Ron Janowich "Recent Silverpoint, Graphite & Encaustic Drawings"
Howard Scott Gallery
This event has ended.
Howard Scott Gallery presents the solo exhibition of Recent Silverpoint Drawings by the New York based artist Ron Janowich.
Silverpoint is a medium ancient in its origins. Frequently in use from the late fourteenth century to the early seventeenth, the medium was particularly favored in the Renaissance period of Italy, the Netherlands, and Germany. Silverpoint's uniqueness lies in its ability to capture the slightest and most subtle gestures of the drafter's hand. Concurrently, its unforgiving nature holds the line and refuses any attempt to erase or alter. In essence, the silverpoint line etches into the clay-coat ground of the paper. Being in the paper's ground imbues the drawing with physicality and material presence, yet, paradoxically, allows exploration of the ephemeral owing to the delicate nature of the silverpoint line.
In this series of drawings, silverpoint serves as the foundation and structure and in some cases the sole medium. In other cases, silverpoint combines with graphite or encaustic to heighten the drawing's complexity. A crosshatch technique weaves a space that is physical and shallow, reflecting the drawing's concentrative and meditative qualities. As this highly nuanced field articulates, it may suggest the addition of a powered graphite vale, hand rubbed into the structured silverpoint base and burnished until a metallic-like sheen emerges. The reflective nature of this surface amplifies the ephemeral nature of the drawings.
In these drawings, the goal is to achieve a material presence possessing subtlety and depth, qualities embedded in the physical and perceived through the viewer's experience of the ephemeral.
Ron Janowich is a painter, photographer and digital artist who lives and works in New York City and Gainesville, Florida and is an Associate professor at the University of Florida, Gainesville. He received his BFA and MFA at the Maryland Institute College of Art. He has had over 20 one-person and 60 group shows. His work is in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Tate Gallery, London; Cleveland Museum of Art; Harn Museum, Florida and numerous private collections. His work is published in various books including History of Modern Art by H.H. Arnason, The Aesthete in the City by David Carrier, Beyond Piety by Jeremy Gilbert Rolfe, and Art Speak by Robert Atkins. Janowich is recipient of two National Endowment for the Arts, Individual Artist Fellowship in Painting.
Media
Schedule
from December 08, 2011 to January 14, 2012
Opening Reception on 2011-12-08 from 18:00 to 20:00