Roger Sayre: Little Ticks of Time

SILVERMAN and Majestic Theatre Condominium Association present
Roger Sayre: Little Ticks of Time 

Opening Reception: June 1, 2012, 7 to 9 p.m.  

The Majestic Theatre Condominiums 

222 Montgomery Street, Jersey City, NJ 07302

201.435.8000

 

Exhibition on view in the lobby June 1, 2012, to October 26, 2012.

Roger Sayre, Waterloo Sunset (color study #13), 2012, Unique C-Print, 20×20 inches

SILVERMAN and Majestic Theatre Condominium Association present  “Roger Sayre: Little Ticks of Time,” curated by Brendan Carroll. The exhibition presents 12 new works on paper by the artist.

Roger Sayre is a conceptual artist who often uses nontraditional materials in his work—utility buckets, vinyl records, dog biscuits, tennis balls. What unites his diverse body of work is the sense of play in which the pieces were conceived and executed. For “Little Ticks of Time,” Sayre exposes colored light to photosensitive paper in the darkroom, forgoing both camera and film negative. His methods hark back to the early pioneers of photography in the 1830s and 1840s, like Henry Fox Talbot and Anna Atkins. By returning to basics, the fundamentals of form and color, Sayre looks back but also forward.

The entire series is based on an arrangement of numerous colored squares, which appear to be huddling beside one another like siblings in the backseat of a long car ride. This geometric formula is Sayre’s model for exploring the subjective experience of color—the effects that adjacent colors have on one another, for example, and the illusion of flat planes of color advancing or receding in space.

Waterloo Sunset, one picture from the current exhibition, features a series of cubes, which incrementally change in color—for example, from light pink to dark magenta, orange to burgundy. The title of this piece, like many in the exhibition, is named after a song—in this case, the Kinks’ 1967 hit single. “Little Ticks of Time,” the title of the exhibition, refers to a 1969 children’s song by Glaswegian raconteur Matt McGinn.

The artist frequently listens to this music while he works. It is a must, like coffee in the morning. Often, the title of a given work is based on what he listened to that day. Sayre won’t go so far to say the music he listens to as he works informs this series, but he will concede it contributes to the atmosphere in which he makes decisions.

“To me, the pieces have life and personality, and naming them Color Study Number 21 is just too cold and scientific,” says Sayre. “A name like Wild Honey or Waterloo Sunset breathes a little atmosphere into them.”

Sayre not only listens to music when he makes work, but he also incorporates music into his work, e.g., he uses LP record covers as straight edges, and LP records as round forms. Sayre’s approach to making art is also deeply theoretical. He creates and uses a subjective paradigm, or rule-based system, to find a solution to a given problem. It is as much cause and effect as it is trial and error. Sayre loves the term “happy accident,” and says, “Most of my work springs from it one way or another.”

“Being open and observant enough to pounce when something new is revealed by accident is key. I think of Samuel Beckett’s, ‘Try again. Fail again. Fail better,’ or Ben Franklin’s, ‘I haven’t failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.’ ”

Sayre comments: “I am fascinated with process, and I like to see where things go. . . . In a way, it seems like anything can happen. Often I am completely surprised by what I see once the paper is processed. I usually don’t know exactly how my work will turn out.”

Roger Sayre (b. 1963) received his B.F.A. from Bowling Green State University in 1985. He received his M.F.A. from Pratt Institute in 1992. Sayre cofounded (re)mixed media, an ongoing collaboration with artist David Poppie. Sayre’s work has been featured in Bronx Museum of the Arts, Jersey City Museum, Shore Institute of Contemporary Art, A.M. Richard Fine Art, Allen Priebe Gallery (University of Wisconsin), Regina Gouger Miller Gallery (Carnegie Mellon University), among others. His work has been reviewed by The New York Times, The Pinhole Journal, Flash News, and Pittsburgh Tribune. He lives and works in Jersey City, NJ.

The exhibition will be on view at Majestic Theatre Condominiums through October 26, 2012. For further information, please visit us at SilvermanBuilding.com or call number (201) 435-8000.

Roger Sayre : Little Ticks of Time is the ninth exhibition that Brendan Carroll will organize for SILVERMAN.

SILVERMAN has presented the works of Glenn Garver, Jennifer Krause Chapeau, Michelle Doll, Tim Heins, Megan Maloy, Laurie Riccadonna, Thomas John Carlson, Tim Daly, Ann Flaherty, Scott Taylor, Jason Seder, Sara Wolfe, Beth Gilfilen, Andrzej Lech, Hiroshi Kumagai, Tom McGlynn, Victoria Calabro, Asha Ganpat, Darren Jones, Ryan Roa,Laura Napier, Risa Puno, Nyugen E. Smith, Amanda Thackray, and Kai Vierstra.

GLENN GARVER : RECENT PAINTINGS

Glenn Garver, Untitled, 2012, oil and spray paint on canvas, 32 x 42 inches

JENNIFER KRAUSE CHAPEAU | FROM THE ROAD

SILVERMAN and Majestic Theatre Condominium Association present

Jennifer Krause Chapeau | From the Road

 

Opening Reception: March 2, 2012, 7 to 9 p.m.  

The Majestic Theatre Condominiums 

222 Montgomery Street, Jersey City, NJ 07302

201.435.8000

 

Exhibition on view in the lobby March 2, 2012, to May 28, 2012.

Jennifer Krause Chapeau, Platanes, 2011, oil on canvas (diptych), 26 x 70 inches

“Time has a way of flying by . . . but what can you do?”

–Jennifer Krause Chapeau    

From the Road is a 10-year survey of landscape paintings by artist Jennifer Krause Chapeau. Each painting depicts a landscape observed from the vantage point of a moving vehicle. The objects of her attention range from the American Southwest to the French countryside. Her paintings are as much about the passing of time as they are about light, and its changing affects, on the terrain.

To walk like a hunter through the woods is not in Krause Chapeau’s temperament. She does not specialize in majestic scenes of nature; she prefers sundry roadside scenes. The land is not wild, idyllic, or hospitable, but fleeting. These vistas are temporary, on the verge of disappearing, as she bounds down the highway.

This series of paintings is based on the artist’s personal snapshots that were found in drawers, folders, and manila envelopes, many of which are 14 years old or more. She relies on spontaneity to choose what subjects to capture. There is not a direct tie to a particular landscape, but intuitive response to what she sees. Krause Chapeau is a roadrunner and her domain is the highway, which may seem odd for a landscape painter.

Like many Americans, her experience of nature tends to be mediated through nostalgia or another source, like photography—not direct experience. As a landscape painter, her challenge is not to endure subzero temperatures and blackfly-infested summers to create a representational scene, but to suggest motion and light: landscape as moving target, all soft focus and subtle blur.

Seeing a landscape in motion was a revelation for her. Speed eliminated detail, reducing entire scenes to color and light. “I think the solitude of driving alone for long periods allows your mind to really wander,” says Krause Chapeau. “The compositions and textures are constantly changing and flowing one into another while driving. It is a fascinating visual experience for me.”

At first glance, Krause Chapeau’s unadorned landscapes can strike the viewer as clear-eyed depictions of nature. A lazy mountain lounges on a desolate patch of land in twilight, as in “New Mexico Plain.” A chorus line of pine trees skinny-dips in autumnal sunlight, as in “Fleeting Fall.” On repeated viewings, her work becomes more complex and engaging, as it hovers between conventional representation and minimalist abstraction. For example, in the paintings “Morning Frost” or “French Plain,” she sees the landscape as a geometric division of space, sensuously worked surface, and luminous color.

Unlike photorealist painters, Krause Chapeau uses photographs as a starting point rather than as a model to be meticulously copied as an end unto itself. She is interested in the process of applying paint to canvas not only as a means of conveying information but also to embody a poetic force.

To view these paintings is to exist in a place between hopeful anticipation and regret. A roadside is not a definite location, but something that is neither here nor there, a thing between destination points. Her photographs of the landscape provide her an outlet to ruminate on memory, place, and time. The blurry images of her paintings are an appropriate metaphor to suggest time and motion, but they also highlight the sensuality of paint.

The artist, starry-eyed and mesmerized, staring through a car window to the frozen fields, and beyond, as the terrain continuously unfolds like a cinema reel.

Jennifer Krause Chapeau (b. 1962) received her B.F.A. from University of Michigan, School of Art and Design, in 1984; and attended the Studio and Stage Design Forum, in New York City, from 1985—1987. Krause Chapeau’s work has been exhibited in solo and group exhibitions throughout the United States. She is an official member of the United Scenic Artists Local 829, 1987—present. She lives in Jersey City, New Jersey.  

~ Brendan Carroll

The exhibition will be on view at Majestic Theatre Condominiums through May 28, 2012. For further information, please visit us at SilvermanBuilding.com or call number (201) 435-8000.

Jennifer Krause Chapeau, From the Road is the seventh exhibition that Brendan Carroll will organize for SILVERMAN.

SILVERMAN has presented the works of Michelle Doll, Tim Heins, Megan Maloy, Laurie Riccadonna, Thomas John Carlson, Tim Daly, Ann Flaherty, Scott Taylor, Jason Seder, Sara Wolfe, Beth Gilfilen, Andrzej Lech, Hiroshi Kumagai, Tom McGlynn, Victoria Calabro, Asha Ganpat, Darren Jones, Ryan Roa, Laura Napier, Risa Puno, Nyugen E. Smith, Amanda Thackray, and Kai Vierstra.

MICHELLE DOLL, WINTER WIND

SILVERMAN and Hamilton Square Condominium Association present
Michelle Doll, Winter Wind
Opening Reception: Wednesday, January 11, 6 to 8 p.m.

Hamilton Square Condominium
232 Pavonia Avenue, Jersey City, NJ 07302
201.434.1000

Exhibition on view January 11, 2012, to March 30, 2012.

Michelle Doll, Winter Wind, 2011, oil on mylar, 42 x 48 inches

Artist Michelle Doll creates evocative paintings of women. In her early work, she often presented herself—au naturel or partially dressed—in the bedroom or boudoir, attending to various beauty rituals. We saw her curl eyelashes, blow-dry hair, apply makeup and accessories. Frequently, a tableside lamp served as the only source of light. In her newer work, the setting is not as evident as before, and, in some cases, it’s a void.

This exhibition brings together a series of self-portraits that feature the artist against flat neutral backgrounds. Cool, delicate muted tones suggest scenes of tranquility. The uncluttered compositions recall the spare, austere style of Japanese prints, and yet the paintings exude a raw vitality, as thin dashes of paint animate the surfaces.

To create a sense of intimacy and power, Doll zooms in on her impassive countenance, and increases its scale to billboard proportions. Her isolated and introspective sitters, eyes closed in contemplation, appear to be outdoors, underdressed, and in full view of the public. To be stripped bare before a crowd of strangers (the viewers) is to suggest the world of dreams (or nightmares.)

What happens when an artist’s sense of personal security is shattered? That is the question that Doll asks in her current series of work.

In “Acoustic Shadow,” the artist wears a fur-lined Ushanka hat, as wayward strands of long blond hair whirl in front of her face. Doll pays close attention to the bushiness of the hat, which appears to be a cue to warmth or protection. To counter the suggestion of cold, Doll presents herself topless from the sternum up. She does not shy away from depicting the realities of the flesh–its slackness, its translucency, its vulnerability. In “Pane,” two vertical bands isolate the artist in the center of the composition. She leans forward, arms overhead, as the palms of her hands press against the glass windowpane. In “Stole,” a longhaired faux-fur scarf conceals the lower part of the artist’s face, just under the nose. Unlike her other paintings in this series that rely on a nondescript background, we see the faint outline of a building or façade, which appears in the distance like an apparition or half-realized memory.

In many cases, the figures seem to appear translucent, as a shoulder blade, an arm, or a neck dissolves into the picture plane. The effect is deliberate. To suggest the ephemeral, Doll paints, scrapes away, and repaints the figures, as they transition between a state of formation and dissolution.

To see these characters as victims would be easy but unwise. Their pale complexions are dotted by red licks, like licks of flame. A fire burns in these bellies and in these minds.

Although Doll offers her body to her audience, she refuses to make eye contact. By the mere act of closing her eyes, she shuts herself off from the viewer. To shun the viewer is not an act of submission but defiance: The viewers may have her body, but they will never know or possess the artist’s mind.

Doll received her BFA from Kent State University and her MFA from the New York Academy of Art. Her artwork has been exhibited in solo and group exhibitions in galleries throughout the United States and internationally. She has received many awards including residencies in St. Barths and Normandy. In addition, she has curated exhibitions in NYC. Doll currently teaches art at Felician College and New Jersey City University. She lives and works in Hoboken, New Jersey.

~ Brendan Carroll, Curator

The exhibition will be on view at The Hamilton Square Condominiums through March 30, 2012. For further information, please visit us at SilvermanBuilding.com or call number (201) 435-8000.

Michelle Doll: Winter Wind is the sixth exhibition that Brendan Carroll will organize for SILVERMAN.

SILVERMAN has presented the works of Tim Heins, Megan Maloy, Laurie Riccadonna, Thomas John Carlson, Tim Daly, Ann Flaherty, Scott Taylor, Jason Seder, Sara Wolfe, Beth Gilfilen, Andrzej Lech, Hiroshi Kumagai, Tom McGlynn, Victoria Calabro, Asha Ganpat, Darren Jones, Ryan Roa, Laura Napier, Risa Puno, Nyugen E. Smith, Amanda Thackray, and Kai Vierstra.

LAURIE RICCADONNA

SILVERMAN and Hamilton Square Condominium Association present
Laurie Riccadonna: Whisper and Scurry of Small Lives
Opening Reception: Friday, June 3, 2011, 6 to 8 p.m.
Curated by Brendan Carroll

Hamilton Square Condominium
232 Pavonia Avenue, Jersey City, NJ 07302
201.434.1000
Exhibition on view in the lobby June 3, 2011 to September 2, 2011

Laurie Riccadonna, Latitude 44.5, 2008, oil on canvas, 84 x 57 inches

SILVERMAN is pleased to present Laurie Riccadonna: Whisper and Scurry of Small Lives, a new exhibition of paintings and related pieces for her first solo show at Hamilton Square Condominiums.

In 2005, Laurie Riccadonna attended the Fundación Valparaiso, an artist residency, in Mojácar, Spain. This residency, which serves as a retreat for artists, proved to be a seminal moment in her creative maturation. She had time to paint, draw, and ruminate over the valley and surrounding olive groves; she traveled to Seville, Málaga, Córdoba, and Granada, and a variety of small hill towns and villages along the Mediterranean coastline. As she journeyed from city to city, she had the opportunity to see countless examples of Spanish and Moorish architecture, design, and ornamentation. The architecture of the Andalusian region—specifically the ceramic mosaic tiles covering mosques, citadels, and palaces—left a profound impact on the artist’s imagination. Although she was familiar with Moorish design from books and museums, when Riccadonna experienced it up close—standing before the tiled prayer niche inside the Great Mosque or walking down the narrow alleyways of the Albaicin quarter—she gained a more complex understanding of pattern, space, and rhythm. Riccadonna made dozens of studies from these mosaics, drawing and re-drawing their abstract floral and geometric forms.

Laurie Riccadonna, August Fence, 2009, oil on canvas, 29 x 24 inches

Riccadonna identifies similar motifs and patterns in the natural world. A summerhouse in the Adirondacks allows her time to meander along mountain trails, exploring floral and fauna indigenous to the Northeast. No step is for naught. No moment goes unnoticed. A bunch of honeysuckle she walked past in May could eventually reappear in a painting made in December. Lincoln Park in Jersey City plays a vital role in her studio practice too. In particular, she is drawn to the wetland “reclamation area” in the back of the park. This area is nestled beneath the sprawling behemoth of the Pulaski Skyway, and the contrast between the natural world and the industrial landscape is an influence on her work. “Last year on a particularly gray day, I was in the wetland area and saw a gorgeous white swan in the water. It was so stunning in the landscape, and I think of it often when I am working,” she says.

Riccadonna’s paintings predominantly consist of stylized abstract and naturalistic vegetal forms. Her orchestration of vegetal patterns is reminiscent of the Islamic mosaics and Persian illuminated manuscripts that she saw in southern Spain. She places these organic patterns and forms in compact sections that bob and weave throughout the composition. Colors and patterns advance and recede in a never-ending ebb and flow. The common motifs punctuating her imagery include cherry blossoms, lilies, violets, and roses, to name a few. Vertical and horizontal bands, which resemble the bark of a tree, restrain the explosion of plant life.

Laurie Riccadonna, Broken, 2009, oil on canvas, 25 x 15 inches

Moorish architecture and the natural world are not Riccadonna’s only source of inspiration. She also finds motivation in literature, in particular, magical realism. She says: “Sometimes it’s just a sentence from a single story which inspires a painting.” For example, this passage from the novel The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy informed her painting Latitude 44.5:

“The old house on the hill wore its steep, gabled roof pulled over its ears like a low hat.  The walls, streaked with moss, had grown soft, and bulged a little with dampness that seeped up from the ground. The wild, overgrown garden was full of the whisper and scurry of small lives.”

It is easy to understand why Riccadonna enjoys Roy. The author’s prose is definite, concrete, and evocative; it creates an imaginary world in broad strokes and gemlike detail. As a reader, you can envision the powerful hands of nature strangling the “old house” in a slow-motion death grip, crushing its larynx under the weight of moss, dampness, and overgrowth. In her paintings, Riccadonna employs the same attention to detail to paint the knobby skin of a tree that Roy uses to describe the fetid condition of a house. The style of the prose is not the only characteristic Riccadonna appreciates. This passage also “beautifully articulates aspects growth and decay” that is a central theme in the artist’s current work. Riccadonna knows nature can bequeath life as quickly as it can extinguish it.

Laurie Riccadonna, Dragonflies I, 2009, oil on canvas, 29 x 24 inches

Riccadonna works on a painting one at a time. The work is labor intensive: a large painting may take up to six months to complete. She typically draws the lattice and overall structure of the painting first. After she arranges the patterns and imagery on the canvas, she begins to work more intuitively. She admits to being methodical, but she does not allow it to stifle her creativity. The imagery usually changes and evolves as she works. Riccadonna says: “I use the canvas as a record of my thoughts as I make the painting. Typically each painting is referencing a particular time of year, place, or memory, so although I am very specific with the imagery, I also try to allow the painting to evolve and change as I work.  I provide myself with a structure and then allow myself to deviate from that.”

Color is an essential component in Riccadonna’s work as well. Some ideas for the imagery are based on the palette that she is using at the time of painting, but the overall color scheme of a painting grows and changes over time. For example, she may brush in a broad expanse of color on a section of the composition in order to determine what color to use next. One other characteristic to note in Riccadonna’s paintings is her use periwinkle blue. She reserves key sections of canvas for this hue. These oases of pure color serve two functions: They offer a brief respite amid the symphony of patterns, and they sparkle alongside a brown/gray palette.

Riccadonna earned her Master of Fine Arts in Painting/Printmaking from Yale University School of Art and her Bachelor of Fine Arts in Painting/Drawing from the Pennsylvania State University. Riccadonna shows her work regularly in solo and group exhibitions, and her work is included in a variety of private and corporate collections. Currently a coordinator/assistant professor of fine art at Hudson County Community College, Ms. Riccadonna has been the recipient of numerous awards such as: Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation Fellowship (3), NJ State Council on the Arts Fellowship, and Yale University’s Ely Harwood Schless Prize.

~ Brendan Carroll, Curator

The exhibition will be on view at The Hamilton Square Condominiums through September 2, 2011. For further information, please visit us at SilvermanBuilding.com or contact Liz Dempsey, Executive Assistant, at 201-435-8000 or via e-mail at liz@silvermanbuilding.com. This event is part of JC Fridays.

Laurie Riccadonna: Whisper and Scurry of Small Lives is the second exhibition that Brendan Carroll will organize for SILVERMAN.

SILVERMAN has presented the works of Tim Daly, Ann Flaherty, Scott Taylor, Jason Seder, Sara Wolfe, Beth Gilfilen, Andrzej Lech, Hiroshi Kumagai, Tom McGlynn, Victoria Calabro, Asha Ganpat, Darren Jones, Ryan Roa, Laura Napier, Risa Puno, Nyugen E. Smith, Amanda Thackray, and Kai Vierstra.

Work Samples:

laurie riccadonna, at the edge of silver lake, 2010, watercolor

laurie riccadonna, dragonfly study, 2009, watercolor on paper

laurie riccadonna, gardenias and ladybugs, 2010, watercolor and goauche on paper

laurie riccadonna, jasmine trellis, 2010, watercolor and goauche on paper

laurie riccadonna, newt study, 2008, goauche on paper

laurie riccadonna, september frost, 2010, watercolor and goauche on paper

laurie riccadonna, star flowers, 2010, watercolor and goauche on paper