April 2006
First Thursday
Reception - April 6th from 6 to 9 pm.
Gallery hours are Tuesday through
Saturday, 11-6 and by appointment
"Trio"
Vanessa Calvert, an up-and-coming Portland
artist, presents her first solo show of encaustic / photo collage
paintings at Broderick Gallery. These beautiful pieces involve
painting in layers of pigment-infused beeswax, blow-torching,
ironing and scraping-back until her desired composition is
achieved.
"My work explores the relationship between time, memory,
and perception. Unable to distinctly separate the three, I
am drawn to a depiction of the world where all exist
simultaneously. I am fascinated with the imperfections and
flaws of memory. As time distorts and distills our
perceptions of reality, our memories take on a life of their
own. I create a glimpse of that world which teeters between
real and unreal through an untraditional approach to
still-life and landscape that combines encaustic and
photo-collage. Stripped down to their essence, my subjects
are concentrated studies of the solitary nature of our
surroundings. Reflecting the worn nature of the subjects,
the background is scraped and fused in order to suspend the
object, like a memory, with some pieces missing and some
repeated or replaced. The layers of saturated color defused
through pigmented wax not only provide grounding for the
subject but also a blurred vision of the rest of their
story. The subjects become simultaneously personal and
generic through an anonymity of time and place that allows
the viewer to associate his or her own memories with each
piece. These pieces serve as a response to the inundation of
visual stimuli in our lives. By isolating an object, I
condense our oversaturated society down to a moment in
time."
Vanessa
Calvert, 2006
more work by Vanessa
Calvert
Many
thanks to our friends at Fernando's Hideaway for providing the
excellent Spanish wines we've featured at our show openings and
musical performances.
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