Two exhibitions
dal 13/1/2005 al 12/2/2005
Segnalato da
13/1/2005
Two exhibitions
Aron Packer Gallery, Chicago
In Gallery One: Robert Horvath, Unattainable. Artist's recent work continues his output of decadent, high-calorie paintings. The beautiful young urbanites that serve as his subjects are still dripping with a shameless vanity as they taunt, tempt, and tease their viewers from within radiantly hued monochrome colorscapes. In Gallery Two: Four (four artists, four walls), featuring Jen Blazina, Bonnie Ward Klehr, Casey Riordan Millard, Jenny Laden.
Robert Horvath
Unattainable
Robert Horvath's recent work continues his output of decadent, high-calorie
paintings. The beautiful young urbanites that serve as his subjects are
still dripping with a shameless vanity as they taunt, tempt, and tease their
viewers from within radiantly hued monochrome colorscapes. Horvath's
classical oil-painting technique is usually comprised of thirty layers or
more and the resulting luminosity is indebted as much to Caravaggio as it is
to glossy Prada ads. This painstaking glazing appropriately references the
narcissism of his subjects as layer upon thin layer is applied to the sleek
surface as if masking the subjects' vulnerability under a façade of
manufactured glamour. Distilled from America's ubiquitous attempts to
manufacture a desire that is as wholly seductive as it is unattainable,
these images find us painfully aware of our guilty cravings. Many of us
secretly desire the fantasy of Horvath's hipster subjects  to be with them,
to be one of them, to possess that detached and knowing confidence only
found frozen on glossy pages. Horvath transforms that hallucination of
empty glamour into something oddly palpable.
Image: a work by Robert Horvath
_______
Four
(four artists, four walls - continued in the next installment with
Four More - February 18 - March 19 in Gallery Two with four male artists)
Jen Blazina
Using the inherent distortions of her cast glass panels, Jen Blazina's
silk-screened images of vintage snapshots and family photos become hazy,
unfocused reminders of the fragility and vulnerability of the memories and
recollections by which we author our present identities.
Bonnie Ward Klehr
In her current installation, Klehr constructs an organized explosion of
varied color, texture, and density using the delicate medium of glass beads.
While insignificant as singular objects, it is the sum and cooperation of
these humble materials that gives Klehr's work its distinctive visual
potency.
Casey Riordan Millard
In both style and imagery, Riordan Millard's painting/sculpture delight
in confusing generational expectations with gender expectations. Her work
reminds us that childhood's anxiety and confusions are not the idyllic
period of innocence our culture projects any more than adulthood is a time
of mature stability.
Jenny Laden
Jenny Laden's delicate watercolors offer the rarest depiction of
contemporary women. The artist resists either judging or co-opting her
subjects, but instead offers earnest portraits of unembarrassed leisure with
whispers of restlessness and introspection.
Artists' Reception: Friday, January 14, 6-9 PM
Aron Packer Gallery 118 N Peoria Chicago IL 60607
Gallery Hours: Tuesday  Saturday 11:00AM  5:30PM