reviews, artists, Authored Articles

"JESSICA GONACHA" for Artscope Magazine (May/June 2009)

"JESSICA GONACHA" for Artscope Magazine (May/June 2009)

JESSICA GONACHA AT YES GALLERY AND STUDIO

Yes Gallery and Studio
146 Water Street
Warren, Rhode Island
June 17 - July 5, 2009

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By Meredith Cutler (for Artscope Magazine)

Article Excerpt:

When the bottom falls out of the economy, few escape feeling the effects. That’s certainly true in Rhode Island, where small businesses make up more than 90 percent of the pie, no small part of which are artists, craftspeople and independent galleries.

In the Ocean State, every hard won sale, client or fundraised dollar feels like an endangered resource. Those making a living from the arts rely more than ever on the survival skills particular to the profession, from grassroots marketing to creative frugality.

Keeping a positive outlook in Warren’s sales-tax-free arts district, YES Gallery and Studio represents that spirit, along with a spectrum of local and far-flung artists who share the same ethos.

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Image: Jessica Gonacha, "Protect Yourself", 2008, acrylic, india ink, hand-carved rubber block stamping on masonite.

 

"ANDIAMO! ART ON THE HILL" for Artscope Magazine (May/June 2009)

"ANDIAMO! ART ON THE HILL" for Artscope Magazine (May/June 2009)

DESTINATION FEDERAL HILL, PROVIDENCE'S LITTLE ITALY

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By Meredith Cutler (for Artscope Magazine)

Article Excerpt:

After a long, harsh New England winter, I’m feeling the need for escape. With travel budgets modest, our annual summer visit to the in-laws in Rome is an unlikely dream. Wistful for Mediterranean UV overload, serious pizza and the artistic legacy of Western civilization, I’m not entirely out of options — even here in Rhode Island, our nation’s smallest state.

Wearing my New England pallor under oversized sunglasses, I hop in my jalopy for a journey across the highway. A mere 10 minutes later, I’m stirring espresso with a little spoon at Costantino’s Venda Ravioli, which holds up its ample end at DePasquale Plaza, a cobblestoned public square crowned by an enormous fountain. The line at “Venda” snakes around cases of fresh pasta. Pure, unadulterated consumption is on the mind of these shoppers, but I’m tempering my share with a little gallery hopping.

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Image: Mary Jane Q. Cross, "Morning Stroll", 2009, oil on panel.

"NETWORKS 2008: A COLLABORATION" for Artscope Magazine (Jan/Feb 2009)

"NETWORKS 2008: A COLLABORATION" for Artscope Magazine (Jan/Feb 2009)

NETWORKS 2008: A COLLABORATION

Newport Art Museum
76 Bellevue Avenue
Newport, Rhode Island 
October 25, 2008 - January 18, 2009

5 Traverse Gallery
5 Traverse Street
Providence, Rhode Island  
December 5, 2008 - January 11, 2009

AS220 Project Space
93 Mathewson Street
Providence, Rhode Island  
December 5-28, 2008

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By Meredith Cutler (for Artscope Magazine)

Article Excerpt:

“NetWorks 2008: A Collaboration” is an ambitious exhibition spread across three diverse venues in Rhode Island where the artwork and stories of 19 influential Rhode Island artists have been celebrated and documented through a triad of gallery exhibitions launched and supplemented with video and photographic portraits of the participants. This unique exhibition and historical document is the result of a partnership amongst the Newport Art Museum; the artists; celebrated Rhode Island art collector Joseph Chazan, MD; Umberto Crenca, artistic director of AS220 (Providence’s renowned alternative art space); and 5 Traverse, a private gallery in Providence.

In the elegant setting of the Newport Art Museum’s Cushing Memorial Galleries, distinguished Rhode Island artists Howard Ben Tré, Toots Zynsky, Salvatore Mancini, Jonathan Bonner, Jacqueline Ott, James Watkins, Elizabeth Pannell, Timothy Philbrick, Mark Freedman, Denny Moers, Ruth Dealy, Umberto Crenca and Walter Feldman hold court with artists newer to the local art scene, or flourishing in its well-formed underground.

These include Angel Quinonez, Xander Marro, CW Roelle and the artists who photographed and filmed them, Richard Goulis, Scott Lapham and Lucas Foglia. It’s an ambitious undertaking, finding the kernel of common ground that unites this group and translating that into a cogent exhibit experience.  

The component of the wider project that best illustrates this goal is the lasting document of photographic and video portraits of the artists themselves. The stills were tackled by Lapham and Foglia, and, at their best, center the personalities of each individual in a space that informs their work and narrates their story. In Foglia’s portrait “Umberto Crenca,” the joyfully non-hierarchical catalyst sports dark glasses scrawled with the words “Not Art,” as he stands before the blank canvas of a paint-splattered wall, his muscular arms crossed confrontationally.

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Image: Angel Quinonez, "Vincent Van Goya", 2006, acrylic, gold leaf on plywood.

Crusty old curmudgeon vs Easy to please?

I have returned from the rain and the general pavement hardness of NYC with a little nugget to share after a long silence. The New Museum's current show "The Generational: Younger Than Jesus" peaked my interest in its showcase of 50 international artists under the age of 33. Not quite fitting into that category, myself, but damn close enough to care (me and Jesus, forever 33!), I found to my surprise that out of the show, the simplist gestures were the things that stuck.

...Like the gallery attendant wearing a long, red ponytail and a white Adidas tracksuit who troubleshot a cranky plasma display on Floor #4. Look closely to see the most delicate red paint stains on her clean, sporty duds. Or, the banana peel tossed on the gallery floor. Accident? Art? Pay attention...they are the purposeful gestures of Ryan Gander and Adriana Lara (in that order). In an age where Attention Deficit Disorder seems to be the M.O., I was glad that my focus allowed me to catch these small incongruities and appreciate them.

Ziad Antar "Wa" (2004), video, installation view

Above: Ziad Antar, "Wa", 2004, video (installation view from "Younger Than Jesus" show at the New Museum.)

Maybe this pegs me as over the hill...but my favorite piece, hands down, was Lebanese artist Ziad Antar's short film "Wa". Starring two solemn, pajama-clad children singing along to a synthesizer's demo tune, they pierce past their own cuteness in their mono-syllabic shorthand for a baby's cry. This little gem was so simple, yet stuck with me throughout the sensory overload of the rest of the show, and beyond. You can view it at the tank.tv moving image site (requires free registration and login, but it's worth it).

 

 

"DEREK HARDING AND JASON GREEN" for Artscope Magazine (Mar/Apr 2009)

 "DEREK HARDING AND JASON GREEN" for Artscope Magazine (Mar/Apr 2009)

DEREK HARDING AND JASON GREEN

Bannister Gallery
Rhode Island College
600 Mount Pleasant Avenue
Providence, Rhode Island

April 2 - 28, 2009

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By Meredith Cutler (for Artscope Magazine)

Article Excerpt:

Ceramic artists Derek Harding and Jason Green share a friendship,
a medium and a common vocation; they are both Massachusetts
high school art instructors. This exhibition, curated by RIC
Associate Professor of Art Bryan Steinberg, positions these two
artists, working in such parallel realms, at the fork of a seemingly
common path diverging in the results of their labor.

Both artists employ creative moldmaking techniques derived from historical industrial practices. Harding’s modular “Saddle” was created while in residency at Kohler Co., the nation’s leading manufacturer of plumbingware. Green discovered an affinity for brickmaking while in residence at Maine’s Watershed Ceramics Center, the site of a former brick factory.

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Image: Jason Green, "Variant", 2008, Terra cotta, slip, glaze, 18.5" x 37" x 3".

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