CURRENT EXHIBITIONS

Joe Biel is interested in charged human situations. This interest is reflected through various means; sometimes by portraying a particular moment or event, but more often by showing the moment before or after an action which is only partially named or specified. He is more interested in the suggestion of narrative possibilities than in clearly resolving linear narratives, though it seems important that certain details (i.e. gestures, expressions, clothing, and object types) remain quite specific.

Neon artist, Michael Flechtner, creates two and three dimensional neon art. Recently he is working on public and private commissions. Flechtner also facilitates neon work for other artists, specializing in complex animation and intricate neon bending. His public works can be seen in Tokyo, Los Angeles and Minneapolis. Flechtner states: “My work reflects a fascination with the symbols of language, technology and how they influence popular culture. I describe animals, machinery, etc. and utilize various forms of language. The various “components” inhabit my internal landscape.  I bring forth and arrange this highly idiosyncratic material to create pictograms, ideograms and rebuses, surely the effects of my unconscious”. 

Since 2006, David Fobes, has made an attempt at “piercing” the veil - searching for moments and gateways through the veil and to a higher state of self-realization, taking glimpses into another universe of phenomenon we cannot “understand” but probably experience on a daily basis. Fobes is hopeful that the viewer will experience what he calls the “trigger events” in the work. These usually occur peripherally and unexpectedly. In this body of work, Fobes has been able to manifested his work in both two dimensional “paintings  In this exhibition, various works have been executed in duct tape, enamel paint, house paint and collage

Throughout the career of Nancy Macko she has had an enduring love and use of photography in her artistic practice. Currently, Macko immersed in a world called intimate spaces.  Since 2005 she has been developing a body of purely photographic work that takes the viewer into a space of light, air and unfamiliar textures. The images are erotic and sexy, poignant and tender, sometimes abject and unsettling --challenging the viewer to experience an image that is not easily defined by familiar landmarks or visual cues. In this work Macko is looking at beauty, aging, intimacy and subtlety-- characteristics that are expressed by subjects in nature.  Having distilled her concerns to the most direct method of recording them she finds that the camera as a simplicity tool seems to function on multiple levels of understanding and observation. Using a handheld macro lens to shoot nature subjects from my garden at close range, the images are then realized as large scale photographic works. 

Painter Antonio Muniz, interested in fumage, a surrealist technique in which impressions are made by the smoke of a candle or kerosene lamp on a piece of paper or canvas, studied the works of Roberto Matta and Wolfgang Paalen. Antonio has always been curious and intrigued about the concept of multi-dimensional - the way the smoke constantly changes its form in any given space and in such an unpredictable fashion. He feels it is the perfect medium with which to explore this genre. By taking the idea of fumage and incorporating it with thought he begins to access and manipulate his own form of multi-dimensionality in a conscious manner. Antonio takes the essence or vibration of the smoke and deconstructs the elements to give it form and capture its multi-dimensionality

For the past few years Jamie Scholnick has been using discarded polystyrene packing material as her canvas. She uses this material as a way to dialogue and reflect on consumerism and the temporal nature of life itself. The complex design and precision with which these packing materials have been fabricated and then discarded becomes an apt illustration of our nearsighted existence.  Scholnick states: “They mark our specific place in time.  These current sculptures had their genesis through a workshop I conducted in South Africa in 2009. The artisans I encountered constructed elaborate chandeliers from discarded PET bottles, purses made from old vinyl records. The efficiency of the African artisans contrasted greatly with the latest-and-greatest cultural attitude that is prevalent in America. The subsequent series Artifacts explored the dichotomy between our ability to produce state-of-the-art devices each new model outdoing the former and human attributes such as our desires, lust and gluttony”.

ENCORE was created to celebrate these artists who continue to influence the next generation.