site-specific art – Page 4

September 4, 2020November 15, 2020, by Etty Yaniv

Shift Happens at GreenHill

In Dialogue with Heather Gordon

Heather Gordon, 2019, photo courtesy of Eli Gray

In her drawings, paintings, and installations North Carolina based artist Heather Gordon maps the poetry of life using mathematical elements like numbers and geometry to coax narratives from information related to data of place, time and physical properties. In her collaborative projects she has extended her practice to large scale site-specific installations based on elaborate research, often including sculptural, performance and movement elements which altogether result in multifaceted and thought provoking projects that prompt the visitor’s intellectual and visceral engagement. In this interview Heather Gordon sheds some light on her nine-foot-high site-specific mural on the large exterior window of the GreenHill gallery to be completed late September. Heather Gordon’s public art initiative is the first of a group of works by the artist at GreenHill Center for North Carolina Art, as part of the Shift Happensart installation series which aims to explore art engagement at a time of social distancing.

June 8, 2020July 10, 2020, by Etty Yaniv

David Rios Ferreira – Catalytic Lines

(detail) *Don’t you see I got everythin’ you need*, 2019. Photo: Jason Wyche

David Rios Ferreira‘s energetic drawings, paintings, sculptures and installations flirt with cacophony yet manage to stay on the verge, creating an idiosyncratic sense of order out of chaotic turmoils. Through turbulent lines and vibrant colors, his imagery projects a rigorous visual universe where Geo-political and mythical narratives fuse organically. David Rios Ferreira shares with Art Spiel the main ideas behind his work, elaborates on some specific projects, and sheds some light on his prolific curatorial practice. Although our interview process started a few months before the Corona pandemic and the recent global protests related to the Black Lives Matter movement, David Rios Ferreira added his response to the current events, implemented at the beginning of this interview.

May 30, 2020May 30, 2020, by Etty Yaniv

Artists on Coping: Elizabeth Riley

During the Coronavirus pandemic, Art Spiel is reaching out to artists to learn how they are coping.

*Factory Fresh,* 2019; Video stills inkjet-printed on paper and fabric, repurposed laser-cut metal, 120 x 108 x 24”

Elizabeth Riley’s art addresses questions concerning the complex and changing world we inhabit and our “mixed reality,” living between physical and digital/virtual contexts. This project includes sculptural wall works, installations, and tabletop cityscapes, made from a combination of video, video stills, and diverse materials. A longtime New Yorker, the artist graduated from Barnard College and received an MFA from Hunter College. In 2019 her work was presented in Ribbons Become Space, a solo show at SL Gallery in New York City. This show included the Dragons of Iceland Installation, a 2011 sculpture/installation with multiple live video elements, as well as, two large-scale, site-specific wall sculptures made from video stills. Elizabeth Riley curated and participated in Trill Matrix at The Clemente Center on New York City’s Lower East Side in 2018, a show of seven dynamic women artists.

February 7, 2020November 15, 2020, by Etty Yaniv

Susan Luss at the Museum of Art & Culture in New Rochelle

Artist in Residence Susan Luss highlights her installation in House 4 MAC Gallery and windows.

Partial installation view, *today, I am…*Photo credit: Susan Luss

In 2019 Artist Susan Luss was invited by the New Rochelle High School to be their first visiting artist working on site responsive installations. The school has its own museum and cultural center on its campus, called The Museum of Arts & Culture, which is the only Regents-chartered museum inside of a school in the state of New York. This collaborative project became a formative experience for the artist. Susan Luss describes the ways she formed her ideas, her collaborative work with students and faculty, as well as her takeaway from this multi layered project overall. The exhibition runs through Feb 13th.

February 3, 2020November 15, 2020, by Etty Yaniv

Rachel Owens – The Hypogean Tip at the Housatonic

Art Spiel in dialogue with Rachel Owens on her sculpture exhibition at The Housatonic Museum of Art in Bridgeport CT

Rachel Owens seamlessly incorporates rigorous research of history and place in her visceral sculptural environments, offering us not only a feast for the eyes – in form, textures, and color – but also engaging us in a mysterious space where detritus like broken bottles, abandoned coal, and even the dust left from marble excavation transform into new forms. Altogether her sculptures prompt complex ideas about multi layered and urgent social issues of race, gender, history and capitalism among others. Rachel Owens elaborates for Art Spiel on her thought process behind this exhibition.

November 16, 2019November 15, 2020, by Etty Yaniv

Juan Puntes – on WhiteBox Harlem

In Dialogue with Juan Puntes on PERFORMA 19 @WhiteBox Harlem and beyond

A group of people in a room

Description automatically generated

Juan Puntes, who founded WhiteBox as the original Chelsea non-profit alternative art space in 1998, built a highly reputable venue known for its thought-provoking exhibition with cutting edge contemporary artists vis-à-vis little known avant-garde historical influential producers. While focusing on site-specific work, performance, and video projects, WhiteBox is also offering a wide array of programming including readings, lectures, and panel discussions. Juan Puntes is sharing with Art Spiel some of WhiteBox’s history, his vision, and his upcoming programs.

October 7, 2019November 15, 2020, by Etty Yaniv

Elizabeth Velazquez: All Realities

Elizabeth Velazquez, Cigar Factory Final Exhibition, 2019, installation view- 2 of 4 rooms, photo courtesy Sakeenah Saleem

Elizabeth Velazquez makes powerful installations in response to the history and geography of a site. While her work often unleashes dark secrets from a hidden past with particular sensibility to social injustice, it also elevates our gaze upwards, conjuring an essence of spirituality out of the materials she is using. The artist shares with Art Spiel the ideas and process behind her recent body of work.

October 11, 2018November 15, 2020, by Etty Yaniv

Debra Ramsay: Painting Time

Debra Ramsay embraces “beauty” as a core in her work. Throughout her installations and paintings she reflects on the relationship between color, light, time, and place with a minimalist’s impulse and a colorist’s flair. Mara Williams, the curator of “Painting Time”, her recent show at Brattleboro Museum, eloquently describes it as both “reductionist and exuberant.” In this interview for Art Spiel the artist elaborates on her background, ideas, and projects.

Continue reading “Debra Ramsay: Painting Time”

August 6, 2018November 15, 2020, by Etty Yaniv

Carol Salmanson: Two Sides to a Coin

Carol Salmanson, Lightshift 1 with the artist, LEDs, reflective sheeting, plexi, beads, 50.5″ H x 69″W x 5.5″D, 2018

Carol Salmanson began as a painter and then gradually started embracing the use of LED lights in her work. In “Two Sides to a Coin,” Salmanson’s recent solo show at SL Gallery, she shows her paintings and light work side by side. This results in a dynamic conversation between the two forms. Salmanson shared with Art Spiel the genesis of her work, thought process, and projects. Continue reading “Carol Salmanson: Two Sides to a Coin”

April 6, 2018May 30, 2020, by Etty Yaniv

The spirit of NYC Trash!

Bernard Klevickas ,mirrored branch, to be installed at the City Reliquary, photo courtesy of the artist

In conjunction with the City Reliquary museum ‘s current exhibition “NYC Trash!: Past, Present, & Future Sculpture Garden,” the Reliquary’s backyard garden will inhabit site specific artworks by ten local artists who are utilizing trash as art material. The opening reception will be on Saturday, April 7th, at 12pm. Continue reading “The spirit of NYC Trash!”