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| UNTITLED
:: ROBIN BRAUN |
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| ELECTRICITY
:: GROUP SHOW |
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:: JILL GALLOWAY |
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:: STEFFAN ABRAMS |
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:: ANDREW JEFFREY WRIGHT |
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The Esther M. Klein
Art Gallery is pleased to present the 16th exhibition in our
Art in Science series. The Art in Science exhibition initiative
began in 1977 and presented the work of Aleksandra Kasuba, Les
Levine, and Alexander Messinger, artists who experimented with
innovative uses of industrial fabrics to make architecture and
art. Since this inaugural exhibition, the Esther Klein Gallery
has been committed to regularly presenting the work of artists
who explore the confluences of art, science, and technology.
Because the Klein Gallery is part of the University City Science
Center, this mission has remained important throughout the years.
The Electricity exhibition (March 8 - April 12) is a group show
of ten artists whose work either explores or depends upon the
power of electricity. Typically, Art in Science exhibitions
highlight the ways in which science and technology can inspire
and inform the arts, and vica versa. The Electricity exhibition
will focus on one of the basic requirements of the sciences
and, indeed, the arts in this technological age.The theme of
the show is particularly germane to our region and our times:
electricity was discovered in Philadelphia, the state of Pennsylvania
recently passed the Electronic Competition Bill, in the last
few years states such as California have met new challenges
in the demands for electronic power and other energies, and,
most recently, the Enron scandal demonstrates the havoc that
out-of-control deregulation of electricity can wreak.
The Electricity show will feature work by ten regional artists:
Joseph Hu, the artistic team of Andrew Jeffrey Wright and Clare
Rojas, Robin Braun, David Gerbstadt, Jill Galloway, Nick Cassway,
Stefan Abrams, Eve Hoyt, and Chris Vecchio. The exhibition will
present paintings, video, sculpture, neon, and photography and
will be highly varied in terms of style and content. The artists
in this exhibition explore the beauty of and dependence upon
electricity, either through close scrutiny of electricity and
light or through their reliance upon electric power in order
to complete their works.
Stefan Abrams recently completed the Certificate program in
painting at the Pennsylvania Academy and is currently exploring
photography, specifically: how the artist manipulates the photographic
image and how the photograph in turn manipulates the viewer.
For this exhibition, Stefan will present photographs from his
Penal Colony Series in which he projects film stills onto the
bodies of his friends and photographs the results.
Robin Braun received her MFA at the University of Iowa and will
present several works from a series of Romantic paintings that
capture the flash of a single lightening strike that glows though
the stormy darkness of her images.
Nick Cassway graduated from Tyler School of Art with a focus
on painting but has since turned to printmaking as his primary
medium. Nick Cassway's prints for this exhibit explore the ephemerality
of news personalities, through the use of non-traditional materials.
Cassway will be presenting portraits of the top ENRON CEO's
printed using petroleum jelly. The Vaseline stained images serve
as a reminder of the lasting impact the Enron scandal will have
on our society.
Jill Galloway graduated with an MFA from the Rochester Institute
of Technology in 2001 and has recently moved to Philadelphia.
Her large-scale, abstract photographs feature light emanating
from a television set.
David Gerbstadt is an artist of many medium. Known for leaving
his work in various public places around the United States and
Mexico. For the electricity exhibition, David has transfered
to video a few of his films and slide shows that he has projected
at First Friday on buildings and at the Gate to Moon Base Alpha
shows.
Joseph Hu received his MFA from the Pennsylvania Academy in
2001. Hu's work often combines painting, projections, and photography
as a means to explore and investigate his ethnic heritage. Hu
is creating a new video work specifically for the Electricity
exhibition.
Eve Hoyt is a neon artist who lives in Glenside. Her sculptures
consist of colorful, hand-blown glass tubes into which she inserts
neon or an argon gas mixture. Hoyt is keen on presenting ambiguous,
abstract forms that allow viewers to interpret and experience
the work according to their own sensibilities.
Chris Vecchio has a doctorate in electrical engineering from
Drexel University. While in graduate school, he realized that
engineering provided as many creative possibilities as it did
technological and scientific possibilities. Since then, Chris
has made sculptures that are powered by electricity. Each work
contains hand-built circuitry and often retro-looking cases.
The hand-made quality of his work allows for emotional and physical
connections to the technology he employs.
Andrew Jeffrey Wright and Clare Rojas, Andrew Jeffrey Wright
received a BFA in Animation from the University of the Arts
in Philadelphia. His prints and videos have been part of numerous
group shows including the 2000 Delaware Art Museum Biennial
exhibition and the 1999 ICA exhibition, Sticker Shock. The Manipulators
video on view during this exhibit, made in conjunction with
Clare Rojas, has won several awards including the Best Animation
award from the New York Underground Film Festival and another
Best Animation award from the New York Comedy Film festival,
both in 2000. Wright is one of the founding members of Space
1026, an art and printmaking cooperative and studio Philadelphia.
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