FEED : A dinner with Eric LoPresti

Last night's dinner was intimate. Guests fresh from the cool autumn evening arrived to a table set for ten, catered by our fellow Williamsburger, Nita Nita, a bar and tapas restaurant.

While interns Ross and Spenser plated and served the steamed shrimp, apricot-glazed chicken, and hearty gouda Mac & cheese, Eric LoPresti was kind enough to take guests through the gallery, explaining both the science and the inspiration behind each work of art in FADE.

The remote landscapes in his works are, in a natural sense, marred by man-made sprawling developments. However, Eric revealed that in these industrial remnants of the cold war, he finds an inherent symbolism and aesthetic that elevates them from blights on the landscape to structures of beauty bordering on the sublime. He spoke about how vague recollections from childhood of these seemingly barren landscapes shaped his fascination and ultimately his depiction of the deserts and plains in his work.



Eric and Lisa are sort of the ultimate art couple - he's a painter (obviously) and she's a sculptor. They gave us all a peek into their lives; their concerns as artists, their reactions to each other's work, and their take on the direction that they've seen contemporary art taking during their travels to London, Denmark, and (soon) India. When asked "why do you make art?" by another guest, Lisa thought before saying "It's a compulsion. I'm compelled to create." Eric agreed, saying that there was something positive about the fact that it is so difficult to be a professional artist - only those with that same compulsion and the drive to put it to use are able to persevere.



We also talked about weddings, wallpaper, Pac Man, and Otzi the Ice Mummy, but we'll leave those elements of the conversation to your imagination.

We Wanna Be Adored

After our last post, what more could we say? Nothing? Then it's a good thing that Fade is getting so much positive attention!

First up is the terribly awesome Artmostfierce, who rated us one of the Most Happenning Art Shows In NYC! We always knew we were happenning but we're glad someone else noticed. Especially someone so fierce. And we're very very thankful for the praise, so head over there and enjoy the blog!

We were also happy that Eric earned us a very special treat! Portuguese blog Minas de Ouro decided to give the world a very nice look at Eric's work... written in Portuguese! If you're not fluent, Google's pre-translated version will help you read some lovely words of praise, but if you are, you'll likely enjoy it more in the original. It's a nice thing when art goes global, so we're very happy to be noticed. Thanks, Gisela!

One thing should be very clear by now, if you haven't yet seen Fade, you need to start making plans. Maybe even dinner plans, perhaps for September 18th? Because, coincidentally, that's when we'll be having the next installment of our Monthly Dinner Series, Feed, a very special night with artist Eric LoPresti. An RSVP is required, so RSVP right here, right now. It's going to be a blast!



THIS JUST IN!!

After we'd already published, we found this wonderful interview courtesy of Revel in New York. Covering details like Eric's hard science background and his feelings about the Brooklyn Art Scene, Revel in New York's interview is a must read for LoPresti fans. Thanks for the attention, Revel! We love you so!

Post-Opening Recap (please don't talk too loud kthx)

The wonderful thing about being a gallery is learning the secrets of how this:



becomes this:



Sure, it took us a day to sleep off all that fun, but now we're back, we've found our pants, and we're ready to tell you all about the fantastic opening night of Eric LoPresti's Fade. You can even catch a special sneak preview right here if you're so inclined. And we're telling you now, you want to be so inclined.



That's artist Nora Herting on the right. Eric's well loved and well respected by the Like the Spice artist crowd, so it was no trouble at all to get them to stop by. One look at the work and you'll understand why he gets attention from his peers.





The crowd was clever and friendly and fun and we're pretty sure everyone had a great time. If you weren't there... why not? Look at what you missed!



Fade runs until October 4th, 2009. It's been getting some great press, and we'll even have a very special RSVP only dinner on September 18th... but you'll find out about all that in our very next blog post. Stay tuned...