Art Relish

By Chadwick Hagan

I recently stopped by the Emerging Art Scene Gallery in Castleberry Hill. Gallery owner Denise Leitch Jackson represents the artist Julie Ross, and here some of her newest paintings adorned the wall. Struck with surprise and wonder at the large pieces depicting artful terrains and whimsical semblance, I took a deeper look into her work.

Julie Ross, "Party of One," 2010. Acrylic on canvas.

In a statement, Ross said: “The delivery of a message through humor is very important to me. As a shockingly brutal and chaotic world unfolds before us, I find humor necessary to temper the sometimes-overwhelming sensations of dejection and helplessness we all tend to experience, especially as the seemingly unstoppable machinations of violence continue to win their ongoing battles for our attention.” Her current theme “Visualize World Peas,” borrowing from the bumper sticker “Visualize World Peace” – revels in the harmless and curious, making for a sort of amused dream world. Undoubtedly, amusement can be an important tool for an artist to have, but inside those mediums they choose to embrace and explore, the outcome must captivate the viewer with an emotional energy.

Interestingly, Ross has incorporated this pea message into her work by making them part of her paintings. Though subtle, they are noticeable, and she uses the symbols to “trigger thoughts of peace to all people on all levels.” For Ross, there seems to be an intended peaceful and inviting message to her work, softly laden with mystery. Read the rest of this entry »

By Chadwick Hagan

The artist’s statement read:

Color, color, color!
Color as music,
Color as narrative,
Color as prayer,
And yes…color as laughter!

Based on the statement, I am sure you can gather that there was quite a bit of color. In fact, there was so much color and organized disarray that it was more like a big acid test without the light projectors. Clearly noticeable from the front door, I went past the first exhibit, swiveling around to catch a quick glimpse, and then made my way over to the back room where Philip Morsberger’s exhibit is on display.

Eleven large paintings are scattered throughout the room, all the same size. Attractive and energetic, each canvas was overflowing with colorful brush strokes.

Every painting was of a man’s face, with different colors and titles accompanying it. It was the same face in every portrait; the only difference was the color, or the mood he was in. I spoke briefly with Win Roefs, a gallery owner in Columbia, South Carolina, who sells much of Morsberger’s work, and he talked about the artist’s energetic properties and the vibrant brush strokes used in his work, all of which are undeniably his own. Roefs referred to Morsberger as an abstract expressionist whose body of work, though varied, remains singular and cohesive.Morsberger  has created a bridge between artist and patron.

Through these paintings, Morsberger is letting the viewer know how he was feeling. His paintings  are autobiographical in every sense.

The exhibition, “Within State Lines II,” is on display at The Museum of Contemporary Art of Georgia until January 8th. Other artists in the show include: Jennifer Onofrio Fornes, Stefanie Jackson, Marcus Kenney, and Kwan Young Lee.

MOCA GA
75 Bennett Street
Atlanta, GA 30309
404.367.8700

Chadwick Hagan is a writer in Atlanta.

Opening May 21^st 2010 at Atlantic Station in Atlanta, GA, “the son of a duck is a floater” paired the words of two artists, Serene Al-Kawas and Gabrielle Sirkin.  As the artists explain, the works “explore the notions of representation, creating new approaches for examining ourselves in a global society.”  While Al-Kawas’s and Sirkin’s approaches are grounded in photography, each experiments with the medium to tackle different aspects of identity in a globalized world.  Al-Kawas’s work combines portraits of Arab-Americans with handwritten text while Sirkin’s work explores her relation to memory, photography and friendships by fusing the medium with text, sculpture and video.

The exhibition space at Atlantic Station was split into two floors with Al-Kawas’s work on the first and Sirkin’s work on the second.  Upon entering the space, Al-Kawas’s black and white photographs adorn the white walls paired with black painted text. Each photograph is an environmental portrait of an Arab.  Al-Kawas commented that the work tries to explore the space in between what it means to be Arab and what it means to be American.  According to Al-Kawas, since September 11^th, 2001 and even prior to the event, Arab and American identities have become diametrically opposed.  In order to be American, a person cannot be Arab and vice-versa.  To show this tension between perception and reality, the painted text helps the viewer understand the permutations of Arab and American identity.  On the main wall of the first floor, Al-Kawas wrote the title of the exhibition in English; from there, she mutated the text finally transposing and transforming it into the Arabic language.  As the text mutates back and forth from English to Arabic, the photographs seem to portray the same complications of identity from American to Arab, finally arriving at the conclusion of Arab-American.

Imad Moustapha, Syrian Ambassador to the United States, 2010

On the second floor Sirkin’s work takes a more playful approach to the troubles of identity.  According to Sirkin new technologies of photography, specifically digital, left her feeling disconnected from the photographs, as if the process of taking digital photographs did not capture the moment but created an event.  Sirkin seems to draw a parallel between the act of digital photography and Polaroid photography.  Polaroid has been called the “party camera,” but Sirkin points to the same qualities in digital:  instant gratification by looking at the LCD screen on the back of the camera.  Instead of unique objects like the Polaroid, the digital process creates a nebulous presence in which there is no object to identify the moment.  Sirkin tries to extract these moments from their ethereal realm by creating sculptural pieces using wood and resin with the photographs and combining them with text that recalls the mood or feeling at the time of the photograph.

and they come with me wherever i go., 2010

“[T]he son of a duck is a floater” comes from an Arabic phrase which loosely translates to “the apple does not fall far from the tree.”  The two artists exhibit this quality by drawing from personal experience and identity that flows into and drives the work.  To view more of their work or to get more information about the show and the artists visit their websites.  Serene Al-Kawas and Gabrielle Sirkin .