Allen Harrison
		Painting is a totally unique enterprise. It has no overt utilitarian function, nor is it a particularly good story 
		telling medium. It's probably easier to make a painting than it is to describe in detail it's meaning. I feel the 
		meaning of a painting is tied more closely to how it is painted rather than to what is painted. 

		To me, a painting's function is a spiritual and philosophical one. It has the unique ability to communicate 
		metaphorically in a non-linear way. A painting does not describe a philosophy, it demonstrates it for you. 
		The spirit of a painting comes through the actual composition of its parts.

		I refer to my work as painting, although mixed media is technically more accurate. While there are sculptural 
		elements in my pieces, painting is still at the core of the work. I combine various found objects with painting. 
		The objects and materials add their history to the piece and give an unpredictable quality to it. The materials 
		and the content of the piece become intermixed. 

		The notion of change has emerged as a dominant theme in my work. Much of the time our lives are 
		consumed by the search for some sort of stability, but change is what's constant. Investigating change in a 
		static medium like painting is both appropriate and metaphorical. Making an object, a painting, is an 
		attempt at stability, at the same time seeing an image in its various manifestations forces the issue of 
		change to the forefront. 

		What excites me about painting is its unique potential for growth, change and the freedom inherent in the 
		act of painting. Each new painting is a new beginning.

		Allen Harrison - October, 2001

Back To Previous Exhibitions

ANDREW PIEDILATO
Untitled (Thing in the Water) - 2001
oil on canvas
77 x 74 inches (195.58 x 187.96 cm)

		Andrew Piedilato
		The style that runs through these paintings comes from my struggle to get an image while obliterating any 
		obvious subject. Some of the paintings have distinct parts: cartoon boards, chest cavities with fleshy 
		attachments, seas and skies; all stuck together and falling apart, shifting around with a kind of churning 
		motion. Using a distinct figure-ground illusion is a new format for me. This is not something I consciously try 
		to construct, but it seems to be the only way I can get a picture that works.

		Rarely do I get any feeling of hope from any of the paintings right away. I paint. Time elapses, and I pump 
		some energy into a new painting. Then I feel the urge to turn around an old one, and wish I were doing that 
		painting again. I forget what embarrassing moment in the old painting made me turn it around and stop 
		working on it. It looks new, and better than the painting that I just started. I tear into it and resolve it in a way 
		that I never would have before. 

		I rarely start a painting from a preconceived idea or image. I usually just start with a loosely gestural figure, 
		painting mostly with my hands. I hope for an accident that can be repeated or elaborated until I can get a 
		form or space that has the right kind of content. Content for me is usually an indirect product of what 
		happens while trying to capture something else. That's alright with me. I'll take what I can get. The way I work, 
		I have to take chances if I'm going to get anything good. I'm never guaranteed that I'll get what I want, or 
		anything at all. 

		Andrew Piedilato, October 2001

Back To Previous Exhibitions

HERB STRATFORD
Procedure - 2000
mixed media
12 x 11 x 7 inches (30.48 x 27.94 x 17.78 cm)

		Herb Stratford
		My work, small sculptural assemblages, deal primarily with the modern condition and utilizes found and 
		created elements which speak on several levels simultaneously. It is my aim to create visuals which stay 
		with the viewer long after, and raise questions about our perceptions of everyday life. 

		I aim to subtly suggest a specific message to the viewer. Utilizing a wide range of materials to create 
		objects which speak of a mysterious purpose and history, I try to remove the viewer from preconceived 
		notions of established order and universal experiences, and create a new order in which traditional, 
		established rules do not exist. While starting from an autobiographical base, these pieces expand and blur 
		so as to encompass wider interpretation. Several materials which surface in the work often; wax, salt, sand, 
		and magnifying lenses, serve as metaphors and often are the only clues to the original autobiographical 
		theme of the piece. 

		Herb Stratford, October 2001

Back To Previous Exhibitions

UNJU LEE
Seed (part) - 2000
cardboard, red yarn, woodstock and oak
10 x 10 x 3 inches (25.4 x 25.4 x 7.62 cm)

		Unju Lee
		I first decided to use cardboard that was sent to me as box from my elderly parents in Korea. This is what I 
		used for my piece, Gift, which was the cardboard box that filled up entirely with wooden sticks, resembling 
		my mother's love and devotion filling up my heart. Ever since I made that work, cardboard represented love 
		and nurturing, which is why I originally decided to use that material. I now use a 10"x l0" frame using oak 
		because cardboard is made from wood and oak is very similar in color. 

		The title of my work, Seed, comes from the Bible, verse John 12:24-25, which states, "I tell you the truth, 
		unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces 
		many seeds. The man who loves his life will lose it, while the man who hates his life in this world will keep it 
		for eternity." 

		The arrangement of the work on the wall is an element as important as those within the works themselves. 
		Circular shapes matched well with the rectangular base. In East Asia, the circle was considered the perfect 
		shape. From the bigger ones like the planet earth to the smaller ones in atoms, particles and quarks, circular 
		shapes and motions were found everywhere giving off energy to a life form so it could continue to prosper. 

		I have become attached to interpreting life in my work and would like to continue to share my discovery and 
		experience. 

		Unju Lee, October 18, 2001

Back To Previous Exhibitions

CARA WOOD
Red Apple - 1999
oil on wood
10 x 8 inches (25.4 x 20.32 cm)

		Cara Wood
		The paintings on wood in this show look like small blackboards with miniature "chalk" drawings in the 
		corners. In the centers of each panel is a tightly realistic oil painting of some object of everyday life. 

		I believe that a realistic painting can communicate as much as an artist wants to convey and reflect that 
		artist's position even though it may seem to be unemotional. I try to infuse my still-life's with optimism, irony, 
		spiritualism, even sarcasm, but cloaked in artistic realism. 

		The fact that the picture in the center is surrounded by strange drawings, which seemingly don't have much 
		to do with the image, is intended to give it another dimension. I am trying to create an elegance of symmetry 
		and simplicity, but speak to complexity and depth at the same time. 

		The paintings might subconsciously suggest to the viewer a variety of ideas, such as "learning" and "study". 
		Maybe there is a suggestion of appreciation, and a sense of slowing down to see life close up, in the way it 
		is painted. 

		Most of all it is intended to be open-ended enough for each viewer to bring their own interpretations to the 
		paintings. Everyone is different and has a different reaction to each combination of elements. What the 
		viewer brings to the painting is what completes the work. 

		Cara Wood, October 2001

Back To Previous Exhibitions