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Perspectives Continued from previous page....
 While
also interested in creating subtle, often landscape-based
images through the "laborious, painstaking, unforgiving
and obscure" medium of printmaking, Dan
Wood's interest in the landscape has more to do
with his desire to relate to the public at large through a
printing process used by mass production. Central to this
philosophy is the importance of conveying a sense of place,
and Wood's work is often prominently titled or captioned.
Wood
says, "Dealing with subjects in the public realm, be
they public toilets to packaging material, in a process that
is still very much a part of everyday life (offset lithography),
allows me to create prints that are accessible to a wider
public, while questioning the public notion of the fine art
object."
 Kirk
Snow's digital prints are part of his investigation
of graffiti artists in Rhode Island. Documenting four different
sites in Rhode Island over a period of about a year, Snow's
photos reveal an ongoing view of an impermanent art form that
is at best regarded as marginal to the art world. Snow's images
and accompanying text
make the argument that graffiti writers are indeed artists,
and that their works are the products of a cultural movement
that has evolved over the past few decades to produce work
that is at once stylized, anonymous, yet very personal and
tied to an individual identity. With this project, Snow aims
to uncover both the motivations of graffiti writers appropriating
"neglected spaces" and perhaps just as significantly,
the public reaction to their works.
Wakefield
architect, artist and activist Troy
West's drawings are depictions of architecture
that very much seems personified and full of character. West's
charcoal drawings show buildings that are full of human flaws
and vitality, wrinkles and laugh lines, yet his drawings also
reveal a sense of awe and inspiration.
Describing
old factory buildings in particular, West explains, "Granite
towers, brick stacks reach well beyond the sky marking these
cathedrals of work in the landscape of trees, hills, valleys,
rivers, dams, spillways, villages and cities. They are big
in the sense of Walt Whitman, Carl Sandburg and Langston Hughes."
 Like
West, photographer Howard Schulman
is drawn to Rhode Island's mills as well as to its rural scenes.
Schulman reveals that he was initially motivated to make this
series by his explorations of hikes and runs throughout the
state. Schulman's subjects in this show include Royal Mills
and a fire tower in West Greenwich photographed near dusk.
The contrast between the old and the new also interests Schulman.
Perhaps the most striking work in this grouping is View from
The Doctor's Parking Lot at Kent hospital, a night scene of
a charmingly dilapidated farmhouse that is strongly and surreally
illuminated by incandescent lights from the parking lot.
This
exhibition is the third topical exhibition this year at Hera.
The gallery features exhibitions that reflect dynamic issues
currently affecting our local community as well as the local
and national artistic communities. Previously this year, we
featured the works of more than 400 local students in the
Annual Children's and Young Adults' Exhibition,
and highlighted the works of a national pool of artists in
The Mark. In addition, Hera features solo exhibitions
by innovative gallery artists hailing from New England and
beyond.
Hera Gallery is handicapped accessible. All events are free
and open to the public. Gallery hours are Wednesday through
Friday, 1-5 PM and Saturday, 10 AM-4PM. Please contact us
for directions or info at 401.789.1488 or info@heragallery.org.
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