Backspace welcomes painter and sculptor Nicholas Nyland, 2008 winner of Washington’s Artist Trust Fellowship. Nicholas is represented by Pulliam Gallery in Portland, Oregon, and is a member of SOIL Artist Collective in Seattle. Regarding his exhibition title, Decoys, Nicholas Nyland says, “I found an old duck decoy in a thrift shop that was made of canvas with an abstracted plumage design printed on it. It got me thinking about the way paintings or sculpture often operate in a similar manner, an act of dissembling through a surface treatment that stands in for another.”
Nicholas has exhibited extensively on the west coast; most recently, he was invited to install a series of large-scale sculptures in Olympic Park in Seattle. He studied at the Royal College of Art in London as part of an exchange with the University of Pennsylvania, and he participated in the University of Washington Studio Art Program in Rome, Italy. Residencies include the Kamiyama Artist-in-Residence Program in Japan, and Peoria’s own Prairie Center of the Arts. His time in Peoria resulted in the large- scale From the Inside Out exhibition at Heuser Art Center Gallery.
Reception:
Friday – January 27th, 2012
6:00-9:00pm
A group of ceramic sculptors investigate the endless possibilities of clay. With a wide range of construction and surface techniques, this group illustrates the vastness of clay’s possibilities while incorporating mixed media. This diverse group of four met while in graduate school at the University of Iowa. With topics ranging from storytelling to physical forces each artist approaches ceramics and object making differently.
Heidi Casto’s work brings out humor and encourages discussion on topics related to motherhood. She challenges the pressure of responsibility that mothers hold in raising their young. For more read her Reflection on Motherhood at http://heidicasto.com/
Angela Dieffenbach was the fall sabbatical replacement for the head the Ceramics program at Bradley University, and is also an undergrad alumnus of Bradley. She teaches Methods of Art Education and Sculpture at Augustana College. Her work challenges the viewer to examine the private and often alien aspects of being human while calling attention to the fragility of existence, as well as the role industry plays in the maintenance of our bodies. http://www.angeladieffenbach.com/
Matthew Dercole is currently the Artist in Residence in Ceramics at Lillstreet Art Center in Chicago, IL where he teaches and has a studio. Matthew approaches his work from the point of view of a story and is interested in the exploration of the self & the understanding of others. http://matthewdercole.com/
Andrew Casto is the 2011/2012 MJD Fellow at The Archie Bray Foundation for Ceramic Art in Helena, MT and the recipient of the 2010 FuLe Prize by the International Ceramic Magazine Editors Association in Fuping, China. His sculptural objects create metaphorical links between personal narratives and physical forces of erosion and entropy. http://andrewcasto.com/
A traveling exhibition from the Meramec Contemporary Gallery in St. Louis.
Work by;
John Early Gabriela Salazar
Jonggeon Lee R.C. Sayler
Nick Hutchings Carlie Trosclair
Curated by Ken Wood
“Six sculptors and installation artists from New York, Missouri,
Illinois and Texas rethink how we occupy everyday spaces: home,
office and studio.”
Curator’s Statement:
Six artists rethink the way we see and occupy places. Some look for
beauty in the banal, or subvert the roles traditionally ascribed to
the basic elements of architecture: the wall may become the oculus
instead of the support; the column may become a place of transient
impermanence instead of the structure that prevents collapse; the
service space becomes the dwelling. Others talk about the
appropriation and displacement of cultural icons that were made to
hold history in a fixed, rooted placement. Small scale and large scale
get inverted, and monuments of permanence get toted off in duffel
bags.
Gabriela Salazar starts with the most pedestrian of surfaces, the
industrial rubber flooring of the gallery, and recreates it in a
pattern of handmade paper sculptures that move from floor to wall.
In “Bounce with Me,” Jonggeon Lee uses the icon of the Egyptian
Obelisk as a symbol of cultural displacement. The obelisk, most often
seen as a conquerer’s trophy, here becomes infused with modern symbols
of permanence and mobility.
Nick Hutchings challenges the role of architecture in a gallery
setting; the wall, traditionally the backdrop and support for a framed
work of art, becomes instead becomes the portal through which the art
is viewed. Removing a piece of the wall and framing it further
transforms its place in the gallery.
In a short video R.C. Sayler use a small maquette to plan out changes
to his studio, which he then enacts in real scale; soon the two scales
get confused with each other, and the planner becomes part of the
plan. A sculptural piece also plays with the idea of scale and
dwelling as a life size figure occupies the space under a cupboard,
recalling ideas of the domesticated and the feral.
Carlie Trosclair adorns the gallery walls with fabric, transforming
one corner into a habitable soft sculpture. Frames embedded in the
fabric accentuate the difference between the architecture of masonry
versus that of cloth.
John Early works with dust and foot traffic to create one piece about
making the transient visible, and another about the fleeting nature of
language and place.
The works in the show in the words of the artists themselves:
John Early
“Studio Floor II” (2009-2010), shoe prints, scuff marks, and detritus
on paper, 14’ x 16’
This is the second of two drawings in which I lined my studio floor
with paper to record the activity that took place in my studio each of
my two years of graduate school. Through the accumulation of various
markings, the movement and presence of people is made known. A sense
of place also begins to emerge, as can be seen in the empty,
non‐marked areas as well as in the imprints made from the floor
itself.
“Dust to Dust” (2011), found dust and dirt, dimensions variable
This is part of an ongoing series in which dust and dirt is used to
create text-based stencils. As the stencil is subject to indeterminate
variables such as the movement of people and the flow of air currents,
the words gradually erode and disappear into the environment from
which they came.
Nick Hutchings
“Threshold Rendere,” (2009-2011), wall, hole, torn paper, frame,
dimensions variable
“Window”(2009-2011), wall, hole, plexiglass, old projector, dimensions variable
In these works I am exploring the concept of liminality. This liminal
space is bounded by the tension between the artwork and the viewer.
Both works are an excavation through a surface to reveal a different
context of perception. Therefore in this context liminality can be
defined in the body of work as the threshold of presence or the space
of passage. This threshold is the in-between space similar to a
doorway or gate. This space of passage is manifested through the
process of this work and inspired by my faith in the presence of God
between and interwoven within the aesthetic. Similar to the Haiku, my
artistic method is to remove the superfluous elements within the work
to speak in a more succinct and powerful voice. This voice is a quiet
interruption into the noise of distraction, creating a space where the
viewer can be still and reflect on their presence in relation to the
artwork and the space that surrounds them.
Jonggeon Lee
“Bounce with Me” (2009), Basketball leather, MDF, acrylic plastic,
duffel bag, shoes, 13” x 20” x 26”
In this work, I played with the reconfiguration of scale, material and
symbolism of both an obelisk and a basketball by reproducing a
miniature obelisk and resurfacing it with basketball leather.
The significance of an obelisk in this work comes from its history of
displacement. Obelisks were prominent monuments in the architecture
of the ancient Egyptians, and were placed in pairs at the entrance to
temples. However, only a small number of these obelisks survive from
this time, with less than half of these remaining in their original
placement in Egypt. Some of the most well known obelisks were removed
and stand at Saint Peter’s Piazza in Rome, Italy and at the Place de
la Concorde in Paris, France. There are also many smaller obelisks or
similar forms to be found in European and American cemeteries.
I chose the NBA Basketball to represent modern Western culture. The
NBA, which is the professional basketball league in North America,
seems to be not just a popular sport in the United States but a
universal icon of our times. The basketball itself is a commercial
object that is consumable and transportable.
I view this work as a cultural symbol that has the qualities of both a
historical monument and a modern commodity that can be moved from one
space to another. By adjusting its dimensions and putting the piece
in a display case, I also made it a trophy. And by installing the
piece in a duffel bag with basketball shoes, I am trying to show that
the trophy – a symbol of victory — is hollow; it is just thrown in a
bag and toted away. The meaningful icon of the obelisk can be
relocated to a new cultural place, but will lose its original value in
the transition.
Gabriela Salazar
“Hinge #2 (Meramec)” (2011), (via Ken Wood), federal blue milk paint
and existing wall, dimensions variable, 2011
These wall paintings, a continuing site intervention, playfully call
attention to the structures and function of interior elements of a
room. The appearance of technical spec plans for door hardware upon
the white surface of the walls briefly reverts the blank hard surfaces
to their “blueprint” stage, to a moment when the given corners, doors,
and windows could have been designed otherwise. The increase of scale
also heightens the importance of these movable parts as the means by
which we enter and inhabit a fixed space.
“Each to Each, or Where I meet the floor and the floor meets two walls
(Love Song of Greenpoint to Meramec)” (2011)
paper pulp, graphite, and existing walls, 38” x 38” x 1.5” on either
side of a corner
Unable to experience the gallery for myself, Ken sent me a “brass
rubbing” of one of the floor tiles. This low-fi transmission—a game of
telephone started by the gallery itself— ricocheted around my Brooklyn
studio for a couple of weeks, hybridized with my assumptions of white
gallery walls, and was flung back out for a long return journey across
many states. The original message—now distorted and expanded by
material transformations, my distance from the original, and willful
misunderstanding— is broadcast into a corner of the space. The new
surface asks, how did we get here from here?
R.C. Sayler
“Dad’s Hide & Seek Decoy” (2011), wood, countertop, bed sheets,
pillows, shirt, foam, plaster, paint
“Artist Playing in the Studio (and Other Serious Stuff)” (2008),
digital video, 3:59
Generally, when I work there is constant reworking of materials and
ideas. Before this video, I had three somewhat varied projects. 1. I
had created a miniature of a friend’s sculpture using a paperclip and
masking tape–a model. 2. My studio had windows and I wanted to make
something so big that it would extend out the windows over the street
below. 3. I had been constructing furniture-like “things” and spent
time moving them about the studio to make room for others. After
contemplating these interests, I had the following ideas: 1. Model
making is a form of replication, often to develop a better
understanding. 2. For something to seem bigger, things around it must
seem smaller. 3. Organization is an aesthetic endeavor. So, I set out
to make a model of my studio and my sculptures to better understand
what they were. Showing how I move them about in the life-size studio
and miniature seemed like a natural decision and resulted in my hand
seeming larger than life. This phenomena was captured on video and
edited to fool the eye. In the end, I was less concerned about the
objects and more interested in what I do to pass time in the studio.
Carlie Trosclair
Untitled (Meramec), (2011), fabric, string, frames, dimensions variable
The architecture that we inhabit every day can be very accommodating –
so accommodating, in fact, that we often pass through it without even
being aware of it. Carlie Trosclair tries to bridge the distance
between the human body and the built spaces we pass through. In this
piece, the skin-like quality of the cloth, its fleshtones and its
curvilinear geometry adorn the walls in an attempt to make the
inhabitant more aware of the human qualities of our spaces – the way
they enfold us, give us privacy, and protect us from the elements.
Likewise the frames that extend out from the cloth bring the
rectilinear geometry of the architecture closer to the viewer, in
small, palatable pieces that relate better to the scale of the human
body – the hand, the head, the torso. The result is something that
bridges between architecture and the traditional categories of
‘relief’ or ‘in the round’ sculpture, providing the viewer with
multiple focal points, vantage points, and many different entries into
the work.
Videos of an interview with the curator about this show can be found here:
Artists’ Bios and Statements
(These are statements about their work in general, not just about the
work in this particular show)
John Early
Bio: John Early (b. 1978, Richmond, VA) lives and works in St. Louis,
MO. Working primarily in drawing, sculpture, and installation, he
holds degrees from Washington University in St. Louis (MFA, 2010),
Covenant Theological Seminary (MA, 2007) and the University of
Virginia (BA, 2000). He was the recipient of a Graduate School of Art
Fellowship at Washington University as well as an Aunspaugh Fifth-Year
Fellowship at the University of Virginia. In addition to being
included in recent group exhibitions in St. Louis at venues including
White Flag Projects, Snowflake, and the Foundry, his work has been
shown at the BS Gallery (Iowa City, IA), SCA Project Gallery (Pomona,
CA), and the Orange County Center for Contemporary Arts (Santa Ana,
CA). Upcoming solo exhibitions include “Terra Firma” at The Luminary
Center for the Arts in St. Louis (2011) and “From Here to There” at
Taylor University’s Metcalf Gallery in Upland, IN (2012).
Artist’s Statement: My current work explores the physical and
temporal boundaries that shape and define our experience of the world.
How we engage and understand the space in which we live—both in the
domestic sphere and regarding space at large—is a central focus of my
practice. Measuring and mapping plays a large role in my work, whether
through marking certain bounds of human action or through the
accumulation of gestures, traces, and marks made over time. By probing
and pointing out often overlooked aspects of our existence such as how
we move through a given space, the physical limitations of our bodies,
and the passage of time, my works aims to heighten our awareness of
how we perceive and understand the world and our place in it.
www.john-early.com
John Nicholas Hutchings
Bio: John Nicholas Hutchings was born in and lives and works in
Dallas, TX. He started his formal training in the arts in Florence,
Italy at Lorenzo De Medici, continuing on to receive a Bachelors
Degree in Fine Art from Texas Tech University in 2003, and a Masters
Degree of Fine Arts at Washington University in St Louis in 2010,
where he received the Clara Bromeyer Scholarship. Hutchings teaches
Sculpture and 3D Design at the University of Texas in Arlington and at
Brookhaven College, where he is also the sculpture lab technician. He
has exhibited his work at Lorenzo de Medici in Florence, Italy, at the
Hoffman La Chance Gallery, Des Lee Gallery, and the Mildred Lane
Kemper Museum in St. Louis, MO, and the Xue Gallery and the Arthouse
at the Jones Center in Austin, TX. As a participant with Art Love
Magic, he exhibited his work and helped produce the Awaken Show for
the Urban Arts Festival in Dallas, TX. He is a member of 500X
Gallery, an artist-run cooperative gallery in Texas.
Artist’s Statement: Heidegger writes, “A space is something that has
been made room for––something with boundaries. A boundary is not that
at which something stops but is that from which something begins its
presence” (from the essay “Building, Dwelling, Thinking”).
In my current body of work I am seeking to generate conscious
awareness of presence within the aesthetic experience—an awareness of
the tension between the objects of perception, here defined as the
artwork, and the conscious presence of the viewer. The practice of my
art aims to place the viewer in a position of conscious engagement
with the artwork by distilling the aesthetic experience. Similar to
the Haiku, my artistic method is to remove the superfluous elements
within the work to speak in a more succinct and powerful voice. This
voice is a quiet interruption into the noise of distraction, creating
a space where the viewer can be still and reflect on their presence in
relation to the artwork. This liminal space is bounded by the tension
between the artwork and the viewer. Therefore liminality can be
defined in the body of work as the threshold of presence or the space
of passage.
This space of passage is manifested through the process of this work
and inspired by my faith in the presence of God between and interwoven
within the aesthetic. This work is an active exploration into being
present in liminal space between the spiritual and physical experience
of making art. With each material and mark I seek to foster a
relationship with my own presence within the boundary and translate
that experience through the artwork. The materials I use, whether
wood, charcoal, dirt, or gold, gather a trace of my own internal
presence into the physical material, engendering a trace of presence
between the mediums.
The theory of emergence helps to illustrate the role of presence in my
work. According to this theory, intelligence emerges from the
connections between neurons: the individual neuron does not contain
the thought, but rather the thought emerges in the spaces between the
synapses of millions of neurons. Similarly, my artwork activates
consciousness of presence by tethering different elements within the
work to the presence of the viewer, creating a liminal space where the
aesthetic experience can materialize. jnhutchings.com
Jonggeon Lee
Bio: Jonggeon Lee is a Seoul, Korea born artist working in sculpture
and installation. He lives and works in Brooklyn, NY. He received his
MFA in Sculpture from Rhode Island School of Design and a BFA from
Seoul National University. He has exhibited extensively both in the
United States and South Korea. His recent exhibition venues include
Doosan Gallery and Recess in New York, NY, 808 Gallery in Boston,
Massachusetts, and Songeun Gallery in Seoul, Korea. He has attended
several residencies such as the ISCP (International Studio &
Curatorial Program), Triangle Arts Association and Chang-Dong National
Art Studio. He has also received a number of grants and awards
including the Emerging Artist Fellowship from Socrates Sculpture Park
and the Visual Arts Fellowship from the Fine Arts Work Center.
Artist’s Statement: I explore domestic and public architectural
structures, such as staircases or historic monuments, that have been
displaced from their original contexts. Having lived both in Korea and
the United States, my sense of belonging to either one of these
cultures has been continuously disrupted. As a result, I have come to
view historic architectural structures through the lens of cultural
dislocation; I realize now that when these architectural structures
are displaced, the cultures that they represent are also dislodged
from their origins.
In an effort to capture my experience of cultural displacement, I
reproduce components of architectural structures as sculptural objects
and installations in order to evoke both the time and space of its
origins. I distort and crop the decorative elements of domestic
Colonial houses, reconfigure the scale and material of historic
monuments, and combine historic architectural structures with everyday
objects. In the work, I transform the architectural structures to
dislodge them from their initial function of structure. As a result,
in each of the pieces, time becomes fixed and isolated from its
conventional cycle, creating memories of space. www.jonggeonlee.com
Gabriela Salazar
Bio: Gabriela Salazar is from New York City, where she currently
lives and works. She received her MFA from RISD in 2009, and a BA from
Yale University in 2003. While at RISD, Gabriela was the recipient of
an Award of Excellence in both of her years of study. Group shows
include “Geography of Imagination”, Adams House, New York, NY (2009);
“East|West Artist Exchange,” Center on Contemporary Art, Seattle, WA
(2009); “A Varied Terrain”, Gelman Gallery, RISD Museum, Providence,
RI (2009), which she co-organized; and “Year Zero”, at the Jamaica
Center for Learning and the Arts, Queens, NY (2010). Her essay,
“Another One Bites the Dust!”, on the experience of contemporary
ruins, was published in the peer-reviewed Journal of Contemporary
Aesthetics in 2010. Most recently, Gabriela’s solo show, “Robert
Moses, He Knows Us”, a site-specific installation at flatbreadaffair
in Brooklyn (2010), was reviewed in “The Architect’s Newspaper” in
January. Gabriela has also been a fellow at the MacDowell Colony, a
participant in Studio LLC at JCAL, Queens, and will be attending the
Skowhegan School of Painting & Sculpture this summer.
Artist’s Statement: Gabriela Salazar is an artist, writer, and curator
who investigates our experience of the built environment. Through
sculptures, drawings, installations, and writing, she explores the
psychogeography and metaphorical implications of both natural and
man-made spaces, in particular, moments of transition, fissure, and
definition. In varied materials, the pieces draw attention to the way
we put our world together, and then, how we navigate what we’ve made.
Within the phenomenological response to this work is the friction
between our assumptions and ideals for the built environment and its
imperfect, impermanent reality. www.gabrielasalazar.com
R.C. Sayler
Bio : R.C. Sayler was born in Massachusetts, spent his childhood in
the suburbs of Los Angeles, and came of age in a rural, farming
community in southern Illinois. After completing his MFA in Sculpture
from the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) in 2010, Sayler returned
to Illinois where he currently works as a carpenter. He is
co-recipient of a RISD Graduate Studies Grant and an International
Sculpture Center’s Outstanding Student Achievement in Sculpture
nominee. This year his work will be included in group exhibitions in
Aspen, CO, St. Louis, MO, Detroit, MI and New York, NY.
www.rcsayler.com
Carlie Trosclair
Bio: Carlie Trosclair is from New Orleans, LA where she received a
Bachelor’s Degree of Fine Arts (cum laude) from Loyola University. She
currently lives in St Louis, MO, where she earned an MFA from
Washington University and recently completed a six month residency at
the Luminary Center for the Arts. Exhibitions include solo
exhibitions at the Craft Alliance / Grand Center and Drew Henry
Gallery, and group shows at the Mildred Lane Kemper Museum, The
Foundry, Koken Art Factory, and the Des Lee Gallery, in St. Louis, MO.
Upcoming exhibitions include the 2011 Innovations in Textiles
Biennial at the St. Louis Artists Guild this fall. Ms Trosclair
received a Graduate Fine Arts Fellowship and the Tanasko Milovich
Scholarship while at Washington University, and was a nominee for the
ISC Outstanding achievement in Contemporary Sculpture. She also
received a Public Arts Conference Scholarship and Travel Grant,given
by Americans for the Arts of San Diego, CA
Artist’s Statement: Through the re-creation and manipulation of
existing architectural spaces, I am interested in creating
environments that are based on the sensorial, visceral and tactile
nature of experiences.
In my work, fabric is used as an architectural skin to link the
physicality of the body with its surroundings. Exploring themes of
sensuality, loss, domesticity, and the body [both absent and present],
I aim to create experiences that are focused on embodied perception
within new realities. www.carlietrosclair.com
Friday / June 24 / 6:00 – 9:00pm / This event is free!
All Four One is a show of comradery and commodity. The members of SLAPface have individually purchased hundreds of dollars of $1 items that will be combined in hopes of producing something resembling art. Wish them luck.
SLAPface is :
Geoff Cullen
Matt Wiseman
Jake Isenhour
Michael Willett
