“Outside(r)” Exhibition
The Active Space
This event has ended.
In 1972, Roger Cardinal coined the term “outsider art” as an English synonym for art brut, meaning “raw art” or “rough art”, a label created by French artist Jean Dubuffet to describe art made outside of cultural boundaries. In the context of present-day art-making in the metropolitan area, “outsider art” still connotes a particular aesthetic that often relates to naivete and a freshness that is often absent from work made by “insider” artists. The work exhibited in Outside(r) does not exactly fit this mold; it has been created either with the idea of the outdoors in mind, for the sake of existing outside, and/or by a creative person whose work exists on the outskirts of the contemporary art world.
Angela Beallor and Kate Sopko have been collaborating since 2011 on a series of site-specific fort installations. In December 2012, as artists-in-residence at Habitable Spaces, a homestead and residency in Kingsbury, Texas, they constructed Dragon-fort, a nest-like structure made of densely woven thorny vines (mesquite, huisache, greenbriar, etc.) that were gathered from the surrounding area. Dragon-fort returns to a form that Angela (as an eight-year-old) carved in the center of a thorn bush in rural Ohio. Presented in Outside(r) is a documentation of some of the building process. Beallor (b. 1979, Cleveland, OH) is a visual artist and writer. She received her MFA in Advanced Photography from Bard College-International Center of Photography and a B.S. in Photo-Illustration and journalism from Kent State University, and recently was awarded a Jerome Foundation Travel Grant. She currently lives and works in Brooklyn, NY. Sopko (1978, Cleveland, OH) is an author, collage and installation artist. She currently works with Cleveland’s permaculture education group Green Triangle, is a facilitator for City Repair Cleveland and an urban farmer active in the city’s local food movement
Scott Marceau, a photographer well known in the metropolitan area for his BMX and skate photography, has been documenting the environment and people within his surroundings since childhood. The works featured in this exhibition reveal his first remembered experience capturing moments with a camera - photographs he took during recess in fourth grade of children “ecstatic to be outside and away from the rigorous workload of the elementary school curriculum.” Marceau was raised outside of Cleveland, Ohio and graduated from the School of Visual Arts in 2009. He currently works for a London-based magazine as a photographer and writer, writes for a BMX website, scans negatives for a bicycle-based photography book, and edits a full-length DVD for an affiliated BMX crew.
Arthur Matuszewski grew up in Rockaway Beach, then part of the true fringe of New York City. While living there he began to apprentice with master glassman Patrick Clark in the art of stained glass, completing many creative projects spanning restorations to original pieces. Though he left the beach for college at Brown University, and then a job in the world of business administration, he often returns and has just completed this original work both for himself and this show.
Ian McOmber constructs sculptures out of wire, chains, and other materials he finds himself around in his Connecticut studio. He views his process of making as “sketching with [his] hands.” The objects he chooses to make are representative of his interests; bikes, cameras, fish, amongst others. McOmber studied Media Arts at Central Connecticut State University. He currently lives and works in Bristol, CT and is a videographer for Hanger Clinic, as well as a BMX and motorcycle enthusiast.
AJ Nichols (b. 1986, North Carolina) builds objects that, at their core, serve the purpose of transporting people from one location to another, on the streets and in the elements: bicycles. But he takes the art of creating these simple machines to a unique level, catering to aesthetic and practical preferences of each client. Nichols built the bike in Outside(r) to fit the “Puerto Rican Schwinn Club style.” “It’s like Mad Max in the woods instead of the desert.” He studied Philosophy at Warren Wilson College and has been working in various automotive, mechanic, and bike shops, between North Carolina and New York, before moving to Bushwick with his wife and daughter and opening Harvest Cyclery.
Gabriella Searles is a designer currently living in Brooklyn, NY. She received her BFA in Graphic Design at FIT. She designs websites for a small studio in Williamsburg and spends her free time almost entirely on the internet.
Media
Schedule
from February 22, 2014 to March 09, 2014
Opening Reception on 2014-02-22 from 19:00 to 22:00