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Einstein said, \u201cTime is relative\u201d, meaning that as the sun, the moon and the planets of our solar system naturally move forward, so does time. As a result of the earth\u2019s rotation, or the speed of the ground beneath our feet, and according to your specific whereabouts on the planet, time is slightly different for each one of us.\u00a0This phenomenon applies to mechanical devices as well as to our own inborn internal \u201cclocks.\u201d In fact, there are several atomic clocks located throughout the world that measure Cesium atomic energetic conditions, which can calculate the accuracy of time right down to the millisecond.<\/p>\n
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All of our cellphones, computers, Mickey Mouse and Rolex watches and Cuckoo clocks are linked to these super time pieces. As earth\u2019s population grows and our lives become more and more complicated and demanding, we find ourselves no longer in tune with our inherent clocks, disconnected with nature and moving faster and faster in a race with time. For this juried exhibition we asked artists to submit work in any media that relates to the subject of time, such as the beginning, middle and end, to good and bad times, to time clocks, time out, and time machines, to back then and to the here and now, for which Carl Sagan once said, \u201cThat we\u2019ll never come again, is what makes life so sweet.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Domonique Alesi
\nLuis Alves: collage
\nChristine Anderson
\nPeter Arakawa
\nFrancesca Azzara
\nRandall Cleaver
\nSam Caponegro
\nChris Ernst
\nAlison Hooper
\nRobert Eustace
\nJohn Folchi<\/p>\n
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Darlene Foster
\nRichard Gessner
\nDustin Gramando
\nRita Herzfeld
\nLinda LaStella
\nErin Malkowski
\nBrian McCormack
\nHeidi Nam
\nRuth Parker
\nSharon Paster
\nCharissa Schulze
\nAddison Vincent<\/p>\n
[\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row admin_label=”row”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″][et_pb_portfolio admin_label=”Portfolio” fullwidth=”off” posts_number=”30″ show_title=”on” show_categories=”on” show_pagination=”on” background_layout=”light” hover_overlay_color=”rgba(255,255,255,0.9)” use_border_color=”off” border_color=”#ffffff” border_style=”solid” include_categories=”18″] [\/et_pb_portfolio][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row admin_label=”Row”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″][et_pb_text admin_label=”Text” background_layout=”light” text_orientation=”left” use_border_color=”off” border_color=”#ffffff” border_style=”solid”]<\/p>\n
Artists Statements<\/strong><\/p>\n John Folchi Robert Eustace Statement Erin Malkowski In recent work, I am especially drawn to a new process that allows me to manipulate and participate in creating my own \u201cbig bangs\u201d by combining powdered pigment and baking soda with vinegar and infusing that reaction into sheets of handmade paper. Combined with this new process, I adapt from Ukrainian folk art traditions such as the use of thread, color symbolism, and natural dyes to create work that is simultaneously celestial and tangible, both immense and intimat<\/p>\n Dustin Gramando Darlene Foster Luis Alves: collage Ruth Parker Statuary in a field in Pennsylvania captures feminine grief\u00a0 through the ages.<\/p>\n \u201cSo much working, reading, thinking, living to do. A lifetime is not long enough. Nor youth to old age long enough. Immortality and permanence be damned. Sure I want them, but they are nonexistent, and won’t matter when I rot underground. All I want to say is: I made the best of a mediocre job. It was a good fight while it lasted. And so life goes.\u201d\u00a0 -Sylvia Plath<\/p>\n Sam Caponegro Chris Ernst Heidi Nam Charissa Schulze Tempus Florae Domonique Alesi Past. Present. Future.\u00a0 If only a forty dollar fortune teller could give such knowledge.\u00a0 Maybe she could come to know herself from another lifetime.\u00a0 To look through a crystal looking glass into the eyes of another self waiting on the other side. If only she could hear her ghost\u2019s incoherent wisdom.<\/p>\n Francesca Azzara Alison Hooper Peter Arakawa Rita Herzfeld Linda Vonderschmidt-LaStella Sharon Paster Addison Vincent Randall Cleaver Cleaver’s working style is intuitive. He starts with a germ of an idea or a particular found object that will suggest a piece, but as it grows, different relationships will be discovered and the form of the work will respond to these discoveries.<\/p>\n Christina Anderson Brian McCormack Richard Gessner [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Einstein said, \u201cTime is relative\u201d, meaning that as the sun, the moon and the planets of our solar system naturally move forward, so does time. As a result of the earth\u2019s rotation, or the speed of the ground beneath our feet, and according to your specific whereabouts on the planet, time is slightly different for […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"on","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-1114","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.hamiltonstreetgallery.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1114","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.hamiltonstreetgallery.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.hamiltonstreetgallery.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.hamiltonstreetgallery.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.hamiltonstreetgallery.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1114"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/archive.hamiltonstreetgallery.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1114\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1785,"href":"https:\/\/archive.hamiltonstreetgallery.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1114\/revisions\/1785"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.hamiltonstreetgallery.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1114"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n1 – \u201cDumpster Section #12\u201d\u00a0 – oil on canvas, 36 x 26, 2015, $700.00
\n2 – \u201cPavement series # 78\u201d oil on canvas, 20 x 24, 2015, $550.00
\n3 – \u201cPavement series # 79\u201d oil on canvas, 20 x 24, 2015, $550.00
\nStatement
\nThese paintings depict the effects of decay, deterioration and rust on physical materials.\u00a0 The lines on the pavements and streets are faded, chipped and worn by use and the elements. The sides of industrial containers are warped and weakened by weather and use. In effect, time changes the structure, shape and form of these objects. The paintings, oil on canvas, are an attempt to convey the ravages of time on the industrial landscape, and reproduce in paint the texture, feel and touch of age.<\/p>\n
\n\u201cLament of the Black Sun\u201d Ikonic mixed media construction \u00a0Dimensions: 14 1\/2\u201d H x 12 1\/2\u201d W x 3\u201d D, 2015 Price: $4295.00<\/p>\n
\nI have always been interested in various notions on ‘time’, whether it be that of ‘cyclical time’ (represented by the circle) and based on a primordial and fixed procession of the passing of hours, days, seasons, lifetimes through the repetitions of life’s meaningful rituals. Next, the advent of a new forward thinking, historically conscious idea of’ linear time’ (represented by the straight line and traversing from point A to point B). In essence, linear time+ progress (forming the onslaught of modernity) helped to pulverize the organic tranquility and order necessary to sustain the ancient cyclical ritual cultures. As a young artist growing in sacred consciousness, I discovered the idea of’ existential time’ through the seminal writings: ‘The Meaning of the Creative Act’ … and the autobiographical ‘Dream and Reality’ … by the early-mid 20th c. Russian philosopher, Nicholas Berdyaev. For Berdyaev, ‘existential time’ (represented by a singular point-or in the case of my piece: ‘Lament of the Black Sun’ -the star) = the moment of the invasion of eternity (even a small droplet) into the nominal space\/ time flux. It is a timeless moment that liberates and sets forth possibilities free from the tyranny of time. It is the place where all true creation originates.
\n‘Lament of the Black Sun’ signifies a number of possible meanings for me. For one, a type of invisible architectural model of the cosmic clock-now breaking down, in a state of collapse, somehow gone awry. Many attentive folks today would concur that we are presently caught in a time of tremendous upheaval and ever accelerating, confounding change -whereby the once familiar and reassuring signposts, long forever considered immovable in the imagination, are now quickly being uprooted and replaced with a whole new and different set of reality. The apocalyptic account of ‘Rev. 6’ graphically portrays this unsettling change occurring in the heaven lies … (the sun blackened … the moon blood red … the stars falling from their places in the firmament. .. the earth groaning). Conversely, beginning during the late 20th c., we now find ourselves in the midst of a major paradigm shift-an entire age slipping away and morphing into a whole new exciting, yet unexplored age-or the end of the 2000+ year (cycle) reign of Pisces defined as (the age of belief-lies and deception) transitioning through strange and unfamiliar currents of the still approaching age of Aquarius (the age of knowing-transparency and expansion). Like the myriad of complex points of connection that mark the the birth pangs of some hundreds of years transition from the Middle Ages to the Modern Age … the ride through the initial winter of the 21st c. looks to be ‘a bumpy one’ that will eventually find its calm and purpose in the mid -late 21st c. Spring shall yet blossom as humankind enters the midst of’ a golden age’! Everything is constantly in the state of: birth-death-decay-rebirth-renewal …. Two sensitively skilled hands delicately pluck the single string-sounding ‘the divine monochord’ … the sound … the reverberating cosmic drone … drama of the universal symphony …. signifying upheaval, yes-but also: perfect balance, universal harmony and magnificent perfection-in the heavenlies (macrocosmos) and in the latent depths of the human soul (microcosmos).<\/p>\n
\n\u201cThe Vastness of Space and Immensity of Time\u201d sand & Tyvek, 48\u201dx 25\u00bc\u201d\u00a0 2013 $850.00
\nStatement
\nAs an artist\/explorer my work seeks to lessen the distance between \u201cout there\u201d and \u201cdown here\u201d, what exists out in the vast cosmos I want to be able to hold in my hands. I continuously investigate materials that support this underlining desire and as a result, my studio practice expands to include: graphic design, book arts, paper making, printmaking, and fiber arts.<\/p>\n
\n\u201cRock Of The River\u201d <\/i>15\u201d x 12\u201d, Mixed Media, 2015 $350.00
\nStatement
\nWhen creating a painting I do not want to merely capture an image with paint, but create a living image. I aim to recreate the color, texture, movement, and even the emotions from the day and time I visited the location. By encapsulating the point in time paint, the moment can be re-lived and shared. In the common photograph you can\u2019t add extra emotion or color, you can\u2019t exceed the boundaries to go beyond a normal landscape. When making these paintings I give the viewer a glimpse into my life not just my art. The most important aspect of these paintings is the correlation between emotions and time. I have always been one to let my emotions run with me, although these paintings are taken from nature I want the viewer to understand how I was feeling at that point in time. I may add shadows, amplify colors or create a central point of focus to express my mindset and share the moment as a whole with the viewer. I add sculptural elements to bring the image off of the canvas and towards the viewer, it breaks the barrier between two and three dimensional space and pulls the viewer into the same frame of time as myself during the initial viewing.<\/p>\n
\n“All the Comforts of Home” photography montage, 2012, 16\u201d x 20\u201d, $300.00
\nSTATEMENT
\nI captured this image (minus the car, moon, and birds) in Eatontown, NJ while driving
\nhome from a trip to Atlantic City. The old motel signs always conjure nostalgic
\nmemories of childhood family vacations and, since they are fast disappearing, I try to
\ndocument the ones I run across. I added the rising moon as it seems that was the time
\nof day my father would always begin looking for a place to stay the night during our
\nmood I needed, it was still missing something. I began digging through old family
\nphotos and found my father’s beloved 1949 Plymouth that he restored in the early
\n1970’s. Perfect! Just the element I needed along with the color TV, phones and pool
\nfor “All the Comforts of Home”.<\/p>\n
\n\u201cWalking with dinosaurs\u201d triptych hand made collage, each panel 18\u201d x 20\u201d
\nis entitled: \u201cAveeno, La Prarie and Origins\u201d 2015, $450.00 each $950.00 for the set.
\nSTATEMENT
\nMedia and Art exert powerful influences over all of us through continuous, evolving processes of reflection and creation. They shape our hopes and fears, our notions of beauty and ugliness, our ideas about the primitive and the civilized, our conceptions of the honorable and the shameful. My work uses juxtaposed images to comment on the deep and delicate role the media plays in the shaping of our complex lives, identities, and consciousness. Each collage is hand-manipulated with the goal of transformation as a way of commenting on, satirizing or criticizing the source material.<\/p>\n
\n\u201cField of Devotion\u201d\u00a0 Silver Gelatin print\u00a0 16\u201d x 20\u201d 2015\u00a0 $950.00
\nSTATEMENT
\n\u2018Photography allows us the unique experience to see the world through another\u2019s eyes- if only for a fleeting moment. It allows us to share with others that which is gone forever in an instant if not captured through the lens. In this way, we become connected to one another through a precious shared visual experience.\u2019<\/i><\/p>\n
\n\u201cBeach Club\u201d print of watercolor and ink on paper 18\u201d x 22,\u201d 2015, $125.00
\n\u201cPop\u201d print of watercolor and ink on paper 18\u201d x 22,\u201d 2015, $125.00
\n\u201cCabana Lady\u201d print of watercolor and ink on paper 18\u201d x 22,\u201d 2015, $125.00
\nStatement
\nA Year by the Pool in Hollywood, Florida
\nWhen we were young, we spent so much TIME\u00a0frolicking by the pool having so much fun
\nThen we filled our adult time with the business of work, raising families, chasing a dream
\nAnd now we are older and we once again are filling our TIME frolicking by the pool
\nSam is a retired teacher who spends his time between Somerset, New Jersey and Hollywood, Florida
\nBiography
\nSammy Caponegro is a local artist influenced by the\u00a0glorious water of Hollywood, Florida and its colors, music, and people.<\/p>\n
\n\u201cTime (Passage)\u201d Acrylic 12\u201d x 12\u201d 2015 $150
\nSTATEMENT
\nI strive to recreate mechanical works while allowing the artist\u2019s hand to have a strong influence.\u00a0 Pop culture and original sketches form the basis for a majority of my paintings.\u00a0 Punk, hip hop and skateboarding are all huge influences.\u00a0 I prefer complementary, synthetic colors and intense lines. I love it when a piece strikes the balance between a childhood memory and my contemporary, personal twist. The mood I aim for is somewhere between modern and nostalgic.<\/p>\n
\n\u201cJuncture of Phases\u201d Collagraph 22″ x 22″ 2015 $500<\/p>\n
\n\u201cTempus florae\u201d Graphite and pochoir (watercolour stencil) on found paper
\n25 panels, each 9 x 10 in. \/ Approx. 54 x 58 in. total, 2012, $1,200
\nFlip book: 2 x 4.75 x 0.75 inches \/ digitally printed and stab-bound with marbled paper
\nSTATEMENT
\nArt, so often and quite simply, seeks to capture or preserve something that is otherwise fleeting; in essence it is an act of resistance against Time, which ultimately brings an end to all things. I have always been quite drawn to the beauty of objects from the past \u2014 not only because they bear the lovely traces of their years, but also that so many of them predate the predominance of the machine-made. As an artist I have actively sought to study and collect these outdated modes of making, drawing heavily from the histories of printmaking, manuscripts, and related mediums of the book. Thus Time is at play as both a creative and destructive force, both as an investment and an unraveling: the hours necessary to craft something by hand, and the -inescapable knowledge that what I create will only last for so long against that gradual and sudden affliction that plagues us all.<\/p>\n
\nThis clock of flowers was first devised by Carl Linnaeus, an 18th-Century naturalist and the father of modern taxonomy. In 1751, while writing his Philosophia Botanica, he observed that certain species of flowers could be used to determine the time of day based on the remarkably precise regularity with which they open and close their petals. Romantic as it may sound to tell time with a garden, the clock was actually quite complex, requiring the methodical cross-referencing of several, often indistinct, species in order to decipher the hour; a feat requiring great powers of concentration and a more than rudimentary knowledge of botany. The chromatic abstractions here each correspond to one of the twenty-four hours of Linnaeus\u2019 clock, every colour representing a flower, its presence within a circle indicating that the petals of that species are open during that particular hour.<\/p>\n
\n“Incoherent Wisdom” Mixed Media; paper, ribbon, stones, and other found material LED battery lit 9.25″ x 11.25″ x 2.5″\u00a0 $650.00
\nSTATEMENT
\nAs moments evanesce into the abyss of \u201cpast time\u201d she moves forward into a new light.\u00a0 With each minute to pass she becomes more well versed in knowledge, feeding the undying need to edify the mind.\u00a0 But when she tries to remember, memories cloud a tangled mind.\u00a0 She knows the answers are there, somewhere, tucked in the corner of a sock drawer or maybe deep in the pocket of her favorite opera coat, the pocket with a hole.<\/p>\n
\n\u201cDriving Through Town\u201d encaustic and mixed media on canvas 22\u201d x 22\u201d 2013 $1000.00
\nSTATEMENT
\nFor Sands of Time, I have specifically chosen several works from my Aftermath series.\u00a0 These works were prompted by the devastation and feelings of hopelessness created from super storm Sandy. They represent a corner of my psyche and a remnant of a moment in time beyond my comprehension.\u00a0 I spent many days at the Jersey shore right after the storm.\u00a0 Driving through my beloved beach communities, it was hard to grasp, that decades of industrious work by man, could all be washed away in a few short hours.\u00a0 The fierceness of the storm, combined with the compression of time, permanently altered entire towns and landscapes. Time can be an enemy. Today so much has been rebuilt. Time can be a healer.
\nThese paintings are a combination of paint and collaged mixed media applied to un-stretched canvas dipped in encaustic wax.<\/p>\n
\n\u201cSand Forest\u201d, Photograph, 10\u201d x 10\u201d, 2015, $60.00
\nSTATEMENT
\nMoments in Time
\nThe photographs from this series were taken while strolling on the beach on LBI in search of unusual shells.\u00a0 As I approached the water\u2019s edge, I was memorized by the organic patterns in the sand created by the outgoing tide.\u00a0 As each rhythmic wave passed over the sand, a new design was illuminated by the setting sun. \u00a0 The light was changing quickly as I clicked my shutter to capture natures ever – changing impressions, all the while knowing that my images were recording a series of vanishing moments in time.<\/p>\n
\n\u201cTime Capsule\u201d 1 Mixed media, assemblage, 7″ x 11.5″, 2015,\u00a0 $700.00
\n\u201cTime Capsule\u201d 2 Mixed media, assemblage, 7″ x 11.5″, 2015,\u00a0 $700.00
\nSTATEMENT
\nHISTORY IN A TIME CAPSULE
\nMemories of boyhood put in a box. A frozen chunk of experience. A \u201cnow\u201d as an ever present stillness.<\/p>\n
\n\u201cGrowth\u201d 11\u201d X 14\u201d, Graphite pencil on paper, 2015 \u00a0 $50.00
\n\u201cProgress (integration)\u201d 8\u201d X 10\u201d, Acrylic and ink on paper, 2015 \u00a0 $50.00
\nSTATEMENT
\nChange in many instances requires sacrifice, hard work and in the case of integration,
\nabsolute determination.\u00a0 Race relations in many communities across the nation are still
\nstrained.\u00a0 Little by little more change will come.\u00a0 The children are our future.
\nChange in many other areas comes without permission, whether we like it or not.\u00a0 Children grow from toddlers to adulthood seemingly overnight. \u00a0 The bathroom mirror sometimes shows us a stranger…sort of looks like us…but older.\u00a0 Change is inevitable.\u00a0 George Benson said it best in one of his songs…\u201dNothing stays the same…everything must change\u201d.<\/p>\n
\n\u201cTime Passing\u201d porcelain, 24\u201d x 24\u201d 2012,$800.00
\nSTATEMENT
\nA ceramist for nearly 40 years, I see my work with clay as a relational
\nexperience that is extremely important to what I do and how I create.understand my process as a very collaborative one with the material.
\nOver the past ten years or so, my experimentation turned to incorporating\u00a0found objects and fused glass with the ceramic components. Additionally, \u00a0I\u00a0work to create a sense of motion in the sculpture; my current work is much\u00a0about the interaction of our life force and the way it moves through time.\u00a0I began “Taking Time Apart,” a series of mixed media sculptures several\u00a0years ago, quite serendipitiously combining some old clock pieces with\u00a0ceramic elements. It was the manipulation of materials that provided the\u00a0initial incentive for the work. .. the words and concepts followed later.\u00a0The imagery relates to “Steam Punk” art, a populist art form, currently\u00a0in vogue. While it has a dark side, one aspect includes an appreciation\u00a0for the elegant craftsmanship and detail of mechanized objects, a strong
\ncontrast to the sleek plastic items that surround us today. I even\u00a0allow the brass hangers in this space to be exposed to add to the Steam
\nPunk spirit.\u00a0What has evolved in this series thus far is a verbal\/visual reflection on\u00a0life … on how we travel through time … on birth … on death … on all of the stages\u00a0and transitions we experience in between. The series speaks both about how\u00a0we stand apart and about how each of us engage with society.<\/p>\n
\n\u201cDoor\u201d \u00a0 Oil \u00a0 28\u201d x 18\u201d \u00a0 Winter, 2015 \u00a0 $200.00
\nSTATEMENT
\nGiven greater freedom after my recent graduation, I am seeing my personal and professional life as a resource for ideas. I am moving away from what may be deemed the generic,
\ninto a more personal frame of reference. My personal and professional worlds overlap, in that the revelations and creative undertakings that my students and I embark on are both transformational. I feel fortunate that I play a role in both endeavors. The work and the creative struggle of my students is paralleled, I feel, by both my past and present.
\nI work with young children, up until early adolescence. I think that Hans Christian Anderson\u2019s literary fairy tale, \u201cThe Ugly Duckling\u201d, is a fair common ground for discussion. For children, it
\nis a story of personal improvement, which parallels my \u201cadult\u201d perspective that learning is a
\ntransformative process.
\nIn my most recent paintings, I have tried to represent metaphors that resonate for me. Although much of my life appears constant, change is on the horizon.<\/p>\n
\n\u201cTime is Fleeting\u201d Acrylic paint, ink, modeling paste, acrylic gel medium, on stretched canvas
\n20\u201d x 30\u201d 2013, $600.00
\nSTATEMENT
\n\u201cTick tock, tick tock.\u00a0 The alarm goes off.\u00a0 We jump out of bed.\u00a0 Rush to get coffee, catch up on the news of the day.\u00a0 Glance at the clock, 5 minutes late.\u00a0 Jump in the shower, get dressed.\u00a0 Glance at the clock, 10 minutes behind schedule.\u00a0 Rush out of the house.\u00a0 Did you shut the lights, lock the door, get the kids on the bus?\u00a0 Jump in the car, check the mirrors, hit the road.\u00a0 Traffic!\u00a0 Great 15 minutes behind schedule.\u00a0 Get to work, just made it on time.\u00a0 Work, work, work.
\nJump back in the car, rush home.\u00a0 Get the kids.\u00a0 Eat dinner, work some more.\u00a0 Is it really that late?\u00a0 Go to bed, get a few hours sleep.\u00a0 Tick tock, tick tock.\u00a0 The alarm goes off. Do it all again.
\nOur mortality begins and ends at marks on a timeline that has no beginning or end. We are but roses on a bush. We see the rose born, admire its beauty, and watch it wilt and die. We concern ourselves with the rose in the now, never paying attention to the age and growth of the bush itself. We are nothing more than a blip in the vastness of time.\u00a0 Sometimes we need to slow down and admire the bush as a whole, and concern ourselves less with the rose.
\nOur time is fleeting.\u00a0 We should cherish every minute that we are breathing, every day that we wake up and get to experience life.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\u201cWaffling Cuckoo Too\u201d found object 20\u201d H x 8\u201d W 5\u201d D 2015, $600.00
\nSTATEMENT
\nRandall Cleaver’s work combines what has been discarded to create timekeeping artifacts. Their utility and motion involve the viewer in their complexity of forms, textures, relationships, and humor.
\nCreating with found objects started as an inexpensive way to obtain materials, but soon, the objects themselves became a source of inspiration. Cleaver tries to give his viewer the sense that the parts were manufactured to form the object, in order that the various parts transcend what they were.
\nThe clocks, as a body of work, are a conglomerate of ideas Cleaver has had over the years: actual, as opposed to implied, motion; machine sounds emanating from the pieces; humor; functionality; the sense of history in timepieces; and the near obsession our society has for time.
\nThe clocks also give an archetypal starting point with which to view his pieces. From there the viewers can work their way deeper into the works.<\/p>\n
\n\u201cFenced # 38\u201d digital photograph, 12\u201d x 17\u201d 2015,
\nI am not afraid of death, but the process of dying itself.
\nMy brother had asked me if I wanted to go see foreclosed property where two deer died in an attempt to jump a fence.\u00a0 I was interested in how the deer that could easily jump a six-foot fence could get impaled on a five-foot fence, so I asked my brother to drive me to the site.
\nI found that the carcasses of the deer were rotting on the fence like my brother had told me.\u00a0 The two deer were in various states of decay on different parts of the property.\u00a0 It was the first week of spring after a brutally cold and snowy winter. When the earth was buried in snow the deer tried to jump the fence and sank into the snow as they made their leap.\u00a0 They had no hard ground to make the jump off of and ended up getting caught on the fence that was spiked at the top.\u00a0 They died a slow painful death.
\nNo one heard their cries; no one saw their struggle as they died. Predators had left their marks, including me. Am I a predator taking pictures making my marks or am I telling their story? I did not hear their cries or see their struggle.\u00a0 I only saw the evidence of their slow struggle to die. And now I will also observe their decay.\u00a0I can tell their story, but will someone hear or see me?
\nAm I the deer? Taking my pictures that may or may not be seen.\u00a0 Like the deer no one sees my struggles.\u00a0 Or am I a predator taking the last thing the deer have left to give \u2013 their story.\u00a0I can lend the deer a bit of my creativity, so maybe we both can be heard. To say we are here or have been here.\u00a0 Death does not scare me but living a life unheard does. I know this is part of the reason that drives me to take the first set of pictures and led me to follow the process of their decay through the weeks. \u00a0While shooting these pictures I became aware of other deer that had died this winter. They had died in a different manner and environment then the deer on the fence, so the decay was different. This is all science and I only know what I observed. Deer decompose at different rates and in different manners.\u00a0 There are all sorts of predators that drive the process along, from large predators like Turkey Vultures and Foxes to the smallest of bugs.
\nBut this is science and I am not a scientist or theologian \u2013 just an artist.\u00a0 I see the Deer as Dragons in my imagination. Fierce like warriors shedding their armor as their bodies aged and decomposed.\u00a0 As time would pass I would see their expression would change.\u00a0 Objects around the Dragons I saw as knights willing to fight or protect the Dragons.\u00a0By watching the process of the deer decaying I began to realize I was not watching death but the process of life and rebirth. What was a dead dear in its decay was becoming part of the earth again.\u00a0 In the end I wanted the story to be about life rather then death. My intention was not to make pretty pictures but strong fierce pictures that reflect the subject matter rather then to creating pictures that would comfort people\u2019s fears about death. Life and Death both can fierce and scary at times.\u00a0 You can look away and look at only the parts of it that are pleasing There is nothing wrong with that. It\u2019s a choice you make as an individual. I choose not to look away. That is just how I am.<\/p>\n
\n\u201cDreamtime Dancers\u201d video, animation DVD, Approx 6 minutes 2013 Digital file of work can be purchased for $25.00 each
\nStatement
\nWe (including every living sentient being) as residents of this planet, all share a duality. We are both part citizen of the earth and astronaut. As citizens, we are grounded on the surface and feel stationary from moment to moment. As astronauts, we rotate around the earth and travel at a rate of about 1,000 MPH. On our spaceship \u201cEarth\u201d we orbit the sun at approx. 70,000 MPH. The Sun\u2019s gravity pulls all of us, the planets, moons, astroids etc. around the galaxy at approx. 600,000 MPH. Our place in space and time is in constant flux.
\nThe Aboriginal culture in Australia has added an altogether different aspect to our relationship to space and time. Dreamtime is where one exists in a virtual reality as one dreams or as a \u201cspirit\u201d or presence reaching outside the body. An important step to one\u2019s coming of age is a \u201cwalkabout.\u201d It is a universal journey which emphasizes ones personal place and struggle on the planet. My video animates hand drawn figures moving in abstract landscapes which describe this phenomena.<\/p>\n
\nTitle: \u201cThe Hermit\u201d \u00a92015 \u00a0 – a video of a reading of a short story by Richard Gessner
\nPrinted copies for $10 each
\nStatement:
\n” Long after the hermit becomes ash in the flames, the hollow helmet will drift through invisible fields of ashy dust. A fossil impervious to the erosion of time. Time. Maker of wounds, turning all extremities into seamless plateaus-Rain, wind and stardust will sweep over the helmet’s rough contours Smoothing over the last notch bump indentation left by the root-Forlorn remnants of exacting precision cast to oblivion-Monumental strata of bird dung-Bedrock of Phoenix-The spirit of hearing will send forth an ear, cupping itself to the helmet’s concavity, listening to the oceans roaring in the bird shell.”<\/p>\n