Spring is here, lent is over, Easter has passed, and the weather might actually have figured out that it's time to warm up! So maybe this First Friday it'll actually be pleasant walking-around-outdoors weather. Wouldn't that be nice? If nothing else, you can always go hang out by the fire-spinners on Marshall St and catch a nice breeze that way. But regardless of how comfortable it is outside, the inside of the art galleries is where all of the action is. So come out on Friday night and see check out all the great displays that are available for your perusal. And bring a coat, just to be on the safe side. Here's what you'll find on the art walk this month:
Gallery 5: Doings And Undoings
Elena Lourenco explores the relationship between such things as culture, nature, the body and spirit in sculptural installations that juxtapose imagery from domestic life and the natural world. Lourenco creates objects and installations that communicate powerful narratives about both society and self.
Lourenco received her B.F.A. from San Jose State University, CA and her M.F.A. in Sculpture from Arizona State University, AZ. She is an Assistant Professor of Fine Arts in Sculpture at SUNY College at Buffalo, New York.
Doings And Undoings will premiere with an opening reception on First Friday, April 5, from 6-11 PM, at Gallery 5, located at 200 W. Marshall St. The evening will also feature live music from Heavy Midgets, Paul Ivey And the Rubes, The Crypts, and Cavum, as well as a First Friday Street Jam presented outside the building by the Party Liberation Front. Doings And Undoings will remain on display through April 27.
Art Whino Richmond: Process On Process
This month, Art Whino Richmond presents a collection of new works by Richmond artist Jonathan Hirsch, featuring large paintings of pop cultural figures with dark histories--such as Walter White from Breaking Bad. Process On Process will premiere with an opening reception on First Friday, April 5 at 7 PM at Art Whino Richmond, located at 202 W. Broad St.
Visual Art Studio: Arcade Complex
Mermaid Tea, 18x24, oil on canvas
Visual Art Studio presents Arcade Complex, new oil paintings by Dan Rhett.
Join us as we host this exciting new collection that has been four years in the making! This new collection of twenty small to medium size oil paintings by Dan Rhett includes handcrafted frames made from reclaimed wood. Rhett creates mythical beings, cafe' scenes and sea creatures from whimsical shapes and earth tone colors. His artwork has been so popular his previous exhibitions at Visual Art Studio have completely sold out. Art Lovers from across the U.S. and as far away as Australia have collected Dan Rhett's original work
Arcade Complex will premiere with an opening reception on First Friday, April 5, from 7-10 PM at Visual Art Studio, located at 208 W. Broad St. The exhibition will remain on display through May 31.
1708 Gallery: Mixology Preview
1708 Gallery will be holding Mixology, its 23rd Annual Art Auction Benefit, on Saturday, April 6. The auction will feature work by 60 different artists, and will feature honorary chair Shepard Fairey. Fairey will be presenting a piece from his Station To Station series specifically created for his Richmond appearance, and limited editions screen prints of this piece will be available for purchase through 1708 Gallery.
The artwork being sold during Mixology will be previewed during a public reception to be held on First Friday, April 5, from 5-9 PM, during which Shepard Fairey will be in attendance from 5:30-6:30 PM. The preview will be held at 1708 Gallery, located at 319 W. Broad St. For more information, click here.
Art6: VCU Communication Arts Senior Show
The Communication Arts Department at VCU is proud to present its graduating class of seniors in a consummate group show at Art 6 at 6 East Broad Street in Richmond. This exhibition showcases the final portfolios of students who will graduate this May, or those who have just graduated last December, with a rich education in illustration, drawing, painting, and design. Upon graduation, they will enter fields as diverse as medical illustration, fine art, animation both digital and traditional, mural painting, comic and graphic novel authorship, editorial illustration, and beyond. Planned, coordinated, and executed by the seniors themselves, this show is supported but not run by the department, meaning that all freedom and responsibility is on the backs of the seniors to represent themselves, the school, and their field well.
Consider this a debutante moment for each student participant to present themselves as professionals in their fields. Each entrant has been given the opportunity to decorate, customize, and otherwise show off their personal style in a section of the gallery, and they have embraced that chance in ways such as: creating an installation, setting up projectors, and painting a mural. They showcase a uniqueness of personality that is vitally important in the intensely competitive arena of Communication Arts.
The VCU Communication Arts Department's 2013 Senior Show will open with a reception on First Friday, April 5, from 6-10 PM at Art6 Gallery, located at 6 E. Broad St. The exhibition will remain on display through April 28.
Books Bikes And Beyond: Have Brush, Will Travel
Books Bikes And Beyond presents an exhibition of hand painted signs and watercolors by Richmond sign artist Ross Trimmer. Have Brush, Will Travel opens with a reception on First Friday, April 5, at 7 PM, at Books Bikes And Beyond Thrift Store, located at 7 W. Broad St. The exhibition will remain on display through April 31.
ADA Gallery: Ology
ADA Gallery presents Ology, an exhibition of new works by sculptor Morgan Herrin.
Herrin's works have utilized wood to mimic materials ranging from the hard surfaces of iron, copper, and bronze, to the more delicate and fragile organic shapes found in nature, from plant and moss forms to bone and skin. In this new exhibition of his work, he takes as his subject the remains of the Ice Man (or “Oetzi” as scientists named him), the mummified 5,300-year-old man that was discovered in 1991 in the Eastern Alps near the border between Austria and Italy startlingly well preserved in the ice, as if thousands of years had not passed. The sculpture, in a similarly vivid fashion, is an astonishing, frighteningly lifelike image of our ancestral past captured in an almost dancing gesture, as if frozen in time for all of eternity to witness.
Ology will premiere with a reception on First Friday, April 5, from 6-9 PM at ADA Gallery, located at 228 W. Broad St. The exhibition will remain on display through April 27.
Turnstyle On The Artwalk: Breaks Edition
Turnstyle presents a combination of art and music, with DJs spinning vinyl on the sidewalk and art in the boutique. Kristy Cuffee, a DJ Photographer from the 757, will be displaying large format prints framed of dance music DJ's & events from her portfolio. Music will be provided by Joe Kopacek of Buzz DC, Chris Bulla of Modern Music Baltimore, and Turnstyle's own Jesse Split. The event will take place on First Friday, April 5, from 7-10 PM at Turnstyle, located at 102 W. Broad St. Kristy Cuffee's art will remain on display through April 30.
H3ads Up: Live Art Show
This month, H3ads Up will feature a live art event by performance artist Jonathon Blake (stage name: Crazyredbeard). Joining forces with live musicians and a bevy of other artists, Blake is set to create a collaborative painting with both fellow artists as well as the general public with the theme of autism awareness in mind. As April is Autism Awareness month, this "peace" will be created on site and auctioned/sold with partial proceeds to benefit autism research.
Blake was raised in Mechanicsville, Virginia and attended Atlee High School before receiving his undergraduate schooling at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville. He plans to move back to the area with his wife and 4.5 month old son to spend more time with his family, as well as to create more stunning works of live, improvisational art at various musical events. 2013 has seen him conjoin with a number of different charities with the idea in mind that art can be a healing and helpful tool to society.
This event will take place on First Friday, April 5, starting at 5 PM, at H3ads Up Art Gallery & Clothing Boutique, located at 104 W. Broad St.
Steady Sounds: New Paintings
Steady Sounds presents new paintings from Richmond artist and musician Frederic Alexandre Blasco. The exhibition will open with a reception on First Friday, April 5, beginning at 7 PM, at Steady Sounds, located at 322 W. Broad St. The paintings will remain on display through the month of April.
VCU Arts: Fail!
VCU Arts presents fail!, "an exhibition of unappreciated, unfinished, in process and imperfect artwork." The event will feature work from 22 different artists, and will also include music, dance, and video presentations. The exhibition will be presented on First Friday, April 5, from 7-10 PM, at VCUarts' Department of Graphic Design building, located at 1509 W. Main St.
Studio Two Three: Cabinet Of Curiosities
Cabinets of Curiosities house collections of specimens, exotic objects, and art, memorabilia and ephemera. These “Cabinets of Wonder” were precursors to the museum, dime museum and sideshow. S23’s Cabinet of Curiosities Portfolio houses a collection of art and curiosities gathered for scholarship, amazement, and wonder. This is a juried exchange reflecting the diversity of the contemporary print community. Featuring work by: Haig Demarjian, James Elhers, Hilliary Gabryel, Christian Gregory, Jacob Green, Jorge Guillen, Ashley Hawkins, Brooke Inman, Rosemary Jesionowski, Andrew Kozlowski, Sarah Moore, Travis Robertson, Linda Lucia Santana, Jake Urbanski, and Christopher Wallace.
Cabinet Of Curiosities will open with a reception on First Friday, April 5 from 7-10 PM at Studio Two Three, located at 1617 W. Main St. The exhibition will remain on display through the month of April.
Glave Kocen Gallery: Populace
Glave Kocen presents Populace, an exhibition of new works by Steve Hedberg.
Steve has always been fascinated with humans' ability to transform the environment like no other species. Focused on urban sprawl and population centers, Steve creates scenes of fictitious cities, one color, shape and texture at a time. The result is "Populace," a series of abstracted networks of buildings and roads, viewed from the perspective of one looking at a miniature city, much like observing a cross-section of an ant colony. Along with more than 25 urban folk paintings, Steve continues his theme on paper using silk screen techniques.
Populace will open with a reception on First Friday, April 5, from 6-9 PM, at Glave Kocen Gallery, located at 1620 W. Main St. The exhibition will remain on display through April 27.
Artemis Gallery: Chrysalis Metamorphic Silk Light Sculptures
Artemis Gallery presents an exhibit of new works by Barbara Woods.
Barbara Woods is a Santa Fe artist who has worked in the textile industry for over 30 years. After years of working, she began to design wall pieces and lamp shades that eventually evolved into the works that are currently shown today. She uses the French Gutta resist technique of painting on silk. All works are original and no stencils are used. She continues to develop unique lamp shades in painted silk in collaboration with H. Tom Thomas, her husband and partner.
Chrysalis Metamorphic Silk Light Sculptures will open with a reception on First Friday, April 5, from 5-10 PM at Artemis Gallery, located at 1601 W. Main St.
Red Door Gallery: Spring Into Color
Peter Batchelder, "Southern Sun", 16" x 30", oil on canvas
Red Door Gallery presents Spring Into Color, a show featuring three painters working with distinct color palettes and bold brush strokes.
Peter Batchelder is known for the heavily-saturated, almost-neon colors of his New England barn-scapes. Bordering on barn portraiture, Batchelder captures these icons of our past as they are, alone in a barren landscape, yet as they are not, loaded with ironically happy colors.
Dallas Mosman captures the subjects of her abstract, botanically-inspired paintings in a similar way, with a distinct, refined color palette and bold brushstrokes, but with a very different point of view and results. Instead of isolation and irony, Mosman creates isolation and joy in her microcosmic garden scenes that burst with a magical mix of movement and life. Her latest paintings were inspired by gardens in Richmond and Mexico, and are being shown in conjunction with Historic Virginia Garden Week.
Pat Gerkin is a multi-media artist heavily influenced by texture and design. Her latest works are colorfully painted carved patterns in wood, reminiscent of snakeskins.
Spring Into Color will open with a reception on First Friday, April 5 from 6-9 PM at Red Door Gallery, located at 1607 W. Main St. The exhibition will remain on display through April 27.
Visual Art Center: Keeper's Keep
This exhibition is composed of sculpture, installations, paintings, drawings, and sketchbooks that chart Aggie Zed’s unique working methods in a variety of media. Zed’s studio practice is eclectic and varied. Often starting with images from her sketchbook, she may develop some of these concepts into paintings and others into sculptural tableaux or installations. Her subject matter is nothing less than the sum of human civilization, with an emphasis on our relationship to the animal kingdom. Human and animal figures collide with furniture or landscapes; rabbits sprout wheels or wings, while horses drown in collapsing scaffolding. Zed’s dreamscape narratives probe the inner reaches of the subconscious mind.
Although Zed’s work derives much of its meaning from literary associations, her imagery teems with invention and startling leaps of imagination. Her visual poetry conjures a world in which logic and rationality take a comfortable backseat. Human foibles and impulses are placed in the foreground. And even though she works in different media, her conceptual approach remains consistent throughout.
Derived from the title of one of the artist’s works, Keeper’s Keep alludes to British usage of the term “keeper” for “curator,” and plays on the double meaning of “keep” as both noun and verb. Aggie Zed is a storyteller whose works take us out of our consensual reality and into a world filled with absurdity, ambiguity, and the gifts of artistic imagination.
Keeper's Keep will open with a reception on First Friday, April 5, from 6-8 PM at Visual Art Center, located at 1812 W. Main St. The exhibition will remain on display through June 7.
Page Bond Gallery: Scattering Bright & Spaces
Page Bond Gallery presents two exhibitions: Scattering Bright, new work by Allison Cooley, and Spaces, recent work by Dragana Crnjak.
Alison Cooley, Lilassalt, Mixed media on paper 38 x 42 inches
American painter Alison Cooley has developed a distinctive body of work that is vibrant, expressive and bold. She uses palette knives, spatulas, and her hands as part of an animated process that draws the eye back and forth along the surface of her paintings, following the spirited movement of the artist’s gestures. Her highly abstract paintings are intuitive, playful, and saturated with color. The dynamic movement and bold juxtaposition of hues in Cooley’s paintings command attention. While much of her earlier paintings were anchored by an abstract horizon line, her newest body of work shows fields of color and line that dance spontaneously across the canvas in what Cooley calls “lyrical abstraction.” In this new series, her exuberant palette is recognizable in new combinations: whimsical line and fields of neutral white intersect expanses of color. This new body of work is assertive, energetic and resolute.
Dragana Crnjak, Untitled (Spaces Blue), 2012, Acrylic, charcoal, gloss medium on canvas 50 x 60 inches
The abstract work of Bosnian-born artist Dragana Crnjak often begins with a defined sense of place. Her most recent series is inspired by her travels to Iceland, a landscape well suited to her sensibility, in the summer of 2012. Many of her works offer a powerful suggestion of vastness and space. The bold contrasts of velvety black charcoal against pristine white are tempered by softly blended shadows, subtle gradations and white-on-white figures. Her charcoal and acrylic works are characterized by minimal color, deep contrast, and fragmented, abstracted shapes that seem to be in a state of appearing or disappearing. “The fragmented structures. . . often suggest the transitional moments of becoming and vanishing, the uplifting but still fragile energy of a new beginning, a sense of levitation,” says Crnjak. Her figures in jet-black or varying shades of white seem to be anchored in space like constellations viewed through a hazy lens containing sparks of light or specks of dust. Their abstract forms suggest the imperfect recollection of a memory, which will have different significance for viewers.
Scattering Bright& Spaces will open with a reception on First Friday, April 5, from 7-9 PM, at Page Bond Gallery, located at 1625 W. Main St. The exhibitions will remain on display through April 27.
Reynolds Gallery: Lure Of Impossibility, 27 Songs, & Coda
Cindy Neuschwander, Coda 1, 2012, Oil and wax on sixteen canvas or wood panels 42 x 42 inches
Reynolds Gallery presents three new exhibitions: Coda, a posthumous overview of the art of Cindy Neuschwander; 27 Songs, a collection of works by Tanja Softic; and Lure Of Impossibility, a collection of works by Javier Tapia. These three exhibitions will open with a reception on First Friday, April 5, from 7-9 PM, at Reynolds Gallery, located at 1514 W. Main St. The exhibitions will remain on display through May 18.
Strange Matter: Cabaret Lumiere
Strange Matter and The Department of Kinetic Imaging at VCU present Cabaret Lumiere, a Dada/Fluxus-inspired arts event showcasing media and performing artists in Richmond VA. Come out between 4 and 9 PM for cheap drinks and media art (video, animation, sound, projections etc). At 10pm, The First Friday after-party begins, with a performance art showcase lasting till 1:30. Donations accepted for Richmond Reproductive Freedom Project at door. Strange Matter is located at 929 W. Grace St.
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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 your press releases to andrew@rvamag.com.