Steve Sangapore, a Boston artist and formerly Fine Arts Barista at The Fictional Cafe, is one of the most innovative creators it’s our privilege to know. He paints, sculpts, writes philosophy and hosts fascinating exhibits. In all his creative pursuits he’s always welcome at The Fictional Cafe. This week, Steve and fellow artist Rob Sullivan open a new art exhibit at Boston’s Fountain Street Gallery. This ambitious show of painting and sculpture brings to life its title, a Latin term that directly translates to “you watch” or “you look.” The work invites viewers in with its combination of traditional and modern practices and, echoing the contemporary specular, involves aspects of lenses and mirrors. Whether communicating transparency, the beauty of form or human spirituality, it is as if the artist is portraying images through a lens….
Jeff Corwin: Trust in Vision
Over the years, Jeff Corwin has taken photos out of a helicopter, in jungles, on oil rigs and an aircraft carrier. Assignments included portraits of famous faces, including Bill Gates and Groucho Marx and photos for well-known corporate clients like Microsoft, Apple, Rolls-Royce and Time/Life. After 40+ years as a commercial photographer, Corwin has turned his discerning eye to fine art photography. Corwin has carried his vision forward, to see past the clutter and create photographs grounded in design. Simplicity, graphic forms and configurations that repeat are what personally resonate. Visual triggers are stark and isolated vistas: a black asphalt road cutting for miles through harvested wheat; an empty, snowy field with a stream creating a curve to a single tree; or a small barn, the roof barely visible above a barren hillside. Trusting his…
To Wonder: Photograph as Art
Natalie Christensen’s exploration of surface, angle, shape and color Artist’s Statement: The Deconstructed Self In 2014, I moved from the state of Kentucky to New Mexico, leaving my lifelong home and 25-year career as a psychotherapist behind. While it was an exciting moment, it was also a time of questioning and reflection. Like many artists who have come to New Mexico, I was immediately drawn to the distinctive Southwestern light. The beauty of the natural environment is evident to most people; however, my interest was in exploring the more banal peripheral landscapes which often go unnoticed by the casual observer. I began by photographing color fields and geometric shapes. I was interested in the way light and shadow could spark complex narratives, and quickly became aware these isolated moments in the suburban landscape were rich…
Bill Wolak — Digital Collage of Bygone Eras
Artist’s Statement: I make collages out of all kinds of materials. Most are made out of paper engravings. Many collages are digitally generated or enhanced. To begin a piece, I select some sources—either color or black and white. If I’m using magazines or prints or old books, I cut out some images or parts of images that interest me. Then I start working on a background or some other sort of chance construction. Much is left to fleeting insights. These are tiny miracles of inspiration. Depending on whether I’m using scissors and glue or digital images, each collage could take several hours. *** Bill Wolak has just published his eighteenth book of poetry entitled All the Wind’s Unfinished Kisses with Ekstasis Editions. His collages have appeared as cover art for such magazines as Phoebe, Harbinger Asylum, Baldhip…
“Art as Comic Expression,” by David Meyers
Artist’s Statement:In my artwork I am interested in the boundary between lowbrow and highbrow culture, the semiotics of visual language and revisionist mythology. Emerging from a sardonic mire of humor, I look toward finding wonder in the mundane surroundings, a created narrative and a hair-brained idea somewhere between smart, silly and stupid. I love the visual language, the history and conversation that art creates, silly jokes, overthinking, under thinking and the dialogue in-between. I make the work that I want to see in the world. Art isn’t always about high notions of beauty and what ails the world, it can be about the screws in your pocket, about drinking a beer, about sitting in your underwear, about a piece of trash at the beach. Art’s power is its endurance, and I find it best fitting…