| | | | Juried Exhibit Winners
2009
2008
Hyun Ju Kim
2007
Emile Tobenfeld
Dan Rocha
Alyshia Lien
2006
Anna Isaak-Ross
2005
Anna Isaak-Ross
| | | And 2009 Juried Show Winner Is...
| Nicole Ratos Enerson
In and Out
looped digital video; breath on frosted glass, 2009, NFS
A single breath mark evanesces seamlessly into a void, after a short pause it regenerates and begins to fade again looping in an unceasing cycle of degeneration and restoration. The breath is not simulated, rather it is my breath fading on frosted glass in real time, which through video editing I am able to resuscitate endlessly.
| A Word From the Juror
|
The theme of "material as language" was chosen by the 119 Gallery for this juried group exhibition, and as the invited juror I adhered closely to this intentional framework. In selecting artwork for the show, I applied two criteria: overall aesthetic excellence, and the overt privileging of materials in the creation and content of each work.
Art historically considered, materials - until very recently - were to be transformed, transcended, and hidden in the service of imagery. Stone became flesh and drapery, paint conjured people or landscapes, glass dissolved into light itself. Inherently base, materials were vehicles for ideas and emotions. In and of themselves, they were but dust.
The trajectory of art since the late 19th century changed all this. Impressionism and Post-Impressionism began to explore the materiality of paint. The direct carving movement emphasized a "dialogue with the stone." Modernism demanded "truth to materials." And Post-Minimalist artists considered materials themselves to be language, embraced but not transformed. And hierarchies of materials were smashed as artists worked with dirt, rubber, poured lead, raw fibers, bodily fluids, gut, meat, pollen, garbage, and a host of other stuff never before considered worthy.
In this exhibition, several ideas about materials emerge. For some artists, materiality is crucial - but in no way denied - in the creation of images and objects, and the materials themselves work to reinforce imagery and content. Other artists have synthesized the languages of materials and text. And still others have entered into a dialogue with ideas surrounding the material and the immaterial.
This last category I found most interesting, and least expected. By probing the dualities of substance/light, obdurate/ephemeral, thing/not thing, being/not being, etc., these artists get to the linguistic (as it were) and philosophical heart of "material as language." And the single work that best articulates these relationships, with utter simplicity and breathtaking eloquence, is Nicole Ratos Enerson's looped video In and Out, which I selected as Best in Show.
Congratulations to all the artists, and many thanks to the 119 Gallery for inviting me to serve as juror for Material is Language.
Nick Capasso, Senior Curator
deCordova Sculpture Park + Museum
Lincoln, MA
| Jazz Brunch
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Thanks to all the artists and others who joined and continue to support the gallery.
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| | | | | 119 Gallery promotes contemporary and new media art, innovative ideas and cutting-edge techniques with a rich and diverse program of exhibitions, performances and community-based arts services. We welcome people of all ages, backgrounds and means to explore and experience new, innovative art.
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This email was sent to lowellhandmade@gmail.com by email@119gallery.org.
119 Gallery | 119 Chelmsford St. | Lowell | MA | 01851
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