I know, I know, midweek holidays are the worst. But it's been over 24 hours now since Independence Day officially ended. Therefore, I expect all of you to have overcome your hangovers and pulled yourselves together enough to brave the heat once again, and hit up some of the many great art openings that will be happening in RVA tonight! It'll be 100 degrees tomorrow and 105 on Saturday, but if we let Richmond summers defeat us, we'll all be cooped up inside our houses until the third week of October at least. Our love (for art) is stronger than sweat, right? Besides, there will be cold beverages at many of these events. Aha, now I've got your attention! Anyway, here's what's going on around the RVA art scene this fine First Friday evening:
Ghostprint Gallery: Yūgen--Edward Kinsella III and Jeffrey Alan Love
Jeffrey Alan Love “Three Wise Men” acrylic on panel 18 x 24 in.
In traditional Japanese aesthetics, Yūgen is said to mean “a profound, mysterious sense of the beauty of the universe… and the sad beauty of human suffering”.
Edward Kinsella III is a highly successful illustrator whose clients include the United States Postal Service, the New Yorker, Rolling Stone, the New York Times, etc. He recently received the Gold award at Spectrum Live for his cover illustration for Wooden Bones, published by Simon and Schuster. Yūgen presents an important departure from the illustration world where Kinsella reveals his personal vision for the first time. Using Winter as his theme, he states, “Winter is quiet, still, contemplative, and sad. Things die, slow down, hibernate. Without suffering, the good parts of life don’t taste as sweet.”
Jeffrey Alan Love teaches drawing at VCU, since studying at the Illustration Academy and apprenticing with Sterling Hundley. His peripatetic childhood and diverse background have enriched his skill as an illustrator. Love’s clients include The New York Times, Richmond Magazine, Chicago Reader, and The Box Creative/Center Stage, etc. Love’s paintings for Yūgen are also a new departure as he is experimenting with a limited palette using bold expressionist strokes. About his work for Yūgen, Love says, “With this body of work I have tried to recreate the sensations of my childhood in Germany, of running through haunted forests and crumbling castles and overlaying what is now with what was – witches and rivers, knights and poisoners, and all of the magic that seems not only possible but real at a young age.”
Yūgen will be on display on Friday, July 6 during the First Friday Art Walk from 6-9 PM, and will remain on display through July 28, at Ghostprint Gallery, located at 220 W. Broad St.
Visual Art Studio: ARTe'licious 2012 Silent Art Auction, Round 2
Clarke Fitch, "I got this new app, but..."
Visual Arts Studio presents the ARTe'licious 2012 Silent Auction to benefit gallery programming, Round 2, featuring the final 4 photographs using light and body paint by Riccardo Tenti, as well as local artists Clarke Fitch, Greg Lewis, T. McConville, Linda Hollett-Bazouzi and more. Bidding closes after the First Friday event, which takes place July 6 from 6-9 PM, and features music by Elana Lisa. All proceeds from the silent auction benefit Gallery Programming to help keep events and many exhibition opportunities free and open to the public. Visual Art Studio is located at 208 W. Broad St.
1708 Gallery: Avery Lawrence is Moving a Tree and Arranging Suitcases
Avery Lawrence, Arranging Suitcases, 2012
1708 Gallery is pleased to present its exhibition, Avery Lawrence is Moving a Tree and Arranging Suitcases, featuring the work of New Orleans-based artist Avery Lawrence. With an interdisciplinary studio practice bridging video, sculpture, installation, drawing and performance, Lawrence creates works that engage concepts of perseverance and futility through physically grueling, absurd actions. In Moving a Tree, one character fells a dying walnut tree while another painstakingly reconstructs it. In Arranging Suitcases, three characters haul different parts of a set of suitcases across train tracks and canals, finally uniting to reveal their contents. Through these surreal narratives, drawings and sculptural objects, Lawrence explores themes of affection, disorder, persistence and failure.
Avery Lawrence was born in Charlottesville and holds a BA in Visual Studies from the University of Pennsylvania. Lawrence is the founder of The Pomp, an experimental print shop and studio in Charlottesville, and has exhibited at the (E)merge Art Fair, SCOPE Miami and Heiner Contemporary in Washington, D.C. He is the recipient of the SCOPE Foundation Award and was recently named one of the “100 Under 100 Art Superstars of the South” by Oxford American magazine. Lawrence lives and works in New Orleans, LA.
1708 Gallery (located at 319 W. Broad St.) will be from 5-8 PM on Friday July 6 for the First Friday Art Walk. Avery Lawrence is Moving a Tree and Arranging Suitcases will remain on view until August 4.
Books, Bikes, And Beyond: El Kamino
El Kamino is an American painter hailing from the state of Virginia. Becoming involved with graffiti in the mid nineties, he has developed a signature style that has taken on many forms over the years. While maintaining a presence in the world of wall painting, he is a veteran of DIY art shows; displaying canvases in small towns across the south east. An avid fisherman, his gallery work focuses on the animals he encounters along the creeks and rivers he frequents.
The interaction of birds, snakes and fish; presented in a manner that combines religious iconography with illustration. Good and evil, life and death, nature and technology. His paintings attempt to capture the constant struggle of opposing forces, demonstrated through the use of his surrounding wildlife.
El Kamino's work will be on display on Friday, July 6 beginning at 7 PM at Books, Bikes And Beyond Thrift Store, located at 7 W. Broad St. The art will remain on display through August.
Elegba Folklore Society: The Ancestors Call (Karen Hampton)
Karen Hampton, George Washington Carver
Karen Hampton is a mixed media textile artist. Her work is steeped in oral history and is an expression of the narrative. Working with fabrics from hand-woven linen to fine silk cloth, her art imparts conceptualized tales about the “other” in society, and she uses it to tell the stories of African-American ancestors.
The Ancestors Call will be on display beginning Friday July 6, with a reception taking place during the First Friday Art Walk, at Elegba Folklore Society, located at 101 E. Broad St. It will remain on display through September 30.
The Camel: This Is The Sun (Kathryn Dale Barton)
This collection documents life under the sun. Each brush stroke that contacts the surface "carries, inevitably, the exact state of being of the artist, at that exact moment into the work, and there it is, to be seen and read by those who can read such signs." (from The Art Spirit). We are ever changing, expanding, and experiencing life, overwhelmed by sensory input with few moments to contemplate and respond. Each brush stroke, like each choice, propels us forward.
This Is The Sun will be on display beginning with a reception on Friday, July 6 at 5 PM, at The Camel (1621 W. Broad St). Live music will be provided from 6-8 PM by The Wells Brothers.
Studio Two Three: Rich Little Boys Make Sad Old Men
Rich Little Boys Make Sad Old Men is a group show featuring artists from Salvation Tattoo and 821 Cafe. New works by Tyler Thomas, Ross Trimmer, Mickael Broth, Matt Betts & more. The show opens with a reception on First Friday beginning at 7 PM, which will feature a musical performance by Julie Karr. It will remain on display through the end of the month at Studio Two Three, 1617 W. Main St.
Main Art Gallery: Pulped n' Pulled (Kerri Cushman)
Kerri Cushman is a sculptural book artist and avid papermaker with an affinity for letterpress. She obtained an MFA in Interdisciplinary Book and Paper Arts from Columbia College Chicago in 2004. Known for her artist books, Cushman has shown her works in over 100 exhibitions nationally and internationally. Her work was also included in 500 Handmade Books and 1000 Artists’ Books: Exploring the Book as Art. Her narratives push the boundaries of what defines a book. Currently, she is an Associate Professor of Art teaching papermaking, letterpress, and artists’ books at Longwood University in Farmville, VA. Cushman has been awarded several grants, received a residency at the Cité Internationale des Arts in Paris, France and completed the Summer Workshop in lithography at Tamarind Institute in Albuquerque, New Mexico. She is an active member of the Friends of Dard Hunter International Papermaking organization.
Pulped n' Pulled opens with a reception on First Friday from 7-9 PM at Main Art Gallery (1537 W. Main St). It will remain on display through July 27.
Artemis Gallery: Rock N' Roll Sunglasses
Artemis Gallery will be presenting an exhibition of one-of-a-kind decorated sunglasses, curated by John T. Crutchfield. The show is a sequel to their popular exhibition from last year, which traveled around to art and music festivals all last summer and captured the attention of multiple TV news programs. This year's exhibition features an entirely new collection of handmade, decorated sunglasses, made public for the first time. The First Friday reception runs from 5-10 PM at Artemis Gallery, located at 1601 W. Main St.
Uptown Gallery: Light... Space... Color (Dorothy Ellis & Richard Shannon)
Light... Space... Color is an exhibition featuring artists Dorothy Ellis and Richard Shannon. They are a study in contrasting expressions, styles, and media. One reflects impressions, of world travels. The other reveals the secrets of a private garden. One macro, the other micro. Both have wonderful vision.
Uptown Gallery will also present Black & White In Living Color, an exhibit featuring work by William Frable and Horst Arfert, on the Mezzanine. First Friday opening reception takes place on Friday, July 6 from 5-9 PM at Uptown Gallery (1305 W. Main St). These shows will remain on display through August 25.
Red Door Gallery: Summer 2012 Group Show
Red Door Gallery presents their annual Summer Group Show, featuring artwork by Suzanne Morris, Barney Levitt, LeeAnne Wright, Tim Robinson, and Dallas Mosman. The opening reception will take place on Friday, July 6 from 6-9 PM at Red Door Gallery, located at 1607 W. Main St.
-----
Artists! Galleries! Would you like your future First Friday events covered in these monthly articles? We might hear about your event anyway, but why leave it to chance? Email us your press releases: andrew@rvamag.com.
By Andrew Necci
Top Image by Zahra Haider (flickr.com/photos/chocomallow)