In February, I was honored to be joined by family, friends, and others at the dedication of The Dazzle Colonnade, a 3200 square foot public art installation completed in the Depot Garage at Promedica Headquarters in downtown Toledo, Ohio last fall.
"DAZZLED" at MOCA Tucson
From MOCA’s website:
“In celebration of the advent of dazzle camouflage during World War I, MOCA Tucson presents an expansive, museum-wide exhibition exploring the influence dazzle camouflage has had over designers, artists, and musicians of the past one hundred years. Invented by British artist Norman Wilkinson in 1917, dazzle camouflage has heavily influenced popular culture in recent decades. From the release of Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark’s 1983 concept album “Dazzle Ships” in collaboration with designer and Factory Records co-Founder Peter Saville to 1980s Italian design and architecture studio Memphis; from wartime “Dazzle Balls” to Op Art and Pop Art; from Pee-Wee’s Playhouse to contemporary artists working today across the globe; dazzle camouflage has become one of the most highly-appropriated and widely-recognized design tropes. The exhibition raises awareness of this important style of painting and design while presenting new work created by contemporary artists Natalie Lanese, Carrie Schneider and Miho Shimizu informed by dazzle camouflage. “Dazzled” includes a special solo presentation by Memphis founding member Peter Shire, as well as an immersive OMD “Dazzle Ships” installation in MOCA Tucson’s Great Hall with interactive video and sound components. Tucson’s own KXCI will create a playlist and listening lounge on site to accompany the exhibition.”
On view January 19 - April 13, 2019
"Art Worker" Web Series
I was the subject for the first installment of “Art Worker,” a new video series by Philip Kaplan for the Toledo Blade. The interviews took place in my studio, on site at the Promedica Museum of Natural History at the Toledo Zoo, and as I worked in the garage at Promedica Headquarters.
Accelerator Grant Awarded
I was awarded an Accelerator Grant from The Arts Commission in July, enabling me to purchase a projector. This invaluable piece of equipment speeds up the process of enlarging and drawing my designs, and allows me to be truly site-specific in my decisions as I make scale adjustments and and final compositional choices on-site.
Many thanks to Promedica, the Ohio Arts Council for partially funding this purchase and especially to The Arts Commission for supporting local artists in Toledo!
"Material Translation" at Neon Heater
Material Translation
Curated by Jordan Buschur
Opening reception: August 3, 6-8 p.m.
The three artists in this exhibition invoke or incorporate woven or printed textiles to enter a conversation based in translation. The warp and weft of fabrics become layers of paint, the bands of crocheted yarn move to colored pencil, and the presence of pattern echoes throughout. These patterns have origins, and here the idea of translation takes on new meanings. Referencing hybridity, migration, personal history and specificity of place, each artist acts as a translator of both physical material and cultural identity.
Nancy Friedemann-Sánchez's Leaning Chumbes translate indigenous Colombian textiles into painted forms. Originally intended for use as belts, Freidemann-Sanchez extends the designs onto large rigid forms, simultaneously adding strength and removing utility. The Chumbes, off the body and in the gallery, become monuments to hybridity and the trans-cultural experience.
Natalie Lanese's Multiverse series builds on multiples and repetition to yield drawings of a photograph of an installation of a painting of a painting, moving through layers of perception and illusion of two- and three-dimensional spaces. Both the repetitive process of creating the patterns and the color choices stem from an interest in her grandmother’s crocheted and knitted blankets. Individual colors are selected much the same way yarn is- what is available, from the skein or the tube, dictates the direction of the overall palette.
In creating portraits without a figure, Sophie Treppendahl’s paintings collapse the distance between a person, their clothes, and the identity bound up between the two. The painting of the shirt on the wall is: a particular person’s shirt, a certain type of person’s shirt, a shirt style and fabric from a particular era/place, and a study of pattern, light, and painting handling, all at the same time. Who wears a Hawaiian shirt? Who wears a patterned shirt referencing Hawaiian shirts? Treppendahl moves through issues of cultural identity, tender tributes to friends and ex-lovers, and attempts at dissolving the person from the portrait to arrive at this group of paintings of inert yet haunted articles of clothing.
Exhibition dates: August 2-24
Neon Heater Gallery
400 1/2 S Main St, Rm 22
Findlay, Ohio
"Multi" Opens at Kent State Stark
“Multi” is comprised of paintings on paper, site-specific installation, and sculpture created over the last five months. Focusing on simple variations of diagonal and zigzag patterns and frame-in-frame compositions, the works challenge perceptions of flatness and depth, color contrasts, architectural space, and the painted surface. The works are somewhat informally installed, resting on the floor, curving around corners, draping over objects, and leaning against the wall. These installation methods provide a human quality and imperfect gesture for the hard-edged abstract and geometric compositions. The installation moves the eye across the room and down to the floor; the viewer herself zig-zags her gaze around the space.
Collage has been central to my work for the past thirteen years. This show is itself a collage: modular pieces were created with the intention of building a singular work within the space as one might develop a drawing. Collage enables layering and tensions to exist in the work. Images and objects, rigid and flexible materials, straight and curved lines, and static and dynamic movement juxtapose one another throughout the gallery. This body of work is iterative of past pieces that were inspired by dazzle camouflage; repetition, high-contrast color combinations, and manipulative perspective lines confounded the observer and disrupted the space. Though this work is less immersive, it fools the eye and jolts perceptions of image, objects, and space.
MULTI is on view thru APRIL 6 at Main Hall Art Gallery, Kent State University at Stark, 6000 Frank Avenue NW, North Canton, Ohio
Viewing hours: Monday - Friday 11am to 5pm (closed during spring break, March 26 – April 1)
Read Tom Wachunas' review on his blog, ARTWACH
IDEA1 District Opens in San Diego
I'm pleased to announce the grand opening of the IDEA1 District in San Diego, a chic live/work/retail space for which I designed this entryway mural titled "Current." If you are in San Diego, find it in the East Village.
Fall 2017 Shows in Michigan and Pennsylvania
October has been quite a month! Multiverses opened October 8 at Flatlanders in Blissfield, MI, and and exhibition of new works on paper opened at Lock Haven University in Lock Haven, PA on October 23.
Mulitverses is a series of paintings, drawings and installations created over the last three years, exploring the relationship between image, object, installation and painting. The show is on view through December 2.
The exhibition at Lock Haven provided the opportunity to experiment with installation using a series of works on paper. Banner is on view through November 17.
Stella Artois: Art of the Chalice
This spring I was selected to create a mural, packaging design, and a custom etched Stella Artois chalice for the Art of the Chalice event in Cincinnati, OH on July 13, 2017. The designs were used on the box and chalice, and printed as a large backdrop at the event; plans are still in the works for the mural.
"Cavern" Installed at CWRU
From March 3-11, I had the honor of working with 18 Case Western Reserve University student volunteers to complete "Cavern," a 28' x 29' mural at CWRU's Tinkham Veale University Center in Cleveland, OH. The piece was commissioned for the university's Putnam Collection, and joins 50 artworks on campus. More details about the project can be found here.
"Multiverse" Opens at University of Dayton's Radial Gallery
Featuring the work of Karla Hackenmiller, Julie Abijanac, Susan Li O'Connor, and Natalie Lanese, and curated by Emily Sullivan Smith, Multiverse explores the language of multiples or repetition, and mixed or multiple media. Each of the artists included in the exhibition make works which visually employ shared languages of multiple, repetition and either mixing media within works or mixing media across their practice.
January 19 - February 16, 2017
"Swing Around Rosie" Dedication October 8
Nearly 10,000 Cincinnati Enquirer readers voted for the subject of first female in the Cincinnati Legends Mural Series -- Rosemary Clooney. Please join me and ArtWorks to celebrate and dedicate Swing Around Rosie on Saturday, October 8.
Dedication details:
1606 Pleasant St., Over-the-Rhine
(Located near Findlay Market and just off the Liberty & Elm St. streetcar station)
Saturday, October 8
1 – 2 p.m.
Light refreshments will be provided. Enjoy learning more about Rosemary Clooney and her Cincinnati legacy, live music, a photo booth and remarks from mural partners and yours truly.
New American Paintings #125
I am thrilled to see my work in print among a group of excellent contemporary painters in New American Paintings' midwest competition. Issue #125, curated by Steven L. Bridges, is available now on newsstands and online.
"Swing Around Rosie" Underway in Cincinnati
As part of their "Legends" series, ArtWorks selected my design honoring Rosemary Clooney for their latest installment of murals in Cincinnati. During a site visit on Monday, I met the talented artists and teen apprentices who have been painting it for the past several weeks. The mural will be completed by mid-August and dedicated in October, and it is located at Pleasant Street and W. Liberty in Over-the-Rhine.
Cover Art for Matthew Ryals
Matthew Ryals selected Study 2 for Camofleur for the cover of his debut album, "We Could Make the Ride Better for Everyone," due out June 24, 2016.
Pre-order your copy here.
"Depthless Without You" Installation Time Lapse
I spent two weeks at the Akron Art Museum in November 2015 installing my piece "Depthless Without You" for the NEO Geo exhibition. This short time lapse captures some of the installation process and the many assistants who helped.
Neo Geo at the Akron Art Museum
November 20, 2015 - April 24, 2016
Geometric abstraction pares visual art down to pure shapes, lines and colors, yet infinite possibilities lie within those boundaries. NEO Geo features recent work by artists in the surrounding region who explore the potential of geometric abstraction.
In the 1960s and 70s, painters and sculptors in Cleveland, Oberlin and Kent created abstract works dependent upon hard-edged geometric forms. Often guided by pre-determined systems based on logic or mathematics, they were motivated by their interests in science, psychology and technology. Artists working in the region today use a combination of pre-determined systems and intuitive responses to create the underlying geometry of their work. In some cases, these structures serve as metaphors for broader themes, such as the tension between the natural and man-made or the forces and systems that affect our daily lives.
Media represented include painting, printmaking, drawing, installation, sculpture, fiber and photography. Gianna Commito (Kent), Natalie Lanese (Toledo), Janice Lessman-Moss (Kent), Michelle Murphy (Cleveland), Erik Neff (Newbury), Kristina Paabus (Oberlin), Paul O’Keeffe (Cleveland Heights) and Amy Sinbondit (Cleveland Heights) are the featured artists.
NEO Geo is organized by the Akron Art Museum and generously supported by Myrna Berzon, Dianne and Herbert Newman, the Kenneth L. Calhoun Charitable Trust and Harris Stanton Gallery.