2006 Emergent Artists Exhibit opens 12/01/06

MAINSITE Contemporary Art is pleased to announce:

EMERGENT ARTISTS 2006
Kristen Vails
Jesse Armstrong
Jeff XVALA
Sarah Atlee
and including new work by Bill Boettcher

OPENING RECEPTION:
Friday, December 1, 2006- 6-10pm
December 1, 2006 through January 13, 2007

Jeff Xvala works in oil sticks, acrylic, serigraphy and collage on large stretched canvas to create expressionistic abstractions that are both innocent and wise.
Xvala prefers to call his work 'tabloid art', which defined is the
condensed or compressed product of modern experience.
In his Artist's statement, Xvala said this about his work:

When I look at Pop Art I see consumer society; when I look at Tabloid Art I see society consumed. Tabloid is documentary. It's all really happening, sort of.
I do Tabloid Art. I find the lowest common denominator and do that, doing things just as they are. For it to come off just right, it should be raw - imposing and mundane - and slightly provocative.
When I do Tabloid Art, I don't think about modern, post-modern, or conceptual things. I believe in reduction. I believe in tyrants, hustlers, heroes. I believe in conflict, compulsion, and calculation. I believe I am selling what is easy to buy.
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Sarah Atlee's work is tightly rendered but surreally abstract. Atlee uses themes of friendship, family and humanity to create her complex compositions.
Atlee works with paint and collage to create her color saturated images of figures portraying comfortably charged emotions.
Sarah Atlee recieved her Masters of Fine Arts from Rochester Institute of Technology and has exhibited work in New York, Arizona and Indiana.
In her artist's statement, Atlee said this about her work:
When I make a painting it is like cooking. I open up my cupboards and look around for what my eyes are craving. I mix up the ingredients let them stew and hopefully something tasty results. I often use collage as a sketching process combining and synthesizing imagery from disperate sources.
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Jesse Armstrong is a contemporary ceramic sculptor.
Using monochromatic glazes and unconventional molded shapes like baby doll heads bananas, Armstrong creates functional and nonfunctional ceramic work that juxtaposes reality with surreality.
In his artist's statement, Armstrong had this to say about his work:
My current body of work explores context. To elaborate further, what occurs when an object's context shifts and is paired with other objects of a different contextual frame. The results are often the creation of new forms that impose drastically different socio-political implications.
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Kristen Vails works with imagery primarily of natural horses in landscape environments with acrylics on canvas, but with a surreal twist.
Vails seemingly simple images of horses are carefully abstracted to allow the form of the horse to appear as though it is movement, alluding to a sense of memory and mystery.
In her artist's statement, Kristen Vails had this to say about her work:
Growing up in small town Piedmont, Oklahoma my mind was constantly focused on horses, drawing, and nature. As I could not stray from these passions I attended the University of Oklahoma to further my concentration in art, all along building relationships with God and others that will last a lifetime. I strive to create art that embodies the nature of truth and continue to follow where my art may take me. In my experience within the art world, I have learned that art is not life, but rather life is art. My art is a reflection of my life.
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Bill Boettcher uses reclaimed wood and stone to create intimate and sensual large works that explore the natural curves and colors of his chosen media. Upon retiring from teaching biological sciences, Boettcher began exploring sculpture.
more about Bill Boettcher's work coming....

Sarah Williams and Mateo Galvano

LANGUAGE
September 8th through November 18, 2006
OPENING RECEPTION:
Friday, September 8, 2006- 7-9pm
Mateo Galvano's work is inspired by his passion for language and his devotion to the personal feelings and emotions that are consistent with all humanity.
"When I work I become witness to a quiet and passionate sense of perception in which marks on the surface can travel or speak, and colors can conjure revelations. I expect to excite in the viewer a memory of soul, to tell without word or symbol an inchoate and benevolent language, a song. I paint to recall the future, to contribute to evolution by experiencing something discrete as a particle in the vast human sea."
Galvano's abstract paintings are atmospheric and bold, using colors that are both subdued and excited. Galvano works with the rich textures of oil paints and layers with delicate collaged papers and textures with drawn elements to create small, and larger, images that are detailed and masterfully produced.
"Painting is a path that is linked to devotion and to grieving. It is a way to honor all that is lost and a way to celebrate immeasurable or nearly hidden things. The current body of work is approached by looking through a veil, by observing mysterious nature to read the signs. Upon entering the seductive world of paint, canvas, paper, ink and brush and following slow paths of lines or drips, I invite storms resolved by tranquil atmospheres and the stillness of time and changing matter. "
This is Galvano's second exhibition at MAINSITE Contemporary Art. Mateo Galvano has exhibited his work in places including Santa Fe, New York City and Gordes France. Mateo Galvano lives and works in Columbus, Ohio.




TOPOLOGY COLLECTIVE
September 8th through November 18, 2006
OPENING RECEPTION:
Friday, September 8, 2006- 7-9pm


Sarah Williams work is inspired by science and her intense curiosity about the natural world.
Sarah Williams uses predictable mechanical photographic processes to print her images, but the real innovation of Williams's work comes in the creation of the negatives she uses. To make these negatives, Williams creates a detailed drawings on old cartography charts, graphing papers, and maps. Once the drawing is complete, Williams coats the paper with oil and bakes it in the oven, making it semi-transparent with an orange cast like that of a color negative. From these color paper negatives, she creates a photographic contact print and, as Williams explains, "utilizing a medium that is widely considered to represent reality, and abstracting it to communicate an outcome of mystery. Although I can control what colors will result in the final image, the variables of the drawings themselves, the paper types I use, and the length of time I bake each image creates subtle alchemical surprises in the final print. This element of controlled chaos serves as a constant reminder that science never will harness complete understanding of the natural or technological world."
In May of 2006, Sarah was selected as a recipient of a $2,000 Award of Excellence from the Oklahoma Visual Artist Coalition.
Sarah currently lives and works in Oklahoma City, OK. She received her BFA in Photography from the College of Santa Fe in New Mexico in 2001. Following her graduation from CSF, she lived in New York City for a brief period of time and returned to Oklahoma in 2002 to live and work as an artist.

CHROME CHOCOLATE OPENING JULY 28th

MAINSITE Contemporary Art PRESENTS:
2nd Annual Short Summer Show

7/28/06-8/18/06
Chrome Chocolate
...a collaborative entity

Opening Reception: Friday, July 28th, 2006, 7-9pm
The artists will be present and the public is encouraged to attend.

Exhibition Dates:
Opening Friday, July 28th, 7-9pm
Exhibiting through August 18th, 2006
+++++++++++++++++++
Established in 2005, Chrome Chocolate is a concept that proclaims in
working together, artists can achieve a unique cultural voice.
Designed to be a collaborative entity, Chrome Chocolate combines a
group of artists, with a focus on cutting edge work, to create and
collaborate in an installation format, with the intention to build a
bridge over the gap between high and low art.
Under the Chrome Chocolate name, each artist maintains the individual
direction of their work; in painting, design, sculpture, photography
and multimedia, while creating projects and installations charged with
relentless energy.
The artists in Chrome Chocolate combine art and graffiti, popular
culture and tradition, and the silly and the serious, offering
original or limited edition works of art at affordable prices.

"Chrome Chocolate delivers coherent shape to artistic freedom."

Chrome Chocolate is/are:
http://chromechocolate.com/index.html

Aaron Cahill: painting, drawing, prints, collage.
Layered collages, prints and drawings with images of graffiti, science
text books, and passages from personal sketchbooks
http://mainsite-art.com/aaroncahillonline/index.html

Keegan O'Keefe: mixed media paintings and drawings.
Found images, sketchbook drawings and abstract biomorphic forms on
densely saturated large scale works.
http://mainsite-art.com/keeganokeefeonline/index.html

monstercoop.com: photography, animation, mixed media.
this part of monstercoop combines photography with hand crafted
monster creatures made of felt and found objects and mixed media,
influenced by fear and fun and love
and disgust brought to you by the think tank at www.monstercoop.com
http://monstercoop.com/Site2/home.html

Adam Stewart: mixed media installations.
Mixed media works with images from an extensive collection of personal
journals and sketchbooks that translate everyday observations into
cartoon and abstract narratives.
http://mainsite-art.com/adamstewartonline/index.html

thedirtyfabulous: paintings and drawings.
Drawings on paper and painted metal works with images that reference
vintage pin ups, psychedelic art, Japanese prints, dreams, tarot
cards, and relics from the industrial revolution.
www.thedirtyfabulous.com
http://mainsite-art.com/dirtyfabulousonline/index.html

Art walk was GREAT!

Hello!
We had a great turn out on the night of the art walk, despite the rain. Folks came and watched the 2 different video instalations and experienced George Hughes's remote control gold truck and Jen Taylor's striking long drawings.
This exhibit is showing through July 8th.

NEW SHOW! GEORGE HUGHES AND JEN TAYLOR 5/5, 7-9pm

Hello!
We are getting ready for the opening on Friday night!
This show is very dynamic with to very powerful artists- George Hughes and Jen Taylor
the opening is from 7 to 9pm.
Don't miss it!
We have added lots of new images and photo galleries to the website so if you haven't visited in a whille you should check it out.

Emergent Artist Exhibition December 2- February 11

Emergent Artist Exhibition
December 2- February 11

Opening Reception: Friday December 2, 7-9 pm in conjunction with Norman Gallery Association Winter Art Walk.
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Artists Featured in Exhibition:
Ruth Ann Borum: painting
Garrison Buxton: painting, printmaking
Cate Kelly: sculpture, installation (Fuglies)
Sharon McCoy: painting
Daisy Patton: photography
Angela Renke: sculpture, installation
Mark Wyatt: photography
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Ruth Ann Borum
Ruth Ann Borum received her Bachelor’s Degree in Studio Art at the University of Oklahoma in Norman, Oklahoma.
Borum’s current subject matter deals with obsession, excess, celebration, and the dual nature of sugar as friend and enemy. These themes are expressed through specific characters, towering cakes, streamers, tiny particles drifting down, and cupcakes galore. She is also exploring a female form with an elongated neck, while investigating beauty in the potentially grotesque.
Borum uses painting and drawing as her primary media. However, in the later part of her education, Borum discovered functional ceramics and has incorporated them into her body of work. She draws on the vessels, using those well loved re-occurring themes of skulls and the beautifully grotesque.
Ruth Ann Borum currently maintains a studio space in Norman and plans to continue her art career in Oklahoma.
http://www.monstercoop.com

Garrison Buxton
A fascination with nature and the sciences reveals itself in Garrison Buxton's art--in the creative process as well as in the titles.
Buxton's inventive painting process, a type of "flash printing", requires a sound knowledge of the chemistry of inks, solvents, binders, papers, and paints.
Buxton's fugitive images allow for the universe’s spontaneity and chaotic indulgences to commingle with his contrived, calculated visions.
The surface color varies enormously in its character: sometimes solidly fixed, sometimes liquidly rippling, and sometimes a fine lacy mist.
The works are often titled after stellar and micro-cellular phenomenon, which reference Buxton’s appreciation, admiration, and respect for the interrelatedness of the macrocosmic and microcosmic. The more humankind learns about the infinitely large and the infinitely small, the more it understands the symbiotic, harmonious relationships that exist between all things.
However, regardless of how much we learn about our planet and the universes with which it commingles, there always exist an underlying mystery, where the unexplainable happens, where the secrets we have yet to uncover, and may never uncover, reside.
Buxton’s intuition guides him towards this place, leaving visual references along the path of this never-ending journey.
Oklahoma-born, Garrison Buxton graduated with a BFA from the University of Oklahoma prior to moving to New York City and earning his MFA from Pratt Institute. Buxton then taught printmaking at Pratt until 2004, when he left to found Peripheral Media Projects, Inc. (PMP), a print shop that specializes in graphic design, fine art printmaking, and textile fabrication. Buxton's home, studio and PMP’s facilities are in New York City.
His most current venture is co-creating a retail and online store called Antimart, Inc. Antimart carries products manufactured in socially responsible ways by individuals and groups working at the forefront of globally sustainable business models and lifestyles.
http://www.peripheralmediaprojects.com/
http://www.plandclothing.com/
http://www.antimart.net

Cate Kelly
Fuglies are creations that sprouted from the collective minds of Cate Kelly and Scott Henderson in April of 2004, as a way to reform the tossed-aside carnival prize, old confidant, or just a forgotten toy story. Fuglies bring new life to the child within who responds to the macabre wonder of giving a new existence to an expired past.
These handmade, re-used, trash treasures automatically form their own identity when turned inside out.
Their identities are further revealed with the artist’s embellishments of discombobulated parts.
While some may appear similar, no two are exactly alike. Unique as snowflakes and inept as “Frankenstein’s Monster”, these little plushmongers will no doubt bring out the alchemist in all of you.

Sharon McCoy
Sharon McCoy lives, works and makes art in her Oklahoma City studio.
“The closer I get to reaching my goals as an artist, the bigger my dreams become. I’m actually not sure I will ever be satisfied with any measure of success as an artist, only always wanting more. However there is one thing that really does satisfy me. That is using my art as a voice for what I believe. So that’s what I do for real satisfaction.”

Daisy Patton
There’s something intrinsically vulnerable about having your picture taken. The act captures, so complete and unbiased, the exact instant, whether the individual happens to be looking into the camera oddly or caught unawares. Doubly helpless is a stranger who is the photographer. The subject does not have any control, and basically, their essence has been stolen from that moment for someone else’s use.
It is this vulnerability that draws me to taking images of people. Intruding on these individuals is a form of voyeurism on my part as I watch, stealthily position, and snap before I can be stopped. Perhaps they see me or knew me; there is then a tacit understanding, a sort of give and take, between the person and myself. The viewer also is given a chance to role-play. Either they can inhabit the world before them, or they can envision what it was like to be the photographer, the voyeur.
While there is a lot of thought into the specifics of control, the images themselves are quick, brief, candid moments documented for posterity. This fluidity, combined with the push and pull of the viewer versus the subject, drives my documentary work. The concept of the mundane, where everyone lives the same type of boring life and performs the same boring behaviors and actions, interests me because of how subtly people react to these situations. It is my opinion that the human character is revealed here; people allow themselves to open up because of the lack of stimuli and the prying attention of others.
Some of my documentary photography is focused on certain individuals close to me. In this case, rather than gaining a brief glimpse into the subjects’ lives, it is more of an established relationship and a development of personality that is exhibited. Instead of intrusion, there is intimacy; instead of powerlessness, there is some control in how the person is portrayed. The contrast of the two sets of subjects is distinct but not necessarily noticeable. Overall, one theme remains: the need to construct a narrative, either quickly or drawn out over time.
http://www.daisypatton.com/

Angela Renke
I strive to integrate mathematic fundamentals with the language of visual symbol through abstract sculpture. Mathematical truths are viewed as universal understanding, a consistent form of communication. Humans have created a variety of languages, including mathematics, as a means to explain discoveries and form reasonable understanding of each other’s knowledge. I am inspired by Pythagoras’ notion of perfect numbers, as well as nature, and the individual’s idea of perfection. My art incorporates aspects of each of these components.
I create work that includes my obsessive perception of perfection, and allow perfect numbers to control the outcome of the work and ultimately define the perfection. A perfect number is one in which its divisors add up exactly to the number itself; they are a rare group of numbers. Based on twenty-eight is a series where the measurements, quantity of materials, and arrangement of the sculptures are all determined by the perfect number 28 and its divisors. Using this process allows my work to achieve perfection through a system that is structured and organized with an infinite diverse possibility for materialization.
I have found that utilizing formal geometry within my work holds a place within visual symbols, which can also be seen in nature. The circle is a shape that can almost always be found within my work. I have used man-made materials such as concrete and rubbers as well as natural materials to execute my ideas of relating humans to perfection, mathematics and nature.

Mark Wyatt
Mark Wyatt is a graduate student finishing a Master of Fine Art degree in painting at the university of Oklahoma. Prior to entering the graduate program, Wyatt completed his undergraduate work at Oklahoma university. He began his college education at the age of thirty seven years- after being disabled at his job.
He is a painter, print maker, and writer who specializes in experimental processes and techniques. Painting with a process on glass and developing experimental lithographic methods, he has exhibited regularly while a student and on Renaissance and Baroque Art.
The exhibit Mark Wyatt is presenting for the Emergent Artist Exhibition is a collection of polaroids that are manipulated and framed, creating little one of a kind windows into another world.

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OPENING: VISIONS IN THE FLESH 10/21/05--7-9pm

VISIONS IN THE FLESH
a photographic survey
Exhibition: October 21 through November 26, 2005

MAINSITE Contemporary Art is pleased to announce our upcoming exhibition VISIONS IN THE FLESH, a photographic survey, curated by John Seward.
This exhibition features works from five photographers, Greg Gorman, Jerry Uelsmann, Bill Perry, John Seward, Melanie Seward, displaying their approach to the human nude subject and providing the viewer the opportunity to see and compare figurative works, and how each of the five photographers presented in this exhibition approach the nude figure from a different perspective, each finding a method in presenting the subject with varying psychological overtones.
Greg Gorman says, "A great photograph asks as many questions as it answers". The photograph is perceived as the representation of a moment in time that existed or is real. . . after all, it must be real. The photo is the documentation of an event.

Greg Gorman sees the young male figure as transitional, not as boys but not fully matured men either.
Greg Gorman's male nudes photographs are from the series 'As I See It'. They bridge a misconception of nudes in art . . the female form is a thing of beauty and the male nude because of its external sexuality is considered taboo. As Greg wrote in his introduction, "The problem lies in interpretation. A nude should be accepted for its face value - an exploration of the human form in all of its natural glory".

Jerry Uelsmann uses photography to question what it is we see, or expect to see in a photograph. These perceptions reach into the mind of the viewer as psychologically we interpret the image individually.
Uelsmann states, "Ultimately, my hope is to amaze myself. The anticipation of discovering new possibilities is my greatest joy." Before the advent of Adobe Photoshop and other methods of conveniently altering pictures, darkroom masters and retouchers were creating new, altered images. Darkroom technique and composited imagery became the tool for Jerry Uelsmann. Through the combining of multiple negatives in the darkroom, Uelsmann's photographs question the reality of the image. Our sense of reality becomes confused which forces the viewer to analyze the information on a deeper philosophical and psychological level. Uelsmann said, "While it may be true, as Nathan Lyons stated, 'The eye and the camera see more than the mind knows', is it not conceivable the the mind knows more than the eye and the camera see?"

Melanie Seward's close-up nudes depict shape and form, yet uses recognizable features such as eyes, lips and nipples as sensual, psychological triggers of both question and imagination.
Melanie Seward focuses on light, form and tone while approaching a nude composition. She utilizes the models to study the novel or unconventional as she photographs. The sensual skin is stunningly presented and evokes a certain sense of eroticism by questions raised in recognizable components and their relationship with one another. Melanie Seward's newest series was created in Sicily at springtime and denotes a new beginning.

Bill Perry's large scale gelatin silver nudes are titled purposely in emotional terms such as 'Rejection', 'The Feeling of Pain', and 'The Prison'. These titles influence the viewer to analyze the figurative work with their psychological overtones. In many of the photographs, the tremendous emotion and power are directly confronting.
Bill Perry's photographs of close-up figures are emotional, ethereal and mysterious. Coupled with the printing process in which the images were created by exposing the negative through layers of tissue paper, the mood and mystique of the photograph is enhanced and magnified.

John Seward's double exposures combine the classical female nude with man-made elements; buildings, walls, automotive components and gardens that questions the juxtaposition of the nude with common spatial elements. John Seward created a series of in camera double exposures on color negative film using one model and various settings at Cadillac Ranch and in Santa Fe.
Of John Seward's new series, Greg Gorman said, "Despite the complexity of the technique John Seward utilizes to create his combination of images, his photographs appear deliberate and premeditated. The molding of his backgrounds and subject compliment each other, never detracting or conflicting with each image's individual harmony".

John Seward had this to say about the entire exhibition:
"Flesh is a fascinating subject in art and in life. The nude figure, both male and female, should not only convey a sense of beauty but also a sense of wonder on both an intuitive and philosophical level of thinking. Flesh in art and in life is beautiful, wonderful and sensual and should not become a source for religious or political condemnation. The more we are willing as individuals to accept, appreciate and understand the beauty of the human form as well as other peoples, cultures and ideas, the world can become a better place. Please enjoy the exhibition."

Jonathan Hils will lecture on Tuesday, 6pm, October 4th, 2005

We are pleased to announce that OU Sculpture Professor Jonathan Hils will lecture on Tuesday, 6pm, October 4th, 2005 at Mainsite Contemporary Art

This lecture coincides with his current exhibition at MAINSITE titled
Odds (@) Culture. This current work is the representation of the artist's concepts of the culture of war, from which he received a Fellowship from the
Oklahoma Visual Arts Coalition to complete.
Please join us!

Jonathan Hils utilizes processes associated with the car industry; including powder
coated metal, chrome and polished brass to create his sculpture. Hils uses metal NASCAR replicas as American icons, to explore the current political situation and how politics are used to promote particular ideologies. Jonathan Hils received his BFA
from Georgia State University in 1997 and his MFA from Tulane University in
1999. Before coming to the School of Art at the University of Oklahoma, he
instructed sculpture and drawing at the College of Charleston and has taught
summer programs through the Sloss Metals Arts Program in Birmingham, AL and
the New Orleans School of Glass and Printmaking. His work has been exhibited
in numerous shows throughout the U.S. and was selected for the 2003
International Sculpture Center Members Exhibition and the 2002 North
American Sculpture Exhibition.

Jonathan Hils is also the recent recipient of the Oklahoma Visual Arts
Coalition's Annual Fellowship for 2005. Selected by a national Curator,
this $5000 award gives artists a major opportunity to advance in their
careers. This lecture is the community service aspect of the OVAC award.