Gallery One kicks off its latest show on Saturday, November 1st with an Opening Reception for “Passages,” a two-person show featuring the works of mixed-media artist Lorraine Glessner and painter Jennifer Bain. A reception with the artists will be held at the Belle Meade area gallery from 6 to 8 p.m. at 5133 Harding Road in Nashville.
The work of Lorraine Glessner, of Pennsylvania, involves the complex interrelation of materials collaged in encaustic. Silks and other fabrics, threads, paper, paint, and found items layered in wax provide a visual journey as complex and as natural as life itself.
"All living things leave a physical mark -- a stain or imprint through the natural cycle of creation and birth, life and growth, death and the regeneration of life through decomposition," Glessner said. “The cyclic nature of the earth and our bodies serve to jog the mind, to remind us of the desire to seek progress within cycle, and to measure that progress against the repetitive constant.
"Marks on the surfaces of the earth, the body and within urban environments serve as a visual narrative that speaks to this cycle while also referencing personal, political and cultural histories. Sidewalks, building facades, interior and public spaces of the city read as a palimpsest on which these histories and narratives are written. Layers of holes, cracks, smudges, graffiti and signage that form the urban landscape intermingle and merge to create an iconography significant to the present, yet allude to both the past and future.”
As in nature, the notion of imprinting, staining and marking is realized in Glessner's work. Media is subjected to deconstructing processes such as burning, rusting, decomposition, composting, and weather exposure.
“Rubbings, drawings, images and material taken from billboards, buildings, streets and sidewalks of the city are merged together with the stained materials along with my own intuitive responses to them in paint,” says Glessner. “Adding to this narrative are collaged images and patterns from high-end fashion and interior design magazines, which interact with and contextualize the markings as well as speak to our wants, needs, temptations and desires as a culture. In a continuous process of accumulation, concealment and removal, the layers of material create new narratives, which look through and into time, thus reminding us of perpetuation, death and regeneration. My intent is to follow and record these marks as evidence of the spectacle and complexity of human activity and the poetic violence that is life.”
As a youth, Jennifer Bain spent her summers exploring the swamps, woods and beaches of the Atlantic coast. As an adult, this journey has endured through the creation of her own garden and in forays in nature which provide a vast supply of visual material and inspiration.
"In my experience, a place is digested in small parts or observations," says the Oakland, California based painter. "While I'm working in the garden a collective experience is pieced together through observing minute details. Things are perceived broadly and then up close almost simultaneously. I might recognize the energy from the flight of small birds around me, light reflecting off flower petals, or water or leaves, and interpret this as one experience in observation."
Bain says that her paintings use these moments and details as a visual story, a visual poem resembling a filmstrip. "I am interested in the play between visual information creating a mood and acting as a catalyst for emotional shifts in the painting. One is lead through many passages, shifts in description and metaphor to culminate in a work that is open to interpretation."
THE ART FILES: Art Sales at KC Potter Opening to Benefit TEP Foundation
I am happy to announce that a dozen works of art compiled as "Recent Memories" will be on display at the KC Potter Center at Vanderbilt University October 20 -December 19, 2008 Reception and Grand Opening of the center is Oct. 24 from 4:30 6 p.m.
All Vanderbilt Faculty and Students may receive at 20% discount on the artwork or choose to apply the discount as a donation to the Tennessee Equality Project Foundation.