"I paint "nature morte" from direct observation, hopefully heightening that experience by creating new 
		sets of references that reveal the "inner presence" of things.

		Manuel Hughes, 1999

		"Instead of an intellectually involved concept, I prefer to substitute feeling and let it drive me naturally. 
		My paintings become an examination of light, color and space. Based on structured sketches, I use 
		only natural pigments in my oil painting technique to portray my animals (and other subjects) with a 
		chromatic softness. I place cows, sheep and pigs in a very simple, minimal universe so the viewer can 
		discover the light and catch the spirit of the painting.

		Romain Erkiletlian, 1999

		"I've spent the last ten years exploring the shapes, forms and textures of particular fields of reflected 
		light. By applying a white medium to a black ground, I reduce each subject to its basic luminosity in 
		order to capture the essential image.

		Ron Weis, 1999
,

		"I am hoping that people can see the potentia1 for a narrative in these works. Much the same way I 
		would like for people to see that the work contains allusions to a presence; although the presence is 
		non-specific. Recognizing the inherent memory of certain objects and viewing them as something 
		detached or forgotten brings forth the potential for a memory-presence. The imprint of this can be 
		achieved through the distilling of the object. In other words, I distill a building's implications down to a 
		symbol representing a building but not describing one (relegating the descriptive down to the status of 
		the signifier). The drawn lines are meant not to simplify or break down but to start from nothing and build 
		up. In the process they signify the memory of the original object in the mind of the spectator. The viewer 
		is thus doing the distorting and abstracting, not me. My forms, shapes, and symbols communicate 
		nothing. They exist outside the social norm of aesthetic recognizability; and are in fact a parody of it. 
		To designate something as art is to fervently deny, with great effort, the natural beauty that forms already 
		possess.

		At what point does a group of lines lose their objectivity and become a recognizable object? I do not 
		wish to just put forth a recognizable object, but to put them forth after a transformation has taken place 
		that is memory oriented. The ambiguity of my lines and the forced objectiveness of a generally subjective 
		object is a by-product of this transformation. The completed image is not minimal and it is not 
		abstracted. The once subjective and quite traditional object which is very specific (such as a house or 
		building) is knocked down to the status of the non-specific i.e. lines drawn on a canvas which sum up to 
		nothing in particular. This disrupts the element of expectation and the pieces are looked at more as 
		objects in and of themselves rather than as drawings depicting something or as a simplification of 
		something.

		I view all objects as a still-life of sorts because I believe that stillness is memory related. I draw with a keen 
		awareness of displacement and an almost Proustian obsession with associativism. The pieces are apt 
		to come out pristine yet ragged; ragged not because of my use of detritus as material but because of the 
		loose associations between pieces. I do not draw from memory nor do I copy from life. I do not own a 
		sketchbook therefore I do not draw something first and then render it, changed or otherwise, for the 
		finished product. My approach is probably closest to a child's (when the object is signified and the 
		memory imprint is achieved, the drawing is finished). I choose the objects that I draw not because of 
		their blank objectivity but because of the universal nature of the forms. Certain elements are 
		recognizable but not specific. I feel that to have any object depicted straightforward by any means of 
		interpretation is too redundant. Rather, I utilize a form's preconceptions and associations and put forth 
		the object as an intimation.

		If there is an underlying disconcertion surrounding these pieces it is due to the fact that I wanted to hint 
		at a violence and a complexity just beneath the surface of apparently simple, common objects or shapes. 
		There are certain objects that seem very sarcastic to me (such as the swing) and this may account for a 
		hint of cynicism in some of the pieces. I hope that the work does not appear too cynical however. The 
		only real cynicism is my lack of faith in art as a justifiable and still relevant means of expression worthy 
		of attention. Think of me what you will."

		Darryl Delvecchio, 1999

		"This series of photographs began to develop after I relocated from living in Washington, DC for more 
		than twenty years to living in Hagerstown, Maryland, a small working class city at the edge of 
		Appalachia. Initially, I began to explore my neighborhood with a camera. Two blocks from my house is 
		a livestock exchange that draws people from the local farming community to the weekly auction. Taking 
		photographs there on a regular basis allowed me to explore many of the complexities and struggles of 
		rural farm life. I felt like I was stepping back into the 1940s and 1950s. I observed behavior that 
		combined old-fashioned, decent good neighborliness and raw honesty with a complete lack of interest 
		in applying any form of political correctness at any level. Each week when I arrived with my camera the 
		auctioneer would jokingly announce through the microphone that "Hollywood is back".

		From my auction house experience, I began to take photographs throughout Hagerstown and beyond. 
		I selected small state highways that looked like they would lead me through economically depressed 
		communities in neighboring towns and states. I continued to be drawn to the irony that I found in my 
		neighborhood. Often I would pass by, think about, and then return to an image before finally shooting it. 
		The project grew to include photographs that reflect contemporary American life as a throw-away 
		society. With human existence, too, impermanence pervades everything. All that we can count on is the 
		fact that death is certain.

		The thread of humor seen in many of the images is like a cosmic joke about the illusory nature of what 
		we perceive as reality.

		Sue DeVall, June 28, 1999