By Tony Clark, Curator, Chevalier dans l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres
When winter comes we die a little and many things actually die from exposure or neglect. However spring brings us a new birth and perspective along with hope. Those things, places and forms of life that seemed dead or useless are having a rebirth or metamorphosis.
For this exhibition, “REPURPOSED” – which opens Thursday, April 26 with the artists from 6:00 to 9:00 pm at Harvey’s Art Gallery and Showroom at 8155 Beverly Blvd. in Los Angeles, I have discovered artists who create life as well as give new life that is art. Some may call it junk, green, recycled or repurposed. Due to its nature and in the hands of fine artists these compositions are fine art.
Michael Craig Carrier is one of the nation’s leading “Green Artists”. This is a fairly new movement and he has been doing it for over twenty years. His mantra seems to be “Bring me your rust and obsolete computer parts.” He breathes a new life and a new beauty that they never had in their first incarnation or purposed life.
Sometimes the eternal symbols of spring are there before our eyes; however we are to be there at the right moment to observe it. Melanie Manos captured the moments that butterflies come forth from their chrysalis and spread their wings for the brief journey of their lives.
Photography is one of the best ways to capture moments of life. Bill Haugse creates composition of living and inanimate object to create his abstracted reality.
LARK (Larisa Pilinsky) also finds the overlooked and discarded. She recharges them by mixing elements and components that we would never put or envision together in brilliant compositions.
When David Gardner’s craftsmen house was gutted he saved all the “debris” and created unique furniture and original works of art that are in this exhibition.
This force of nature happens on and to our bodies. Jason Jenn uses collage to express the connectivity and aspirations of life that grows on and from us by using his own feet and flowers.
Anita Rosenberg is a collector. She travels the globe gathering images, souvenirs, and experiences and brings them home to make art. Anita earned her MFA with a blow torch in one hand and rusted farm machinery in the other. She applied this assembly skill by deconstructing the concept of a frame and re-building it with vintage wares combined with her photography to create a unique art form.
The word Spring evolves the calligraphy paintings of William Emboden as each stoke for tales a movement, passion, emotion and communication to awaken the senses. The movements are made and he tells their stories. It is poetry and history captured on his canvas.
There is an eternal order to life. However, j.Reto see a disorder in the world and he attempts to correct it by creating collages that he covers with scrims of recycled party dresses and puts gesso over them to give birth to the order of his universe.
Acts of natures are best symbolized by tornadoes or twisters. Randall Oldrieve takes the fallen trees and houses. His VORTEXES are symbols of the root of destruction that has periled this nation. One has to be in awe of their power and sculptures that were made from their destruction.
One cannot walk in or away from this show unchanged. We take so much for granted. We waste and we are a disposal society. I am so happy that these artists have a shared vision and find beauty everywhere they look. Experience this exhibition of transformation and you will be forever changed.
Jason Jenn
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Very much looking forward to the evening and exhibition celebrating art from re-purposed materials. There is much art to be made from re-using materials and putting them together in new ways; thusly, giving works of art new life which are truly creative! http://www.hiveworld.org
Randall Oldrieve
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I am inspired by the forces of Nature in general, yes, like the way the waves can wear down boulders or a cliff and all the awesome shapes that ensue. The vortex happens to be the most prevalent shape in the universe from the spiral galaxies down to the tiniest patterns and, yes, tornados. I also do not pillage scenes of mass destruction and suffering for my materials. The ‘found” materials are just that; recycled discarded articles of wood and a variety of other mediums. I have been creating art in this manner for over 25yrs.
A lot of my shapes were actually derived from broken seashells I had collected. It wasn’t until someone pointed out that some of my early pieces looked like tornados that it dawned on me how powerful a reference that was.
Regardless, I do NOT focus on the tornado as a reference other than indirectly as a force of NATURE. The form is still meant to reflect the intracies/delicasies of a seashell, down to the polished interior and rough, textured, patterned exterior or other contrasting surface treatments. I work very hard to make the jagged edges important and an intriguing aspect of these oversized icons of natural beauty. They are intended to have the weathered look of being worn down by Nature and yet retain they’re elegance. They are also meant to be figurative and gestural. The whole point is to capture the essence and layers of meaning behind the found object as art. How about that as a reference for Repurposed, the art show?
Dusty
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I got a sneak peek and WOW what color and diversification of Artists !
Not to be missed !
Dusty
Bill Haugse
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I’m very happy and proud to be represented in this show. Tony has a knack for putting together artistically congenial groupings and this is another example. http://williamhaugse.com
Laura Whipp
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Harvey and I are so excited to be hosting the exhibition Repurposed at Harvey’s On Beverly this Thursday night. The incomparable curator Tony Clark has brought together an amazingly talented and innovative group of artist. The artwork is visually powerful, rich with complexity and so unexpected in the use of re-purposed and recycled materials. We are on bated breadth until Thursday when we can share the art and artists in this collaborative celebration.