Dualities: Martha Bone and Bart Gulley at Architecture for Art

Painting by Bart Gulley from Black and Blue series

On a recent visit to Architecture for Art in Hillsdale, Bart Gulley and I discussed dualities as I perused his two-person show with Martha Bone in the two-floor exhibition space. It was our first meeting and my first time at AforA, so there was a lot to take in and digest. AforA director Liane Torre was also on hand, explaining the unlikely genesis a year ago of this brick-and-mortar setting from a longer-term, ongoing web-based project of the same name.

Gulley's work first caught my eye in the 2011 Exhibition by Artists of the Mohawk Hudson Region at the Albany Institute of History & Art (see review here); he makes Modernist paintings and collages with great purity, having evolved from a more Expressionist style in what appears to be a reductive maturation process. The work is crisp, clear, and somewhat dry at times, but seethes with a passion beneath the expertly rendered surfaces.

Bone's installation is, according to Torre, her first exhibition of any kind, and it is an engaging and impressive debut that effectively occupies the space it was designed for. Her explorations include a wide variety of materials - plastic cable ties, rubber hose, fabric, hand-built pottery forms, and ink on paper - yet come across in a surprisingly coherent manner (an example is shown at the bottom of this post). I look forward to seeing more from her in the future.

Paper collage by Bart Gulley

So, what of the dualities? Gulley mentioned his own distinction (or lack thereof?) between a landscape-oriented approach and a tabletop arrangement. I noted that his work sometimes hovers in a grey area between image and object. Then there's the issue of graphic design (Gulley's longtime profession) vs. fine art, as well as the given duality of the mission of AforA itself. This, too, suits the topic of Gulley's painting, as it is both architectural and abstract.

As is often the case with artists immersed in various media, collage is a touchstone for Gulley. While the upstairs space holds mostly paintings (and the Bone installation), the much smaller and warmly cluttered downstairs space (think museum shop) has a powerful series of five large collages in it that are every bit as accomplished as the bigger paintings. Based on our discussion, I would venture to say that Gulley values the collages more than the paintings - with good reason, as they have the advantage of being more personal and direct in their physical presence.

Altogether, each feeds off the other. The paintings could not exist without the collages (which often act as sketches for them), but the collages gain credibility from the fact that their maker is also a highly skilled painter. Yet another duality; perhaps we'll get to discuss it the next time we meet.

Rating: Highly Recommended

Note: Martha Bone and Bart Gulley remains on view at Architecture for Art through Dec. 18; the gallery is open Saturday and Sunday from noon to 5 p.m. and is located in the heart of Hillsdale on Route 23. If you go, plan to enjoy the drive, as it is particularly lovely country around there.

Wall installation of ceramic, fabric and rubber by Martha Bone

The Perfect Fit and Old Soles at AIHA

Based on publicity photos for The Perfect Fit: Shoes Tell Stories at the Albany Institute of History & Art, I went there expecting to see shoes as art, and art as shoes - but I was not prepared for the additional quantities of complex art about shoes that the traveling show also includes.

Organized by the Fuller Craft Museum in Brockton, Mass., which was once a shoe-factory town, The Perfect Fit is the type of show that reminds us of the large role traditional craft media now play in contemporary art. The Institute's three small upstairs rooms are stuffed with work by a geographically diverse selection of artists, all of it produced between 2004 and 2008 in almost every conceivable material.

Just so you get the idea, here's a partial list: silk, glass, ceramic, wood, wire, quilted fabric, painted fabric, beads, papier mache, embroidery, doll parts, bicycle parts, tools, precious metals, origami, handmade paper, recycled milk jugs, soil, honeycomb (yes, actual honeycomb) and canary eggs. And, of course, video - pretty darn bad video, at that.

Among the actually shoe-like creations, one lovely pair (by Jan Hopkins, shown at the top of this post) is crafted from grapefruit and cantaloupe peels; another exuberantly unwearable pair of boots (by Rebecca Siemering, shown at right) is entirely made of discarded scratch-off tickets.

Further expanding the media included are a pair of fake-fur-and-blown-glass telephones (the handsets are ladies pump-shaped) by David Fox; a sound sculpture featuring a wide fan of 416 bronzed baby shoes by Judy Haberl; and an elegantly cut, black-paper silhouette accordion book by Beatrice Coron.

A number of pieces make painful reference to the Chinese foot-binding legacy; others are equally humorous and lighthearted. Among the more fully-realized works of art are Nina Fletcher's Shoe Wheel, a mandala of discarded black pumps joined in an endless cycle, and Ito Horotoshi's Morning of the Snow Fall, a remarkably illusionistic sculpture in granite and marble of a pair of boots toeing some of the freshly fallen white stuff.

The most touching work of art in the show for me is Abby's Shoes, a tableau by Lissa Hunter of several framed black-and-white photos (rendered in paint and wood), sitting on a plaster shelf along with two tiny woven slippers. The accompanying text details a Korean two-year-old's adoption, and her subsequent sad attachment to the memory of her first pair of shoes, which she regrets having thrown away. This piece is on another level compared to the work in the show featuring complaints about shopping and fit.

After viewing The Perfect Fit, you are sure to see the art in many of the more than 60 pairs of shoes from the past three centuries featured in Old Soles, an accompanying vitrine exhibit taken from the Institute's collection.

Old Soles covers a satisfying range of examples in wood, leather, silk and so on, including a terrific pair of Frye-ish child's boots from the 19th century, that amazing silver pump shown above at right, and the silk slippers shown below, dated 1916.

Both shows end on Jan. 2, so you'll have to hurry.

Rating: Recommended

Frank Giorgini at Broderick Fine Art Gallery

The ceramic tile maker Frank Giorgini is equal parts naturalist, artist, and alchemist. These three identities are given full expression in his current installation at the Broderick Fine Art Gallery (upstairs at Ruby's Hotel) in Freehold, N.Y., which he owns with partner Ana Sporer, the considerably talented chef of the restaurant under the gallery.

GRACKLE: Birds of Clay features a cycle of twelve 19-inch-square glazed and raku-fired clay panels, augmented by four slightly smaller test pieces, plus 16 much smaller tests on display in a small side room, providing viewers with the simultaneous experience of amazement at the unique works and enlightenment as to Giorgini's process. A longtime workshop instructor, Giorgini has published books and CDs on ceramic techniques, so even in a personal exhibition he can't resist the opportunity to educate.

Fortunately, this does nothing to limit the immediacy and mystery of these graphic and highly textural works, which were inspired by a morning-coffee revelation as Giorgini watched a group of the underappreciated crow-like birds as they established a pecking order around his yard feeder. Impressed by both their attitude and their iridescence, Giorgini instantly realized he had an ideal subject to explore with the special qualities of his chosen medium.

Known for large-scale tile installations he's created for public spaces in New York City, as well as for an extensive line of handmade African-style udu drums (which earned him the distinction of being the only living artist represented in the Metropolitan Museum of Art's musical instrument collection), Giorgini has always drawn from nature for his subject matter, often depicting frogs and lizards, as well as a variety of birds, on his tiles and drums. The grackles, therefore, make for a smooth continuation of his artistic output. This series, however, takes on new directions in terms of the scale of the individual tiles (he refers to them as plaques), the exaggerated graphism of their designs, and the extension of the subject into a cycle of related images and ideas.

All these elements combine as a great step forward for Giorgini the artist - but the alchemist isn't far behind, as the test tiles and photos with text explaining the firing process attest. Though it is possible, indeed common, for molded tiles such as these to be pressed out in editions, the vagaries of the glazing and firing guarantee individuality to every one, usually in the form of happy surprises generated by heat, smoke, and chemicals.

It's fun to observe and contrast the impressive control Giorgini has over his medium and his acceptance of the fact that, ultimately, it will not be controlled - just like those feisty birds in his yard.

GRACKLE Birds of Clay opened Friday, July 31, and will remain on view into September.

The BFA Gallery is open during Ruby’s dining hours: Thurs 5-9, Friday 5-10, Saturday 5-10; and by appointment: 518-634-7790.