Casey Snyder

February 3-26, 2017

In Between

“In Between” serves as a continuation of Casey Snyder’s studio research of the conceptualization of space, presence, and materials. This exhibition presents new and existing works from her current studio practice and focuses on the indeterminate space. Snyder’s art is motivated by the spatial and how light is used to describe form. Using mixed-media and collage painting, her work forms a collision of materials that shift from spatial to pictorial to tactile. Her assemblages flux in-between the personal and public, logical and senseless, theatrical and literal. Fragments become isolated or mutated, displacing the routine into the peculiar. The notion of finding an “edge” or “boundary” is what propels her practice. Oil paint, spray paint, acrylic, ink, plastic, rubber, tape, paper and various drawing materials are her methods of creating edges. Using a process of collecting, isolating, and dislodging, new images are spun from ones that already exist.

Snyder is a mixed media artist and currently lives and works in the D.C. metro area. She received her BFA in Painting from Ashland University in Ashland, Ohio, and her MFA in Painting from Kendall College of Art & Design in Grand Rapids, Michigan. She is an art educator working as an Adjunct professor at Montgomery College and in addition, she is employed at the Glenstone Foundation, a contemporary art museum in Potomac, Maryland.

csnyderpaint.com/

February 3-26, 2017

Plain & Fancy

Tobia’s work always takes serial or sequential form, often pairing images and texts or images and images. He is interested in the way that photographs convey meaning, the way they function as formal/esthetic objects, and the way that these two aspects of image-based art interact. This series Plain & Fancy, utilizes large-scale paired images that strongly contrast in their nature: one spare and monochromatic and the other dense, textured, and lush with color. They represent the outside and inside of Amish horse carriages and, further, the Amish concepts of public/exterior plainness and private/interior freedom to indulge personal taste.

Tobia is a fine artist working with photographic imagery. He earned his MFA in Visual Arts from UCSD, having worked with artists in a variety of fields including Allan Kaprow, David Antin, Newton Harrison and Fred Lonidier. Given this multi-disciplinary start, he has considered himself throughout his career as a fine artist utilizing photographic imagery rather than as a photographer. His primary subjects have been the urban landscape and global material culture. He has photographed extensively throughout the U.S., Europe (especially Italy and Britain) and China. He is also a teacher of art and a long-time member of the faculty of Drexel University, where he is a professor in the Department of Art & Art History.

pages.drexel.edu/~tobiabj/

February 3-26, 2017

Soliloquize

The concept of Soliloquize is to examine the communication between people. Tseng has always been obsessed with observing human behavior – the posture and body language of politicians in a meeting, details of a conversation between friends, passengers communicating with one another, and so on. She likes to watch them and listen to the content of their conversations even if she is not a part of them. She often finds that people prefer to narrate, rather than listen to other’s voices; they talk but do not listen and in turn do not solve problems. This series was created in response to these observations, with her goal that the audience will self-reflect, and open their ears to listen to others and not only to themself. Quiet introspection can be extremely valuable.

Tseng was born in Taiwan, moving to England after graduating high school where she received her BA and MA in Fine Arts at the University of Wolverhampton, UK. She currently resides in New Taipei, Taiwan.

January 6-29, 2017

mirror/portal/screen

This body of paintings explores spiritual seeking through our relationships with the digital. The title of the show, mirror/screen/portal, is a reference to both painting and digital devices. Both objects act as mirrors: the painting reflects the trace of the artist’s hand while the digital device acts as a literal mirrored surface. Both objects serve as screens, depicting imagery on a 2-dimensional plane. Additionally, both paintings and digital devices serve as portals into a perceived other, cerebral world. These bridges between the physical and the virtual persistently move us throughout history and allude to the possibility of an alternate, spiritual realm.

Recent paintings within this series feature abstract glyph-like forms that give way to a volumetric Renaissance space. These markings are inspired by finger swipes on touchpads and mobile device, our grease-stained traces of interaction with the screen a merging of tactile and virtual fields. The searching intimacy of the hand in relation to its digital device echoes the relationship we once held with illuminated manuscripts, intended to simultaneously mesmerize in their divine depictions and provide an accessibility to the sacred. My paintings reference Early Renaissance paintings, familiar Photoshop tropes, computer games, hand-manipulated digital scans and stock computer wallpaper of holographic water. Through pairing sacred narratives of the Renaissance with digital symbols, the work suggests the spiritual undercurrents within digital technology in its potential for enlightenment, transcendence, and evoking a sense of the infinite.

Sarah West is a painter whose work examines the ever-changing digital landscape and the spiritual narratives inherent in Early Renaissance work, fusing disparate imagery and color palettes to convey conceptual overlap.

West has exhibited her work nationally in many group shows and in recent solo shows in Washington,DC and Winston-Salem, NC. This past year West was featured in the South 2016 edition of New American Paintings. West received a Bachelor’s degree in Studio Art from Wake Forest University. She subsequently received a Post Baccalaureate certificate in Visual Art from Virginia Commonwealth University and was then awarded an Enrichment Scholarship by School of the Art Institute of Chicago, where she studied painting for one year. West earned her MFA at Clemson University in 2012 and has taught painting and drawing courses at Clemson University and Columbus State University. West maintains a regular studio practice at DC Arts Studios in Washington, DC.

thesarahwest.com

January 6-29, 2017

Contemporary Relics

Recent works by Steven Dolbin

In the making of my work I seek to understand my life experience and creative compulsion. I have found much insight from my exploration of humanities bond with the land. The breadth of my work deals with the spiritual dialogue humans once had with the physical landscape and the more economic/ resource oriented relationship that has come to dominate the present. Through my work of the past two decades, I have tried to reveal some of the more enigmatic properties that exist in our kinship with our environment. I strive to connect my viewers with universal and intuitive feelings that are often dismissed. I try to accomplish this with works that recall ancient monuments and relics, yet are directly tied to the technology that has changed our planet’s surface and helped to form our present culture. Material gleaned from our present day surroundings has played an important role in my work. The incorporation of mortal, synthetic, and natural materials into my work has proven essential to my expression. For me these elements not only reflect our intrusion into geologic time but also hearken to our present urban existence.

Steve Dolbin received a MFA with honors from Pratt Institute, a recognized sculptor, performance artist and published art educator he has exhibited his work throughout the United States and Britain. Dolbin is the recipient of numerous awards such as the prestigious Pollock-Krasner Grant. His work is included in numerous private and public collections and is featured in the seminal textbook on Sculpture and three-dimensional design “Shaping Space by Zelanski and Fisher. Articles concerning his work have appeared in The New York Times, Sculpture Magazine and others. Although American, Steve was elected to the Royal Society of British Sculptors in 2016. Professor Dolbin has taught at institutions such as The University of Connecticut, The University of Massachusetts, Pratt Institute and Amherst College. Steve is currently a full-time professor of sculpture and the former Chairperson of the Department of Art at Shippensburg University.