Nicholas Arbatsky “Timberline”
Topaz Arts
This event has ended.
TOPAZ ARTS presents Timberline: a solo exhibition by Nicholas Arbatsky.
Timberline is a series of prints by New York-based artist Nicholas Arbatsky, whose kinetic process captures the shape of wind and the color of time. Highlighting the atmosphere and terrain of his subject, the images from the Timberline Series were photographed on the western slopes of Mt. Hood, Oregon, between the altitudes of 2,000 and 11,000 feet above sea level with subsequent images produced in Colorado, Utah and California. The installation at TOPAZ ARTS will include new pieces made specifically for the space featuring graphic elements inspired by topographic maps and two decades worth of snowboard magazines.
The viewpoint of Arbatsky’s camera is determined by rotation and velocity using increments of 180, 270 and 360 degrees, while exposure length and motion record a layered panorama in a single negative. The film is scanned to digital files and printed directly onto Sintra using archival UV pigmented ink. This unique technical process allows for imagery that appears to float in three-dimensions above the printed surface plane, hovering just out of range of the viewer’s focus, in a state of suspended clarity.
What began as a purely documentary approach transformed into a physical exploration resulting in this Timberline Series. In 1998, Arbatsky made his first trip to Mount Hood, specifically to see the snow sculpting activities developed for extreme sports on Palmer Glacier. Over the following twenty years, he’s made more than thirty visits to the area, immersing himself in the snowboard culture that gravitates to Mount Hood’s unique environment: the only landscape in the USA designed for summer snow sports.
Nicholas Arbatsky received his BFA in Landscape Architecture & Sculpture from the University of Illinois, MFA in Time Arts from the Art Institute of Chicago and a year residency with the Whitney Museumʼs Independent Study Program in NYC. From 2007-2017, Arbatsky headed Curatorial Projects as Director of Fisher Landau Center for Art, New York. Nicholas Arbatsky: Timberline was first exhibited at Portland’s PCC Northview Gallery in 2018. His work has been exhibited in galleries throughout New York, nationally and internationally.
Media
Schedule
from May 11, 2019 to June 29, 2019
Opening Reception on 2019-05-11 from 15:00 to 18:00
featuring a conversation with the artist at 4pm