Raney Town, Miljan Suknovic Exhibitions
Union Gallery
This event has ended.
In our east gallery The Union Gallery presents Raney Town, a dynamic fictional dominion seeded by the imagination of artist Rebeca Raney. In our west gallery Miljan Suknovic will exhibit a collection of extraordinary new paintings created for this exhibition titled The noise of silence - Happiness in a vaccum.
The Union Gallery presents Raney Town, a dynamic fictional dominion seeded by the imagination of Rebeca Raney. Anchored by a mountain-like sculpture that incorporates Raney’s own studio desk, the installation aspires to break down many of the barriers that a gallery space can present by placing the artist at its center. Every Friday for the duration of the exhibit, Raney will be in the gallery creating 1000 drawings that will populate her world. Beginning as a grid of blank papers in three sizes, the drawings will be executed in batches, allowing guests to witness the repetition and variation that laces the drawings into the landscape of Raney’s mind. Her imagery appears steeped in girlish fantasy, but the uncanny comprehensiveness of her vision invites the peculiar and humorous as well. At bottom the drawings are utterly sincere. Raney will draw inspiration from the personal affects, older work, photography, books, and embroidery that she brings with her to the space, emphasizing her role as an artist in residence. By creating the work publicly, Raney invites a dialogue between herself as artist and the community, taking inspiration from conversations and suggestions and explaining the connections in her work. Such emphasis on accessibility strengthens the link between artist and artwork, but also combats the isolation of the artistic process, both literally (through direct contact with people) and figuratively (by attempting to communicate all of her thoughts in the best way she knows how). Raney Town is not a meditation on the artist as object, but a reinforcement of Raney’s work as the fundamental part of her identity. Raney’s task of creating 1000 drawings is rigorous, requiring discipline and spirit. The element of speed, however, will only ensure the automatic nature of the drawings, direct from Raney’s subconscious. Her enthusiasm and aptitude for visual communication will match her ambition. In addition, the website http://www.raneytown.com will document all progress. On Friday, June 4, 2010, all are invited back for a performance featuring Rebeca Raney and Ithai Benjamin. In their collaboration, Raney provides the lyrics and vocals for Benjamin's musical arrangements, resulting in original and humorous songs.
The Union Gallery presents a solo exhibition of new paintings by Miljan Suknovic. The Noise of Silence-Happiness in a Vaccum is a totally new body of work created specifically for this exhibition. Described by the artist as ‘Fluid’ paintings, the bright contrasting colors and rich use of technique and imagination are still prevalent in what has evolved to become the artists signature. Suknovic’s new works respond in-kind to the changing cultural “landscape” with respect to technology and our collective experiences and imagination. The title of the exhibition is taken from a painting that was silent, but noisy, unique but segregated in its own world, represented and inspired by elements of art history. In these new paintings Suknovic builds from his own elements and universe. Directly metamorphosing his immediate reality. These abstract paintings feature inter connective and explosive schemes of color. He continuously explores attributes of color frequently building the layers and upgrading the values of each color until ultimately resolved. Although his abstractions are made spontaneously and almost blindly, his imagination traces the topography of a psychological landscape. The conceptual and physical effort spent in creating these images allows Suknovic to process organically spontaneous forms and gestures. The meaning, significance or location of forms is not fixed and the viewer has the opportunity to imagine an environment within the painting. After a series of geometrical and emotionally minimized abstractions in his past works this new exhibition illustrates Suknovic's pushing his exploration of scale, color and dimension even further and interrogating the limits of perception. In the title, The Noise of Silence the artist is trying to capture his own painting in action. Color as a previous perception? Color as a memory? His work could be seen as a distillation of the organic and natural world –like a sort of geological map. Painted in Acrylic on canvas the works’ compacted imagery aggressively defy the literal organic forms of painting. They assert the raw energy of contrasting colors and the excitement of complexity made palpable. In June, Suknovic will also have solo exhibitions in Florence, and the Island of Elba, Italy More of Suknovic’s work can be seen on his website at http://www.suknovic.com
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Schedule
from May 07, 2010 to June 05, 2010