a small business owner, she returned to study her first passion, art. She attended New World School of the Arts in Miami from 1996-1999 on scholarship. Since then, she has exhibited at many museums and galleries nationwide including the Miami Art Museum; The National Museum of Women in the Arts in Washington, DC; The Fort Lauderdale Museum of Art; The Tampa Museum of Art; the Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art in Winston-Salem, NC; Lawrimore Projects in Seattle, WA; Shoshana Wayne in Los Angeles, CA.

Julie Davidow, The new strain # 12 (from Mehretu), 2009, gesso, acrylic, latex enamel and enamel paint on canvas, 48” x 48”.

Recent exhibitions of Davidow’s work include archiTECTONICS at Diana Lowesntein Gallery, Miami; Dis/Orderat Artspace, Raleigh NC; An Exchange with Sol Lewitt at Mass MOCA in North Adams, MA, Woman to Woman at the Bakehouse Art Complex in Miami. Spring 2012 she will participate in Little Languages/Coded Picturesat Kathryn Markel Fine Arts in New York City.

Davidow’s work is included in the permanent collection of the Miami Art Museum, the Girl’s Club Collection in Ft. Lauderdale, FL, Epic Miami Hotel and many private collections. She is recipient of ARTslant’s First Prize Golden Frame award, a Florida Artist Enhancement Grant, the Leo and Raye Chestler Contemporary Visual Arts award.

Her work has been published in New American Paintings Vol. 52 & 76, ArtPapers, Artdaily, Time Out New York, The Miami Herald, The Miami & Broward New Times, Art Circuits, Florida International Magazine, Miami Living Magazine and elsewhere. Julie is the coauthor of the book MIAMI Contemporary Artists, published by Schiffer Publishing in 2007.