John Van Alstine: Slate and Steel - Selections from the Beijing Olympic Series

The exhibition at the John Davis Gallery (July 17^th – August 10th) featured the sculpture of John Van Alstine and included works from his Sisyphean Circle – Beijing Series.

Van Alstine's large scale proposal "Circle of Inclusion - Ring of Unity", the largest work in this series (seen here under construction in Beijing) was selected from over 2800 worldwide entries is among 25 of the non-Chinese projects to be commissioned and installed in the new Olympic Park complex by the City of Beijing for the 2008 summer Games.

Van Alstine will exhibit works from the Sisyphean Circle – Beijing Series in the main galleries and sculpture garden with both interior and outdoor pieces on view.

Sisyphean Series:

The Sisyphean Circle Series (2005-8), draws parallels between the Greek methodical character and the plight of the artist. As we know Sisyphus was forced to roll a large stone up a steep hill, only to have it tumbles back after reaching the top. This toil lasts all eternity and can be seen as a perfect metaphor for the creative process and especially applicable to one like myself who uses stone as a primary material - in fact I see the works in this series as self portraits.

I am continually and literally pushing stones around the studio and at the same time figuratively pushing them to a creative peak. Once there and the sculpture is “finished”, like most artists I am compelled to start again at the “bottom” on the next piece. The cycle is unending.

However, viewing the creative process simply as “endless toil” is undeniable negative and I prefer to consider the myth through the lens Albert Camus. The French existentialist in his essay The Myth of Sisyphus pointed out that the idea of reaching ones final destination is not always the most important. In fact if one "reconsiders Sisyphus" as Camus suggests, the struggle or journey reveals itself as ultimately the most meaningful. As in life, this notion is at the core of the creative process where the act of making most often trumps the object or final product.

-John Van Alstine

Van Alstine also recently completed and installed a major work, Cardinalis - Homage to Wilbur and Orville at the new $1.1 billion Indianapolis Airport terminal. Similar to the gravity defying style of the works in this exhibition, Cardinalis incorporates an actual titanium wing from a Navy F-14 fighter aircraft. The two part title first makes direct reference to Indiana's state bird the Cardinal (Richmondena Cardinalis) is reinforced by its striking colors: cardinal red and black. Second, it pays homage to the Wright Brothers, perhaps the most well known of all aviation pioneers and two of Indiana's native sons. (Wilbur born 1867 in Millvile, IN and Orville 1871 in Dayton, IN - both not far outside of Indianapolis.)

The dynamically positioned "red wing" and its connection to the ground via the sweeping arch element, makes an immediate and obvious link to aviation. This act of "bridging" can be seen as a symbol of airports, which are in fact - "middle ground" - the physical places in our contemporary society that connect the earth and sky. Airports are between two worlds and take on modern mythic status.

The physical shape, positioning and color of Cardinalis, with its uplifting, sweeping and graceful energy, is itself a metaphor for the act of flying. The delicate and relatively small area where it "touches down" not only gives the work great physical drama and visual excitement , it also is symbolic of the skill and "magic" needed for safe take offs and landings. Cardinalis pays homage both to the Wright Brothers and to the men and women whose skill and dedication make air travel a reality.

The Carriage House:

There are four separate artists showing within the carriage house, in addition to a group show of gallery sculptors on the ground floor:
Second Floor (small rooms) - paintings and works on paper by David Hornung
Second Floor (large rooms) – new paintings by Priscilla Derven
Elevator Shaft – installation by sculptor Victoria Palermo
Third and Fourth Floors – new paintings and works on paper by Christine Heller

David Hornung: Paintings

David Hornung paints pictures in oil and gouache from his imagination and memory. His subjects are homely: the tools, furniture, rude structures, flora, fauna, garden ornaments and other props common to rustic life. His work often implies narrative intent but delivers no story, suggesting instead, a sense of secrecy, of meaning withheld.

Mr. Hornung is a professor of art who has taught painting, drawing, and color at several art schools and universities including, Parsons, Pratt, Skidmore, Brooklyn College, and the Rhode Island School of Design. He is currently chair of the Department of Art and Art History at Adelphi University in Garden City, New York. He divides his time between NYC and his home and studio in the Catskills.

Priscilla Derven: Paintings

"My new work represents the continuation of a subject of mine of the last several years (people on beaches) with a change of medium (oil on canvas). I am interested in, and impressed by, the presence of people at the beach. It represents play, rest, leisure and pleasure. It’s a wonderful thing to bear witness to, given all the grief, strife and hardship of the lives of so many people on earth. We are living in a time of darkness and gloom. When I see people on the beach no matter who they are, their spirits seem lifted. They are playing. Or observing others playing.

But there is something else going on here as well: there is a capturing of the aloneness of people. I think the immensity of the sea brings out the isolation and insignificance of the individual. And from my view, the individual seems to sense this, however unconsciously. Time and again I find a certain melancholy and introspection in these moments of play."

-Priscilla Derven

Victoria Palermo:

MODETTES

I explore shape and color through process and material that is not paint.

What would it be like, I wonder, to live inside these objects, houses (sort of), immersing me in new color at every turn?

These space-objects together could make a village, but I can also envision each of them existing in isolation, each a framework for living outside the fray. They make me think of Zabriskie Point (1970; panned by everyone).

With no better name for them--hybrids of objects/models/three dimensional “paintings”—I call them “modettes”, also the name of an all-female punk band from the UK (disbanded in 1982).

-Victoria Palermo

Christine Heller

Stories in Black and White

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Stories in B+W is my new series of paintings on paper made over the last 6 months from personal remembrances, following 3 years of work on installations about the Iraq war. The figures in this new work emerge and recede as well as strike out as they engage veiled mists and emotionally charged atmospheres. For example, “The Boy Who Hesitated" portrays the leaden inability to make a commitment and the “Woman Who Didn’t Notice” depicts the dull muddle of depression. Other paintings, such as “The One Who Pulled Away” and “The Man Who Struggled to Say Good-bye” represent remembered sensations and impressions.

They emerge from the dark, from memories, from the past

Just below the surface, just above the surface

Murky and dank, blurred, blank

Can’t see clearly, can’t make out the forms

They come forward

Pull back, move out of the picture, then slide back in

Always the same

Just out of reach, but for a moment of glimmering clarity.

-Christine Heller