A Chair in the Garden, Alfredo Lorenzo
Post Neo Kitsch Deluxe, John Kotula

March 8 - April 12, 2003
Reception: Saturday, March 8, 5-7 PM
Gallery Talk: Saturday, March 29, 1 PM

alfredo lorenzo

People, birds, and fantastical animals dance through a dreamlike garden realm, topsy-turvy birdbaths sit on tables which become floors, gravity is discarded in favor of a centrifugal, cacophonic movement-in Alfredo Lorenzo's paintings colors, forms, and lines form a conversation from which there is no rest, but plenty of humor.

In Lorenzo's newest works layers of color are densely packed, scraped, and quickly but laboriously painted with oil sticks upon thick sheets of paper, strong enough to hold up to a vigorous process. Lorenzo develops his theme by working on multiple works at the same time, shifting ideas from one intimately scaled work to the next. Ordinary forms such as generic tables and chairs and imprecisely featured people are vividly animated, infused with a life force that makes the viewer imagine music playing, chairs scraping, loud conversations, or hushed voices. Through these narratives run riotous waves of color, sweeping through the archetypal characters and placing them solidly in the realm of 20th Century painting traditions.

Lorenzo says,

"the work is focused on the use of color and the surface on which it is applied-on the scratching or scraping away of color. The process becomes important; the development of the imagery is spontaneous. The subject matter usually comes second-the narrative, reference to family and community gatherings."

Lorenzo cites his influences as Marc Chagall and the German Expressionists such as Franz Marc, but also reveals that memory plays an important role in his work. Motivated by Caribbean generated folklore which he learned as a child in the Dominican Republic, Lorenzo characterizes his paintings as tangible results of "an outburst of experiences." His works incorporate a personal mythology that is his own "improvisation, softening the images and seeing them through a child's eyes." For example, one character is a sort of bird-god, a parrot like creature decked in medieval ballet hose and transformed into a large bird holding all sorts of other birds. The chair image (referred to by the exhibition's title) comes from his recollections of his later childhood in Michigan, where his family spent the summers equally indoors and outdoors, often sitting in the shade on rocking chairs. The chair in the garden connects Lorenzo's memories and represents a sense of returning home.

Lorenzo lives in East Greenwich and holds a BFA, BA, and BLA (Bachelor of Landscape Arts) from the Rhode Island School of Design in Providence, Rhode Island. He has exhibited widely, holding local exhibitions at the Virginia Lynch Gallery, Newport Art Museum, and DeBlois Gallery amongst others-this will be his second solo exhibition at Hera Gallery. He has also exhibited internationally at the Galleria De Arte Moderno at Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic; University of Playa Ancha in Valparaiso, Chile, and the Chilean North American Institute in Valparaiso, Chile. His works are in numerous private and public collections, including local collections in Hasbro Children's Hospital, the Rhode Island Convention Center and the RISD Alumni House, all in Providence, Rhode Island.

john kotula

Wakefield artist John Kotula exhibits works from three series: States of Undress, Into the Garden, and Seed Drawings for the Project "10 Drawings/100 Artists". These works address different aspects of the processes of time, growth, and mutability in artwork and in nature.

In States of Undress Kotula uses collaboration to determine the outcome of his mixed media drawings. He explains that he exchanges sketchbooks with four friends, who work on each others' drawings without reservations or rules. Starting with three charcoal drawings of nude figures which were executed collaboratively, Kotula added two mylar layers with drawings of clothing to each of the original drawings. Kotula invites viewers to virtually dress or undress each of the three figures by replacing or lifting each mylar layer to hide or reveal the drawing beneath.

In addition, Kotula displays elements of another collaborative work, Seed Drawings for the Project "10 Drawings/100 Artists." Kotula began this project by sending numerous partially completed drawings-sometimes using a fraction of a large sheet of paper, or containing a hint of an undeveloped idea-to different artists. He instructs each artist to work on the drawing and pass it on to another artist; the tenth artist to work on a given drawing is instructed to return it to Kotula.

He says,

"The goal is that I will end up with ten drawings that represent the work of one hundred artists. I have been at it for about two years. There are 24 drawings in circulation-none have been returned. Someone who received a drawing told me he thought it was a ten year project. He thought that to get ten back, I'd have to send out 100 and wait ten years. That is OK with me."

Kotula's third series, Into the Garden, explores growth and change in a more traditional way. The drawings of daylilies, climbing flowers (possibly clematis) and other flowers were done from direct observation, but the compositions are formally arranged. Kotula's flowers are caught in mid-air, pinned against a backdrop that is usually solid and uncluttered, and appear as records of growth, reminiscent of stop-action photography.

Kotula received a BA in studio arts from Queens College, New York, and has pursued further studies at the Brooklyn Museum School of Art, the Rhode Island School of Design, Provincetown Fine Arts Workshop, and the School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. He has exhibited his works at the Providence Art Club and the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Locally he is a member of the South County Art Association, where he served on the Board of Directors from 1995-1997; he also served as the Chair of the Education Committee.

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