C. Emerson Fine Arts
909 Central Avenue Saint Petersburg , Florida 33705
(727)898-6068
PO BOX 1769 St. Petersburg, Florida 33731
Contact: Lori Johns
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
What is the Human Condition?
It was a societal experiment posed to an international group of artist. These visual responses to the state of the human condition span a vast range of medium and theory. All artist selected to exhibit were chosen for their mastery of given mediums and ability to convey strong conceptual statements. Human Condition exhibition will include collage, drawing, installation, mixed media, painting, photography, printmaking, sculpture, wood burning, video installation,
Kyan Bishop
C. Wade Brickhouse
Marianne Chapel
Wendy Dickinson
Eva Eun-Sil Han
Lee Lee
Betsy Lester
Daniel Mrgan
Mari Richards
Rebecca Skelton
Timea Tihanyi
Date: August 29 - September 27, 2008
Event: Opening Reception
Date: Friday August 29, 2008 7PM-10PM
Cost: Free and Open to the Public, donations are always appreciated
Location: C. Emerson Fine Arts
909 Central Avenue
Saint Petersburg , Florida 33705
Gallery Hours: Tuesday – Saturday 10 AM - 4 PM Second Saturday 12-9 PM, and by appointment
Please see gallery website for more information: http://www.c-emersonfinearts.com
Kyan Bishop
"the tenacity of living and the frailty of existence"
The creation of sculpture and installation work is largely driven by my response to the environment in which it comes to exist -- whether that be through the integration of materials that are locally collected and can serve as representations of the site itself, or, through the creation of synthetic landscapes that are inspired by the site and are more conceptual in nature. Materiality and tactile appeal are important elements of my work as I examine the limits of repetition and regularity in search of a delicate balance between individual element and collective statement. While highly referential in nature, I view my work as an intimate exploration of space, time and reflection upon our rapidly changing landscape.
C. Wade Brickhouse
The Human Condition is influenced by many forces both internal and external. These forces affect us both spiritually and physically. Some can retain their sense of natural balance, beauty and dignity. Others may respond by becoming hardened and defensive revealing a darkness from inside. While still others will mask the effects through various cosmetic alterations to present a false sense of beauty and serenity. These forces and responses evolve overtime and become enmeshed into our own being and cultures. This thinking and behavior is reflected in these ceramic forms.
Marianne Chapel
Exploiting Hope and Fear
Marianne Chapel
The quest to change our bodies, our material surroundings and our relationships is a never ending search that can not be satisfied. This is evidenced by the billions of dollars a year spent on self-help materials, prescribed medications, plastic surgeries and diet plans. These solutions are used for any complaint, fancied or real. The ones who suffer are caught in the delusion that they will find fulfillment from an external source. While they may find temporary relief, it is not genuine. The victim falls into an addictive pattern where they alternately blame the victimizer and continue to search for their cure. Unfortunately, accepting who we are and our present Human Condition i.e., changing ourselves from within, does not seem to be an option. Most prefer to fight what is, perpetuating states of unrest in a ceaseless search for more.
In this piece, I use the ideas of victims and victimizers, and juxtapose them with nature. By using a mixed media approach I incorporate lists of messages conveyed by the self help industries and society at large. I also graph the progression of the victim’s addiction to their own story and need for help. I use the element of text and symbolic imagery to represent specific areas in the world of self help. Representations of nature signify our own true selves. Transparent mediums such as wax paper, tracing paper and tissue paper are layered to symbolize the depths at which this behavior is incorporated into our being, as well as the denial and reluctance the perceived victims have in seeing the obvious.
It was a natural progression to relate our private experience to large scale, world-wide behaviors. The international conversation mirrors the individuals’ quest to change others and search for more. The same issues reveal themselves - financial security, victimization, and outward appearances. Therefore, images of global conflict appear in this piece.
Wendy B. Dickinson
Figure and Form
Movement inspires my work - the movement inherent in the human body, in the world around us, and in our souls. The motion in the human body is amazing- the way our skin feels, the way our bones and joints give us mobility, and the way we experience our environment while moving through our lives. The human condition is both unique and similar for all people: we have similar hopes, dreams, wants, and needs - while maintaining an individual uniqueness of spirit and self.
My current work shows the human form with expressionistic color and format -
accomplished within painterly collagraph prints. It is my desire to share the figure and form of our physical and emotional selves with all who view these pieces.
Eva Eun-Sil Han
The human condition has been the main source of motivation in my art. It encompasses all of the experience of being human and we have this condition as soon as we are born into this world. It’s inevitable for all.
In Buddhism, the human condition has always entailed countless sufferings and the first exemplified by the eight types is “suffering of birth”. The embryo, living as it is in a small, dark and dirty place, immediately lets out a scream upon birth. And when we are born, we have the first contact with this world and by growing up, we have to live and cope with this event – joy, sadness and other feelings or emotions associated with being and existence.
The birth is the first context as human being and it’s the first process of the human condition. That’s the reason I choose [the birth] as subject for this show- born into this world and cope or react with the human condition.
Betsey Lester
Lester’s work is an ongoing series of Jungian-inspired body of work. It probes our societal identity.
How you and I perceive each other as we perfect our better angels or long for the better bling. It asks of this trio, “what do art, society and the artist mask so slyly, hoarding our alienation, shunning our connections?”
The multiplicity of media suggests the variegated accessories of our minds and our closets.
Lee Lee
The Human Condition
Vrnda Noel is the mother of Elijah Wright who is a Sergeant Combat Medic Veteran stationed in Iraq. When he was deployed, she made him promise to write of his experiences in vivid detail. Being a medic, he had to address the full physical as well as psychological effects of battle. His writing helped him process the trauma of war. The tales he sent his mother were so intense that when she shared them with friends who are Vietnam War veterans, they shook their heads in amazement at the explicit quality of his writing. The deployment of her son was traumatic for Vrnda, and has inspired her to dedicate her life to speaking out for families against our current war. In turn, Elijah has been moved to tell the stories of what is really happening in Iraq, stories which our media is not reflecting.
She is extraordinary in that she has a strong compassion for mothers on both sides of the conflict. She understands that it matters not if a mother is from America or Iraq, when her son is put in such extreme danger it feels as if her womb is being torn out. I met her at a demonstration against the war, where she was speaking with a passion only a mother could possess. Struck by the expressive qualities demonstrated in her speech, I was inspired to reflect the wide range of emotions experienced by a mother whose son is in battle; fear, apprehension, anger, hope, and love.
This series of pencil and water media paintings are laid down on matt board that has been collaged with shot-gunned canvasses and then burnt by laying hot coals atop. The destructive process reflects the violence of war. I aspired to manifest the delicacy of Vrnda’s features and her embodiment of the full range of human emotions in regards to having a son consumed by war.
Many times I have heard the Iraq war compared to the American war in Vietnam. I started visiting Vietnam in 1990, when the country was in the throes of severe depression that was the product of four consecutive wars; with the French, Americans, Cambodians then Chinese. At that time, people were literally starving to death in the streets. Everyone I met there had a story of tremendous hardship due to the wars. However, the prevalent attitude of the Vietnamese is very wise and forward looking. They feel a compassion for American vets as they understand that war is a conflict between governments, not individuals. Most extraordinary is their vast conception of time. Where we in the west are aware of only a few generations, the Vietnamese recognize a very long generational chain that stretches over centuries. They are some of the most resilient and resourceful people I’ve met. Working steadily towards building a better life for future generations, they do not dwell in the negativity of the past as many Americans do in regards to the war fought over a generation ago. Their commitment to rebuilding their country is demonstrated very clearly today as Vietnam has emerged as one of the most thriving economic centers of Southeast Asia.
The series, Nga in Tru Vu’s Garden, started as an edition of lithographs that were buried, either in the ground or in layers of paint, to obscure the original portrait of Nga. Working back into the drawings, I wanted to bring out essential qualities of the portrait as a reflection of the steadfast resilience demonstrated by the Vietnamese through the direst of circumstance.
(more)
Daniel Mrgan
I am a compulsive doodler. I'll doodle any chance I get on any surface available. Before wiping dust off my bookshelf, I usually make a
few marks in it with my finger. This habit makes it very hard for me to lie still on the beach for any longer period of time. It might be nothing more then a nervous reaction, but it also might be a sheer joy of creating. I'm never quite sure. I save most of my doodles and sometimes spread them out on the floor or a bed. And just like some people would look at an old photo album and wonder what possessed them to grow that mustache or wear those silly leather pants in August, I look at these drawings and wonder what event, color, smell, object, childhood memory, everyday pop culture debris etc. possessed me to commit all that nonsense to paper. Then I start connecting the dots, coming up with little stories that amuse me and hopefully will translate into amusement for the viewer. Stylistically, my wood burnings owe much to my passionate love of cinema, Fleischer Studios' cartoons, silent cinema, small press comics, daguerreotypes, Olympic games and East European stop motion animation.
Thank you for paying attention.
Leah Oates
Transitory Space series
Of human life the time is a point, and the substance is in flux...and what belongs to the soul is dream and vapor....
Marcus Aurelius, The Meditations
What are the roots that clutch, what branches grow out of this stony rubbish? Son of man, you cannot say, or guess, for you know only a heap of broken images.
T.S. Elliot, The Wasteland
The work I create first originates as a response to ignored or lost space that is in a continual state of change. I believe that in everyone there is a sense of flux and a familiarity with this type of space physically and emotionally. The work from this series was shot in Illinois, Finland and Newfoundland and I will be shooting in Newfoundland and in China in 2008.
These images are not manipulated on the computer but are multiple exposures onto one negative at a specific location and in this way conceptually capture the idea of flux within a moment and location which has actually transpired.
Transitory spaces have a messy human energy which is always in the present yet constantly changing. In such sites time passing is at its most beautiful as individuals try to make a fragile mark on their surrounding. I find them endlessly interesting, alive places where there is a great deal of beauty, fragility and human striving. They are temporary monuments to the ephemeral nature of human existence in a constant state of change.
Mari Richards
Our culture is hell-bent on consuming everything around us. In every area of life – from food, to information, to our choice of identity and beyond – we create a concept of self by asking our bodies and minds to incorporate and assimilate our surroundings. This habitual filling assumes that individual bodies can take it all in, and continue in the same oblivious state as they began. But, what is our personalized bodily response to this excess and overfilling? How do we cope – subconsciously and corporeally – with too much input, and no end in sight?
My work looks to explore this excess within our bodies. I look to excessive, industrial remains to signify and trigger a mental image of overabundance. Plastic bags, fabric remnants, industrial foam, plastics, packaging, recycling materials, and rubbers all speak of industry, mass production, mass consumption and rejection. They also mimic the many skins we use to cover and protect our selves, our objects, and our environments. I combine and rework these materials as an assimilation of culture, slickness, commodity, and carefully designed societal extras into more abject, ugly, dripping body. Larger works highlight the excess itself, and smaller pieces explore individual moments of assimilation. While the viewer’s aversion pushes hem away, the work’s glossy surfaces and gooey colors draw then closer with a morbid fascination.
Rebecca Skelton
I believe that the making of art and viewing of art are transformative experiences.
It is easy to express anger, horror and pain. The challenge is to reach beyond the present. I would like the viewing of my work to be a healing force and to evoke an emotional release. Although most of my work contains an undercurrent of longing and melancholy, I feel the characters are surviving to brave another day. It is my wish that the intrinsic sadness is overshadowed by the beauty of the forms and tones.
I have always been interested in drawing people. For most of my adult life, I have drawn regularly from a model. Most of that time, the drawings were just to keep my eye sharp and fingers nimble. I rarely use the studies for reference; the process of seeing and recording burns the information into my memory so that when I paint or sculpt, I work from memory. However, in the past few years, I have begun to see the drawings as images that I would like to share.
My drawings use the human figure as the imagery. I try to honestly portray the human condition through the human form. Most of them are drawn directly from the model while others are re-worked from memory. The medium varies depending on the particular emotion I am trying to convey.
Many of them are on handmade paper recycled from old drawings (combined with shredded mementos and souvenirs.) In these drawings, it is my intention to capture the experience and energy from the past drawings and channel them into the new drawings. These second generation pieces do seem to have a feeling of depth and history. Some drawings are made on a heavy paper that allows me to carve nervous working lines into the body of the paper and redraw a more composed or resolute image on the surface. Other drawings become layered by my drawing and erasing several times until the new image wins over the earlier ones. All of them suggest a sense of mystery, elapsed time, and motion. These psychological elements convey recovery, perseverance, and transformation.
Timea Tihanyi
News media and popular culture bombard us daily with vivid images of sex, violence, disasters, and war. I can watch from the safety of the couch as others inflict and suffer physical harm on the screen, scavenge for food, or save a drowning dog. I may not even cringe or look away any more. As more and more of my experiences become reassigned to a matrix of pixels and data in the virtual world, the body’s integrity and the nature of perception is being reconsidered. Yet, I can’t step out of my skin and walk away, leaving the visceral form behind. I’m feeling conflicted: The model that our culture offers for dealing with the body is a choice between fetishizing and sanitizing.
I believe, in our image-based culture the supremacy of the eye can still be challenged by the physical experience, therefore I make objects.
At the same time, I am intrigued by images of a particular kind: diagrams, maps, medical illustrations, and the pixel matrixes of digital photographs. I’m interested in the descriptive nature of these, distilling visceral experiences and empirical findings into easily digestible quantities of data. By appropriating and remaking them as objects, I also reconsider their meaning and the way they embody information about the reality of physical existence.
As a visual artist working with mixed media my work frequently references the structures and experiences of the body. My former medical training gave me analytical tools that serve my continuing interest in considering the human body both as an object of taboo or spectacle and, most importantly, as the house and hardware of our existence. For me, the process of making and the purpose of the work becomes a balancing act between scientific objectivity and a subjective, visceral experience.
As an object maker, my understanding of the world is based on my sense of touch. In my art making, labor, time, and the physical process of engaging with the material bit by bit, square inch by square inch are essential factors. The everyday materials I use, like synthetic felt and thread, are transformed into tactile, sensual objects as a result of a repetitive and meticulous process of sewing and cutting. Each project is a new challenge: a struggle to accept or defy my own physical limitations of visual acuity, motor coordination, patience and endurance. The object made this way is a result of a process of transcription: turning the flat and remote image into a tangible and fragile object of our everyday reality.
(#####)
