Category Archives: Painting

Nocturne: Myth, Magic and Decay

Wendy Given and Ryan Pierce have collaborated to present a variety of new sculptures, paintings, drawings and photographs drawn from the intersection of their creative visions: the nocturnal, the nonhuman, and the wildness that resides in each of us. Nocturne presents an otherworldly collection of natural, surreal, mysterious and awe-inspiring work that draws the viewer into a mode of processing and understanding nature, folklore, myth and mystery.

Given-Of_the_Garden_VitisWendy Given, Of the Garden: Vitis, 2014, 40″ x 40″, c-print, edition 1/3

Flowers droop in decay from an upside down sculpted head vase, a white peacock looks over his shoulder surrounded by preserved moss, palm leaves, flowers and ferns, a gilded scythe hangs on the wall inscribed with a prayer to the natural world, a sketched vulture consumes an atrophying human carcass against a dark background, botanical illustrations marry the surreal with the biological, a mirrored octahedron rests in the center of one room, reflecting a photograph of close-up moth fur, beetles consuming grapes, a raven clutching an animal skull in its beak, and a giant chandelier made of peacock feathers.

Given and Pierce’s work suspends time and reality in a meditation on the surreal and the unexamined: a moth rests in a vintage glass box, cameo style images of panthers atop pine trees and mystical forces of the night hang on the wall, and a painted rendition of a glass box broken at the base of a trickling creek overwhelms part of the room. The folk art-feel of the exhibition illicits a sense of dread, that reality is centered in myth, that decay and death are all around us, that we are uncertain. Both rooms in whitespace’s gallery have their own essence of the natural. One is a space of observation and mystifying beauty of the preserved. The other feels vintage and antique, featuring the kinds of artifacts one may find in a grandmother’s attic.

The universal message of this collaboration is one of appreciation, examination and presentation. The appreciation of the natural world in all its elements, plants, moths, a coiled white snake, a white peacock, panthers; an examination of life and a collective consciousness surrounding the natural, mortality, the circle of life; and a presentation of nature’s cruel and yet, just forces.

ark_webtwoDetail, Ryan Pierce, Chance Arc, 2012, 72″ x 47″, Flashe on canvas over panel

Given and Pierce’s collection is one of the beauty found in the forgotten and the unobserved, but also a confrontation. We, as humans, are all dependent on the natural world, and yet, we are responsible for its desecration.

Written by: Hilleary Gramling

The Bear, Faulkner and Territories/Kingdoms by Mimi Hart Silver

Often, in the world of creativity, different imaginative mediums serve to influence each other. Pablo Picasso’s work heavily influenced architecture through his principles in Cubism, especially in the Czech Republic. Buildings like the Hodek Apartment House reconcile Picasso’s revolutionary findings of art with architecture and local tradition. Similarly, artists like Marina Ambramoviç and Ulay combine experimental concepts with artistic performance and body art. Even here, in our very own artistic space, Poetry has wandered into visual artistry (if you recall our whitespec show in the summer months, Pathways, by Nicole Livieratos — Livieratos utilizied words of poetry in her installation). Among these few examples, Mimi Hart Silver’s work is no less of an important notch in the belt of influenced and combined art forms.

During our Saturday Salon two weeks ago, many Atlanta locals gathered together to understand and discuss the influences of William Faulkner’s work on Silver’s exhibition. Lead by Faulkner scholar Tom McHaney, the talk covered topics from Faulkner’s life, his writing of The Bear as well as Silver’s own attraction to the famous author’s words.

In Territories/Kingdoms, Silver examines her roots as a Southerner, presenting 2D work across multiple mediums, all in conversation. Paper has been manipulated to resemble hide or skin. These fragments are patched together to convey an illusion of an aerial standpoint, geographic landscape and crude map-like visuals. Paired with classically rendered abstract oil paintings detailing blurred images of a bird hunt, the result is an eerie and haunting portrayal of biological and hierarchical divisions. As discussed during the Salon, Faulkner’s attention to that of the primitive, the raw, the survivor, are all notions brought up in the viewing of Silver’s works.

McHaney brought images of drawings created by Faulkner in his early days. Providing insight into Faulkner’s writing by reading an excerpt from the text of The Bear, McHaney enchanted the crowd with the lore-like style of Faulkner’s distinct prose. Posing questions to Silver about the nature of her work, a discussion of themes (common between Silver and Faulkner), relating to the rough characterization of Southern indifference, were addressed. The attention to the South: as a place of deep-rooted tradition, a place charged with violence in the animal hunt and in ways of life, and a place where the nature of human instinct in terms of trauma comes to fruition, provided insights into human tragedy as a coping mechanism. Silver’s articulation of Faulkner as a key influence in her work through his reverence for the wild, the untamable, the deepest animalistic drives, was key in achieving a deeper understanding of Silver’s work.

McHaney’s insights to Silver’s explanations not only illuminated the works being shown at whitespace, but also provided a closer look at trauma and memory. Silver’s images of wings, legs, breasts and animalistic body part roped together in the aftermath of carnage and the permeation of violence, were augmented by a discovery of Faulkner’s work as an articulation on survival in the wild. The discussion of both Faulkner and Silver’s interests in the continuum of life and death, charged the gallery space with curiosity as all participants stepped into the search for meaning in human tragedy for a brief time, together.

Written by: Hilleary Gramling

Photos by: Sierra Cortner

 

 

 

Lost by Meg Aubrey

whitespace Artists Meg Aubrey, Matt Haffner and Seana Reilly “E-merge” at Atlanta’s Hartsfield Jackson International Airport

“To emerge is to come into existence, to become evident, to come into sight or view.”

Meg Aubrey, "Lost," oil on canvas

Whitespace artists Meg Aubrey, Matt Haffner and Seana Reilly are currently on view in the T-gate Exhibition Gallery at Atlanta’s Hartsfield Jackson Airport as part of E-Merge: Contemporary Atlanta Artists at Hartsfield Jackson International Airport. Curated by Hope Cohn, this exhibition contains over forty works by Atlanta artists in a variety Continue reading

Check Out Burnaway’s Article Featuring Whitespace Artist, Craig Dongoski:

Craig Dongoski’s show at whitespace, “Attack/Decay/Sustain/Release,” made Burnaway’s top Atlanta events of 2011!

Our Favorite Things: Remembering Atlanta Arts 2011

Craig also has work on display in Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport‘s departures atrium. The show is up through February 1, 2012, so you still have time to see it!

Sarah Emerson and Jody Fausett in "Day Job: Georgia" at the Contemporary

Sarah Emerson and Jody Fausett are currently part of the “Day Job: Georgia” exhibition at the Contemporary, which is up now through March 24, 2012. 

Sarah Emerson and her daughter, Harlow Cregar, have a site-specific installation and mural.  Be on the look out for Sarah’s upcoming solo show at whitespace, which opens Thursday, April 5, 2012 at 7 PM.

Sarah Emerson and daughter Harlow Cregar at “Day Job: Georgia.”   
Photograph courtesy of BurnAway Flikr photostream

Jody Fausett, who had his solo exhibition at whitespace this past November, selected several of his new photographs for the Contemporary’s show. 

Jody Fausett’s work at “Day Job: Georgia”
Photograph courtesy of BurnAway Flikr photostream

For additional information about “Day Job: Georgia,” please visit the Atlanta Contemporary Art Center website.

BurnAway has posted several pictures of the exhibition and opening reception on its Flickr photostream.

"Metronome" by Michele Schuff at whitespace

Michele Schuff, “Don’t Go,” Encaustic on panel, 48 x 60 x 4.5″

In Michele Schuff’s exhibition, Metronome, she explores the perception of time and how we measure life’s passing.  How long do I have to live?  How has my timing influenced every turn of my life?  Will I be able to do what I need to before I die? 

Michele uses the metronome, a tool traditionally used to set a fixed tempo while practicing music, as a metaphor for keeping time as well as a meditative device; with it one can set a beat or pulse that can become increasingly abstract and therefore has the potential to exist outside of our perception of linear time.  This body of work examines the space that is created when one is fully focused on any creative endeavor: where does that state of mind exist? Time can be momentarily suspended in the gap between the beats; collectively these beats and gaps make up a body of work, a life, a collection of lives. 

Metronome features a series of encaustic paintings on wood panel created by layer over layer of repetitive brush strokes fused together with heat. The repeated painted lines/phrases/objects are meant to create a textured ‘beat’ and somehow through their pattern and regularity, generate an abstract field of color and sound.

Michele Schuff received her BFA from Wayne State University in Detroit and her MFA from Georgia State University. She is a former Fellow of the Hambidge Center of Creative Arts and Sciences, and the Virginia Center for Creative Arts. Schuff’s work explores themes of light through encaustic painting and three-dimensional cast forms. 

Exhibition dates:            June 10 – July 23, 2011   

Opening reception:        Friday, June 10 | 7-10 pm

Gallery hours:               Wednesday – Saturday | 11 am – 5 pm or by appointment
                       
Location:                       814 Edgewood Avenue | Inman Park

Media Contact:             Susan Bridges
                                     www.whitespace814.com
                                     susan@whitespace814.com
                                     p 404.688.1892
                                     c 404.849.8176