We like it here in the gallery, but sometimes you just need to go out and get your hands dirty. That's why it was so nice to visit the harsh and brutal world of Eric LoPresti's studio on May 1st. The esteemed Phillips Art Expert was on hand to take some photos, and we had many special guests (who found the the event neither harsh nor brutal, if the truth be known). Head over and take a look at the photos, and then make plans to come see Eric LoPresti: Force Against Force on May 16th.
Sunday, May 4, 2008
On The Road Again
Monday, April 28, 2008
Installation shots taken by Blogger Hrag Vartanian
Sunday, April 27, 2008
Shameless Plug
The wonderful blog phillipsartexpert has put up a short profile of Eric LoPresti, and we're very glad! Force Against Force opens May 16th. Come join us, won't you?
Monday, April 21, 2008
Force Against Force: Eric LoPresti
Force Against Force: Eric LoPresti
May 16th – June 8th 2008
Opening Reception Friday May 16th 6:30-10:00pm
Like The Spice is proud to present Force Against Force featuring Eric LoPresti’s eloquent diptychs composed of photorealistic renderings and airbrushed gradients. Each binary pairing, executed in either graphite or oil and acrylic, alludes to uncontrollable forces and the universality of conflict and catastrophic loss. The precisely realized images of destruction, danger and chaos on one panel are set against the contemplative psychological space of color field painting, thereby combining two schools of painting historically seen as antagonistic to each other.
Based on dramatic and sometimes harrowing photographs of contemporary battlegrounds in Iraq and the Democratic Republic of Congo, as well as sites of danger and turmoil --- shark infested waters, melting icebergs and refugee camps --- these paintings and drawings express the inadequacy of human perception to grasp the vast, shapeless complexities of powerful forces.
Opposing each landscape is an abstract gradient, where multiple colors or tones fade into one another in atmospheric, emotionally charged fields. With no indication of scale and lacking any solid form, the gradients provide open space into which the viewer can project their reactions and emotions.
About the diptychs, “I think of them as visual equations, where the resulting experience is very different than the sum of the parts. Each side transforms the other by its proximity,” says Eric.
Born in 1971, Eric LoPresti grew up in the remote desert of southeastern Washington State. He received his BA in Cognitive Science from the University of Rochester in 1993, and his MFA from the Maryland Institute College of Art in 2002. His work has been exhibited internationally, including solo shows at Jan Larson Fine Art and Miami University. He is the recipient of the Louis J. Kuriansky Foundation Award and the 2005 Miami Young Painters, William and Dorothy Yeck Purchase Award. This will be his first solo show at Like the Spice.
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
Two Weeks Is The New "Retro"
Maybe the title of the show, Flip, refers to the artists’ opposite approaches, or their embrace of the decorative, but it certainly doesn’t refer to their attitude towards their work. Then again maybe Herting and Beach demonstrate two varied solutions to the harnessing of design in the interest of art, which, as they say, can be two sides of the same coin.
-Hrag Vartanian
Sometimes it's hard to let go. Our last show, Flip, was so nice that we still smile wistfully when it crosses our mind. But while it was on the walls, we got a visit from the incomparable Hrag Vartanian, who put his review up at The Brooklyn Rail. We're always happy when he stops in!
Also, just because the show's over doesn't mean it's all gone. Stop by and check out our secret basement space and enjoy the semi-permanent collection, including work by Flip artists Nora Herting and Rachel Beach!
Yeah, But Our Housing Market Is A Growth Industry
Website phillips ART expert has chosen to pay a little attention to Ross Racine and Peter Feigenbaum with a short review of our current show, There There. We're very happy they liked it as much as we do!
Artist Meets Artist
Our good friend Nora Herting got together with our good friend Ross Racine and a marvelous interview was the result.
Nora Herting: I am fascinated by your process and how you came to work this way. What attracted you to the computer?
Ross Racine: Until ‘85 I worked on the computer as a designer/programmer. I knew the possibilities. I had a longing for images that were non-material like dream images. I got Photoshop 3 and never looked back.
Head over to Nora's blog Proof of Concept to read the whole thing.
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