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Hera Gallery presents "Concrete: Work from
the Urban
Environment", an exhibition of works by nine Rhode Island artists,
on
view from March 10 through April 14th. Opening reception will
be held
Saturday, March 10th, from 6 - 8pm. Curated by gallery director
Chelsea
Heffner; the exhibition showcases work in all media including
photography, printmaking, painting, sculpture, performance
and
video.
Many of the ten artists exhibiting in "Concrete",
live and work amid the flux of an urban environment, the majority
living in Providence. As old buildings are torn down and new
structures go up almost overnight, many artists have been forced find
alternative work/live spaces, forcing many to examine the
relationship between their living environment and studio practice.
Though not every artist exhibiting in "Concrete" has faced these
issues of flux and displacement, each creates work that displays the
unique and subtle effects of the urban experience.
Some, like acclaimed printmaker Jean Cozzens, have found
a dedicated interest in how humans interact within their living
environments. In her recent print series entitled, "Six Patterns for
Everyday Spaces", Cozzens creates guidelines for better urban
dwelling, illuminating these concepts through carefully detailed, and
beautifully crafted silkscreen prints. Cozzens writes,
"I am
interested in buildings because I am interested in people – the
structures we inherit tell us about our past, and shape our daily
lives."
Sharing in Cozzens' interest in the
local architecture of Providence is painter Glen Abanilla. His
work entitled "Brown & Sharpe" is shown at right (click
on it to see a larger version). For over a decade, Abanilla
has been painting houses and buildings across the city, often
choosing the most derelict and abandoned properties as subjects of his
paintings.
Working in and intimate scale using
oil paint and
pastels, Abanilla develops the character of each structure
with great
attention to its quirks and personality. He writes, " …old
houses,
like old factories always make me dream.
I see a house and
immediately begin
to ask questions
and then imagine the answers…
eventually the history
I create has so much detail I forget
that there is a real history."
Deeply involved with the Providence art community is
performance artist and director of Firehouse 13, Anna Shapiro.
Having
recently moved to Providence, Shapiro found inspiration
for"Sisyphus’ Boxes", a collaborative performance
and installation exploring issues of Diaspora and homelessness.
Dragging a collection of modified cardboard boxes behind
her as she traverses the hills and busy streets of Providence,
Shapiro creates a spectacle symbolic of a medita-
tive journey.
About the record of this performance, Shapiro writes, "Integral
to this body of work is the documentation of it. The elusive
and intangible elements of performance art become concrete
in these documents."
Exploring very different issues are photographers Lucas
Foglia and Jennifer Kodis. Both artists are recent recipients of a
fellowship, and merit award (respectively) by the Rhode Island State
Council on the Arts, for excellence in photography.
Documenting the diverse peoples who share garden plots in the South
Side Community Land Trust, Foglia captures uplifting images of many
immigrants seeking to maintain cultural traditions of working land
and growing their own food. This bright and richly colored series
highlights the potential of blending rural ideals into urban
cityscapes, encouraging people to rethink the possibilities of unused
city spaces. Foglia’s images bring to light the importance of
communal space in a society of increasingly privatized institutions
and spaces.
The photo series by Jennifer Kodis, "Inhabitants"
presents humans in questionably natural environ-
ments, interacting
in
ambiguous degrees of comfort. These stark black and white
photos
examine ideas of real and artificial environments, and the
complications they present to human interface.
Kodis creates
a palpable sense of unease through the composition of the
images,
hinting at a tense relationship between humans and the environments
they have created.
With additional work on display by painters Jonas
Criscoe and Timothy Ohliger, photographer and landscape
architecture student Bryan Quinn, and sculptor Russ Smith, "Concrete:
Work from the
Urban Environment" creates a dynamic dialog on living,
working, thriving and surviving in the urban environment.
(The image used at the top of this page, and on our
home page, as part of the announcement of this show, is a work
entitled "Overpass", by Jonas Criscoe. To see a larger version,
without the announcement text, click here.)
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