SOFT at Untitled (Space Gallery)
by Julia Laricheva

Curated by Debbie Hesse
Exhibition: November 26 – February 1, 2003
Featuring works by: James Clark, Eric Conrad, Joseph Fucigna, Anne George, Sarah Gjertson, Ron Janowich, Clint Jukkala, Jane Miller, Amy Punckak, Orit Raff, Janice Redman, Mary Temple, Leo Villareal and Dina Weiss.
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SOFT brings together the work of artists employing diverse strategies and materials in which the concept of softness is integral to their work. Notions of fragility and strength, material/immateriality, absence/presence are some of the themes that arise from this group.

James Clark, Leo Villareal, and Mary Temple create meditative works exploring spatial and temporal ideas through light and movement. Clark’s vertical hanging plastic containers inflate via motion detectors, soliciting viewer interaction. In Villareal’s light sculpture, subtle shifts in light and color achieved through programmed numerical sequences are manifest as pulsating light. And Temple’s sprawling acrylic polymer wall painting explores the relationship between the corporeal and spiritual.

Janice Redman, Eric Conrad, Sarah Gjerston, Dina Weiss, Amy Punchak and Jane Miller embrace fabric — as membrane, protective covering, or drawing tool. Conrad’s clustered figurative vignettes, crudely sewn from muslin and fabric scraps, explore the complex psychological relationships between couples and groups.

Miller creates whimsical and sensual stuffed forms suggesting body parts, dolls, and pillows. George’s c-prints reference the human form, as wisps of hair, fur, and transparent membranes blend ideas of abstraction with the figure and landscape. Gjertson creates an inflatable floor sculpture, constructed in the form of a mattress from military-issue fabrics, and patterned after the American flag, questioning ideas of personal and national comfort. Comfort and security are also examined in Punchak’s window installation, where a fabric garden of lace cakes and dense plant life lies over a mulch of broken plate shards.

Joseph Fucigna, Dina Weiss and Janice Redman soften hard materials, gaining clarity and strength through juxtapositions. Fucigna reconfigures industrial materials like deer netting and construction fencing into soft paintings, evoking the delicacy of tulle or lace. Weiss’s yarn drawings and knitted sculpture refer to architectural pattern and detail. And Redman mummifies objects to which she is intimately connected in muslin, rendering them useless.

Clint Jukkala, Orit Raff, and Ron Janowich engage the viewer in the minimalist imagery of marks and voids, alluding to the ethereal and intangible. Drawings by Janowich combine painting and photography to explore visual equivalents for the translucency of water. Jukkala’s muted abstract paintings create a slow network of multi-colored geometry. And Raff’s photographs offer alternative self-portraits in which faint traces of dust and detritus substitute for her own material presence.
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On View in the Project Room
When Animals Attack IV
An Installation by Marci MacGuffie
MacGuffie will present a site-specific installation utilizing an arsenal of objects and materials to create geometrical abstractions strewn across the space’s walls, floors and windows.
Where:
Artspace
50 Orange Street @ Crown
The Chamberlain Building
New Haven, CT
Gallery and Flatfile hours:
Tuesday – Saturday 11am - 5pm
And by advanced appointment over holiday weekends
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untitled (space) gallery has been a favorite of Artsy Magazine for quite some time now. Located in the heart of New Haven, Connecticut, the gallery has been known for featuring innovative art work. Curator Debbie Hesse has an eye for talent and has put together another wonderful and engaging exhibit.

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