Silvermine Arts Center, located in New Canaan, CT will be opening
a new set of exhibits February 24th, ranging from the dazzling abstractions of
Sharon Cavagnolo to the visually complex installation by Mary Jo McGonagle.
There is also the hyper-real figurative paintings of Anca Pedvisocar and the
aptly named “Human Touch” figurative print group show featuring Karen Butler,
Helen Cantrell, Alanna Fagan, Nancy Lasar and Nomi Silverman. The show runs
through April 5th. All are welcomed to the opening reception on Sunday,
February 24th 2:00pm – 4:00pm.
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| The Question |
In her exhibit, “New Paradigms,” artist Sharon Cavagnolo deals
with chaos and the human need to control and come to terms with it. For the
artist, a gestural or impulsive movement often serves as the beginning of an
idea for a painting, with subsequent layers imparting balance, line, color and
pattern. The creation of the ‘whole’ represents a new place to be.
“(Dis)connect” is the new site specific installation by Silvermine
Guild Artist, Mary Jo McGonagle. Combining video and signature wall coverings
and paintings, the installation reflects her fascination with how relationships
take place in our everyday lives, hovering between humor and desperation.
Time-based media in conjunction with painting creates the overall environment.
McGonagle’s work is a multi-disciplinary exploration of images and narratives
of sublimated family dynamics and the idea of the suburban home as an
environment of contradictions. . In her exhibit, she uses decorative
wallpapers, patterning and colorful language to conceal contemporary phrases.
The phrases are camouflaged within the wallpaper patterns. There is an element
of discovery, revealing our innermost feelings which deal with the unspoken,
“not so nice,” thoughts that we all share.
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| The Elements |
Anca Pedvisocar’s exhibit “Take 2” is about second chances given
to forgotten moments in forgotten lives of forgotten people, to be re-lived in
a different way by people of our time. For this artist, the most difficult part
in her work is choosing what to do next and why. Anca will look over the many black
& white snap shots she has collected of the last century before choosing
the most significant “insignificant” moment in time worth painting. The central
theme of Pedvisocar’s paintings is a mixture of tension and solitude that seems
to bring people together, while simultaneously pulling them apart. This
conflict makes itself visually apparent in people’s most inconsequential and
mundane actions and postures, glossing their figures with an unmistakable
varnish that makes them impervious to one another and to themselves. The
treatment of the figures in her paintings are restrained, as in a black and
white movie, while exalting the color of the background, evoking the presence
of an old, skipping soundtrack and a narrator’s voice starting to tell their
story.
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| Curtain Call |
The Guild group exhibition, “The Human Touch: Five Printmakers,”
showcases new figurative works by Silvermine members Karen Brussat Butler,
Helen Cantrell, Alanna Fagan, Nancy Lasar and Nomi Silverman. The five artists
share a love of printmaking, exploring contemporary interpretations of the
figure in a variety of print techniques including woodcut, intaglio,
lithography and other media.
