February 2012 Exhibit
Feb Four
An exhibit of work by four new members
Linda Button, Lesley Clarke, Peter Loge and Edward Bear Miller
Exhibit Dates: Wednesday, February 1 - Sunday, February 26, 2012
Opening Reception: Friday, February 3, 2012 from 6:00 - 8:00 pm
About the Exhibit:
The strength of the Foundry Gallery is in its membership. Each of our member artists share a commitment to quality and professionalism in their art, and to the promotion of art in Washington, DC. During the month of February, the Foundry celebrates the work of our most recent Full Member artists. These four exception individuals, who joined in 2011, each have their own unique approach towards their art and individual expression.
The artists' works range from figurative oil painting, to mixed media on canvas, to conceptual assemblage. While their approaches are different, the artists have a common interest in showing the world as they see it to be. "These four artists are exciting additions to our gallery", said Foundry's President Ronald Riley. "We are confident Washington art goers will enjoy their work in February and in years to come."
Linda's most recent work pulls together strands from the multiple years she has been painting figurative, portraits, plein air, and still life. Her work represents an avenue for narration of blatant and ambiguous themes. She especially enjoys painting the human body and finds humanoids fascinating. Linda finds inspiration from the reflected cityscape replete with arches, autos and occasional vegetation. These tableaus provide her with compelling opportunities to depict stories—fashionable or otherwise—that are all around us.
Lesley Clarke
Recently Lesley has been working with wooden boxes as a base. She paints directly on the wood and incorporates layers of texture, adding and removing until she reaches the desired balance of contentment and tension. Lesley believes the wood carries significant weight, which allows her to incorporate more complex physical elements into the work. She sometimes ‘tags’ her work either free handed or, for a more controlled look, with a handmade stencil.
Peter Loge
Peter brings together found objects, slides, photographs, negatives and lights to highlight the arbitrary and fleeting nature of that of which we are certain. As our understanding of the world becomes increasingly post-modern, highlighting the importance of reproduction of copies over the production of the original “thing in itself,” the photographic negative takes on the role of industrial mold. Digitization and diffusion of media relegates photographs and slides to antique status; they now serve as reminders of what counted as what was, rather than as proof of what is. Peter draws attention to the longing for the image, and holds up the copy as the original, as the object of desire. As the proof of existence, the copy becomes existence.
Bear is consumed by a 21st-century admiration for our devastated natural world. Bridges, ships, and human forms in wild and urban-industrial spaces serve as motifs for contemplating humanity’s notions of liberation and progress in light of the biosphere’s diminishing robustness. His hope is that the canvas he is working on will graduate to become pure poetry of the spirit, but he generally settles for fresh, gritty paintings with soul. Painting for Bear resembles swimming. He plunges in and strokes away, exploring and processing the forms and tones he encounters until he either reaches a realm of strength and satisfaction or struggle to shore feeling weak and lost.
Future Solo Exhibits in Gallery I:
March 2012 -- Black, White and In Between, Solo Show by Fran Abrams, Polymer Clay
Exhibition Dates: February 29 - April 1, OPening Reception: Friday, March 2, 6 - 8 pm
April 2012 -- Solo Show by Julia Latein-Kimmig
Exhibition Dates: April 4 - 29, Opening Reception: Friday, April 13, 6 - 8 pm
May 2012 -- Occasional Acts of Art, Solo Show by Peter Loge, Mixed Media
Exhibition Dates: May 2 - 27, Opening Reception: Friday, May 4, 6 - 8 pm
June 2012 -- Solo Show by Katherine Blakeslee, Watercolor
Exhibition Dates: May 30 - June 1, Opening Reception: June 1, 6 - 8 pm
PH 202-463-0203