Suffolk
University Art Gallery
New England School of Art & Design @ Suffolk University
75 Arlington Street, Boston, MA 02116
Gallery is free and open to the public:
M-F 9am-10pm, Saturday 9am-5pm, Sunday 12pm-6pm
James Hull, Gallery Director
Telephone: 617.573.8785 / cell: 857.222.0333
Gallery Email: gallery@suffolk.edu
link to Suffolk/NESAD main web site
On the Road
an exhibit of artwork inspired by the road.
PDF of Press ReleaseHannah Cole
Chris Faust
Gretjen Helene
Doug WeathersbyCurated by James Hull
June 24 - August 27, 2010
Suffolk University Art Gallery at NESAD
Opening reception: Thursday, June 24th from 5 - 7 PM
75 Arlington Street, second floorOn The Road
This exhibits provides evidence that even with Wi Fi, tweets and GPS, time spent “On the Road” can still provide a welcome, artistically inspiring escape. Humbly borrowing the title of the Jack Keruoac novel that made hitchhiking into a right of passage for a generation and indelibly etched the highway into the mythology of the American West, the adventures of each artist connect with our collective wanderlust and take us along for the ride.
Combining notes, to do lists and narratives with images taken on the road, most of these artists achieve what is often an elusive balance between words and images. The humble observations and diaristic notes focus on the thoughts and experiences in the artists minds - pushing the specific imagery displayed in the photos into a supporting role. Rather than captions simply explaining the imagery the carefully phrased text or voice recordings give us a glimpse of the artists’ stream of consciousness, in effect slowing us down to share personal observations grounded in the experiences that take place in conjunction with these environments. Photographs become the backdrop and describe the context for a textual narrative to fill in what it felt like to be there. Descriptions of smells, extremes in temperature, distance and physical exhaustion connect with the audience through a combination of empathy and memory.
Hannah Cole
In addition to the paintings that are often based on photographs, Hannah Cole also works directly on photographs - using pinpricks to transfer enlarged handwritten text onto the surface of photographs taken in transit. Cole describes the “daydream quality of the photos, and the often distracted feeling of driving...” which inspired her to pair these images with notes from her “to-do” lists to “reflect the way that one’s thoughts can interrupt and distort the experience of a place.” A few works feature passages from poems and the photos locations range from Boston to a recent residency in Wyoming to Italy and even Southeast Asia. Artist's web site: http://hannahcole.net/instant-sublime
Christopher Faust
Christopher Faust is the one artist in the exhibit that forgoes text and uses sheer scale to recreate an experience of the open road. Faust turns a 10 by 18 foot wall of the gallery into a painted stretch of disappearing blacktop running away toward a distant row of mountains. He immerses us in an enormous panorama based on a photograph he took riding a bike across the country with his brother. Like the highly personal works by all the artists in this exhibition, the space Faust describes manages to create a surprisingly evocative range of emotions: the unease of vulnerability, the sheer humbling beauty, even the humor or delight of the experience.Artist's web site: http://www.christopherfaust.net/paintings.html
>> listen to a sample of Gretjen's audio from the helmets of her "Epic Journey" - Here
Gretjen Helene
10,000 miles, two motorcycles and only $2,000 is how Gretjen summarizes the facts of her cross continent Epic Journey with a friend from Boston to Alaska and on to California. The poetic prose that she narrates in the single channel sound tracks animate the interior of two motorcycle helmets surrounded by Polaroids from the trip. In her massive “Epic Journey” installation, carefully printed narrative paragraphs are exhibited along side the richly colored Holga snapshots taken from her motorcycle. Sounds, smells and experiences with strangers fill in the memories of the road trip with details that quickly tap into our collective memories. Unapologetically romantic and honest, the words create pictures that compete with the images on the wall to tell an amazing story of adventure.Artist's web site: http://www.gretjenhelene.net/
Douglas Weathersby
Doug’s Environmental Services company encapsulates all of his artistic endeavors. He creates photographs, temporary sculptures, log entries, and videos in which he is sole performer of artistic activities that comprise his (anywhere but the) “studio” practice. The “Log” entries exhibited here from repairing a museum in Louisiana and producing a collaborative installation in Medellin, Columbia are a series of color photographic prints employing a combination of lists and personal
narratives superimposed as text on a contemporaneous photographic image. The text ranges from diary notes to self deprecating confessions and enviously entertaining anecdotes within each work. The specific dates on all of these photographs reveal the documentary lineage of Weathersby’s work. Weathersby is represented by Dodge Contemporary, NYC. Artist's web site: http://www.drwservice.com/– James Hull, Curator
Past Exhibits
Resa Blatman
Curated by James Hull
Boston Globe review by Cate McQuaid HERE
December 4 - January 17, 2010
Opening Reception: Saturday, December 12, 4 - 6 pm
Artist Talk: Tuesday, December 8, 2:30 pm
Artist's Web Site HERE
Resa Blatman, Flux (2009) oil acrylic and glitter on cut edge panel
88 x 130 inches
Suffolk University Art Gallery presents a solo exhibition of Resa Blatman’s
recent paintings. Blatman navigates the territory between representation
and experience by superimposing realism and dynamic, graphic fantasy. The
exuberance of the overall pattern is given a surreal believability through
the detailed rendering of the fur, feathers, and skin of a host of creatures.
The splashy explosions and clinging droplets animate the orgy of corporeally
suggestive forms tucked into a stylized habitat spilling across the wall.
Resa has built upon the intricate cutout framework of her heroically scaled
“Beauty and the Beasties” and incorporated it throughout the
composition in works like “Flux” or “Lemon Spray”.
Using the wall as a background and the cut areas as monochrome silhouettes
of intricate scrolls, branches and wildlife activates the compositions -
even from across the gallery. Tendrils from separate panels reach across
negative spaces and flirt with touching an adjacent edge.
Avoiding a specific narrative, Blatman creates an overall feeling and then
reinforces it at every opportunity by her selection of decorative shapes,
animals, insects, fungi and fruits that exude a disneyesque sexualized beauty.
Blatman uses flat graphic design strategies to tease us screening but not
hiding the graphic content. The overt references to pendulous anatomy are
disguised by an equally valid reading as a luscious, dimensional fruit,
avoiding any pornographic directness. Resa Blatman’s technical skill
coupled with her decisions on how to depict the juicy, physicality of desire,
the dramatic gestures of romance and the thriving abundance of life is the
unexpected power of these works. The result is an over-the-top cornucopia
combining the emotive dynamism of Baroque decoration, contemporary patterning
like that of Philip Taaffe and the curvaceous sexuality of Georgia O’Keefe
in a single painting.
- James Hull
Opening reception for Construction exhibition
Now showing: Construction
a group exhibition of new sculpture made in Boston
Curated by James Hull
Review in Boston Globe 11/11/2009 by Cate McQuaid > Here
October 15 - November 21, 2009
Opening Reception: Friday, October 16, 6-8:30 PM
Artist Talk: (NOTE CHANGE!)>>Tuesday, November 10, 2:30 PM
Exhibiting Artists:
Laura Evans
Peter Evonuk
Arthur Henderson
Ellen Rich
Isabel Riley
Jeff Smith
In this exhibition of six Boston area artists the studio process is on display.
Because of the
way these sculptures are created we can witness the key choices made by
each artist in the
final product. Not all art works this way. The transparency of the construction
techniques
underpins the connection between an otherwise visually divergent group.
In the same way
that the ad-hoc repairs and homemade contraptions reflect the personality
and
inventiveness of a previous resident of a home, the artworks on view reflect
the creative
ingenuity of the artists. Choices of how to put things together, what media
to use or where
to get materials reveal much about the artistic strategies at play. The
raw materials chosen
might just as easily come from a hardware store as an art supply store.
What does that tell
us about the artistic intentions? Using materials to test and explore the
boundary between
art and craft or the overlap between painting and sculpture closes the gap
between
everyday experience and contemporary art. The confident generosity of all
these artists
allows us to see more of the creative process in the exhibited artwork enriching
our
experience as viewers.
Laura Evans
short-circuits any expected outcomes by cutting, gluing and redirecting
tubular
material literally turning them into drawings. More like the lines in Brice
Marden’s looping
paintings than a Joel Shapiro sculpture these segmented, articulating cylinders
are like
improvisational vectors that don’t seem to get anywhere or describe
anything specifibcu t
through thoughtful choreography express the elegant successes and fitful
frustrations of
making art.
Peter Evonuk
uses his sense of humor and technical training to try to locate the dividing
line between art and craft (if there truly is one). He uses stone carving
and cutting, one of the
oldest, most revered processes, to raise a basic construction object to
the status of high art.
He carves white marble into a perfect cinder block, which he playfully positions
contrapposto to make the classical sculptural references clear. Evonuk labors
using
traditional methods in direct contradiction to Marcel Duchamp’s “found
object”. The
irreverence of the subject matter paradoxically underscores the time-consuming
processes.
Arthur Henderson
uses traditional and nontraditional materials to create anything but
classical sculptures. His cast and fabricated objects are often painted
to look exactly like a
cigarette butt or a truncated cartoon character in his own updated version
of Pop Art.
Henderson carves text and uses humor to poke fun at the artworld’s
seriousness. The use
of contemporary materials like pink insulation foam and contact paper in
addition to acrylic
paint or plaster gives his work a broad zone of reference to both mimic
and critique trends in
contemporary art.
Ellen Rich
combines found materials with painted finishes but her compositions are
more
minimal and less culturally specific than Henderson’s. This is surprising
considering that she
collects most of the parts for her wall sculptures from a dump. The collage
process and
formal restraint of these low relief works is modulated by Rich’s
use of found and applied
color. The humble aged surfaces relate them more to Modernist artworks or
to Alexander
Calder or Louise Nevelson than to artists known for using cast-off materials
like Thorton Dial
or Howard Finster.
Isabel Riley
selects hardware store materials with a painter’s eye for color and
texture. Her
materials are new and her colors vary from out of the can to exacting faux
finishes. This
variety is both coherent and playful as it engages the viewer all the way
around these
objects. Connections between one form and another reveal the logic and cagey
solutions
Riley uses to move us between elements of each sculpture. Riley has a keen
sense of
materials using anything from faux fur to plywood to vinyl flooring to create
surprisingly
elegant structures. Balance, tension and color work interdependently to
create complex
visual relationships.
Jeff Smith
takes the term “playful” literally. He often makes sculptures
that function as adult
sized ride’em toys or building blocks. Almost everything is on wheels.
He may paint
something or sand or round off the edges but he tries to keep the history
of the surfaces
intact. The sturdy construction of these works make them feel attractively
interactive (in the
analog sense of the term). They movement sets the stage for a “happening”
or a
“performance” in the art world terms but Smith reminds us that
when we were kids we just
called it play.
Last Week! Up Until Saturday, October 10 - 5PM
Cara Phillips: Singular Beauty
On view: August 17 - October 10, 2009
Cara Phillips, White Consultation Chair, Upper East Side (2006)
Boston Globe review by Cate McQuaid
( 9/2/2009)Reception: Thursday, September 17, 6 - 8:30 PM
Exhibition Dates: August 17 - October 10, 2009
Artist Talk: Wednesday, September 16 @ 1:30 PM
Cara Phillips: Singular Beauty
a Solo exhibition of Photographs by Cara Phillips
In her first solo exhibition, Singular Beauty, Cara Phillips confronts us with an unblinking view of what she calls “the ultimate destination for beauty.” The Brooklyn based artist photographs consultation rooms, “before and after” backdrops and the machines used for cosmetic surgery. Phillips uses color, a central composition and spot lighting to deliver a dramatic cross section of cosmetic surgeon’s offices from some of the nation’s wealthiest neighborhoods without showing the doctors, staff or clients. By listing the location of each office, as in White consultation chair, Upper East Side (2006), or Before and after room, Beverly Hills (2007), Phillips tempts us to imagine who will be in the chair for the next appointment, revealing our judgments that are literally as superficial and as complex as the operations planned. The dramatic isolation of the objects pictured in carefully decorated environments gives us the space to contemplate, empathize with or condemn the tremendously popular surgical procedures they represent.
How does a nice green chair and super-slick interior transform the experience
of a doctor's office? By turning these environments into galleries projecting
aesthetic good taste and classy professionalism in order to sell elective
surgery. As a society, why do we accept placing implants in our bodies or
removing parts of us surgically that we deem unattractive as normal? Every
image asks those questions.
Cara’s background as a child model for the Ford Agency and later as
a make-up counter sales-person allows her to reveal the business end of
controversial medical procedures from a unique perspective. Phillips has
taken her own "body issues" and redirected them into a well researched,
poingnantly indirect look at “body sculpting” surgeries. Self-image
issues reveal cultural and societal pressures on our appearance, the current
state of Feminism and the implications of re-defined gender roles in the
21st century. The very personal, emotional balancing acts that revolve around
how we identify and how we feel about ourselves make this a rich territory
for an artist - richer perhaps because she never shifts the focus to a singular
beauty.
James Hull, Curator
Press Images (large files for print)
link to artist's web site
Cara Phillips, Before and After Room, Beverly Hills (2007)
Chromogenic print 40 x 30 inches
Cara Phillips, Blue Laser Consultation Chair, New York City (2006)
Chromogenic print 38 x 46 inches
Cara Phillips, Orange Laser Machine, Washington, DC. (2008)
Chromogenic print 30 x 24 inches
Faculty Drawing Exhibition
June 15 - August 1, 2009
a group exhibition featuring outstanding faculty work in a wide range of media
Opening Reception: Thursday, June 18, 6 - 9 PM
Exhibiting Faculty Artists:
Sophia Ainslie
Ilona Anderson
Paul Andrade
Gabrielle Barzaghi
Mark Brus
Neils Burger
Audrey Goldstein
Nancy Hackett
James Hull
Jeff Hull
Lydia Martin
Susan Nichter
Steve Novick
Matt Templeton
Peter Thibeault
Rex Wynn
Tamotsu Yamamoto
Foundation Student Exhibition
March 23 - April 3, 2009
Opening reception: Thursday, March 26, 5:30-6:30 PM
Graphic Design Undergraduate Exhibition
April 6 - 17, 2009
Opening reception: Thursday, April 16, 5:30-7:30 PM
Fine Arts Senior Thesis Exhibition
April 20 - May 1, 2009
Opening Reception: Friday, April 24, 7-8:30 PM
Interior Design Undergraduate & Master’s Exhibtion
May 7 - 22, 2009
Opening Reception: Thursday, May 7, 5:30-8 PM
(following formal gallery talks by senior students at 6:00pm)
Christopher Dombeck from the "Artworks I have Touched" installation
Teresa Pierce "Seven People #1,
Difference is to Identity as Individualism is to Status"
New! Installation Views >>
Installation view (Dana Clancy and Cristi Rinklin)
Behind the Image November 6, 2008 - January 3, 2009
Behind the Image November 6, 2008 - January 3, 2009
75 Arlington Street, Boston, MA 02116
Gallery is free and open to the public:
M-F 9am-10pm, Saturday 9am-5pm, Sunday 12pm-6pm
Telephone: 617.573.8785
Gallery Email: gallery@suffolk.edu
Behind the Image Curated by James Hull
Exhibition Dates: November 6, 2008 - January 3, 2009
Opening Reception: Thursday, November 6th: 5:30 - 8 PM
(after 7 PM enter at Main Lobby @ 10 St. James Street)
Exhibiting Artists:
Hannah Barrett
Dana Clancy
Lisa Costanzo
Heather Hobler
John Guthrie
Cristi Rinklin
Joe Wardwell
Behind the Image is an exhibit of seven well-established
artists who live
and work in the Boston area. The exhibition reveals some of the
investigations, processes and inspirations these artists used to produce
specific artworks. The highly crafted paintings and drawings created by
these
artists are shown side-by-side with the sketchbooks, digital mock-ups,
photographic studies, art history books, and color studies that informed
their
decisions during production. In addition to preparatory sketches, the curator
attempts to re-create the “studio wall” of each artist - surfaces
covered with
inspirational objects, unexpected images, postcards, photographs, magazine
pages, album covers and news clippings. The creative act itself is on view
in
many ways. The finished work is given a history through this
“contextualizing” of the artwork with early stages of thought
and jumping o
points in evidence. Students, other artists and the public get an opportunity
to see what is “Behind the Image” in each of these diverse artistic
practices.
Contact: James Hull, Curator / Gallery Director: 857.222.0333
Email: james.hull@mac.com
PDF Press release