[et_pb_section admin_label=”section”][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
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In recognition of the upcoming presidential election Hamilton Street Gallery is watchfully anticipating the face
\nof things to come.\u00a0 So, in accordance, this juried exhibition focuses on the portraiture of infamous leaders, both
\npolitical and non political, humanitarian or tyrannical, good, bad or ugly, who have left their mark on history.
\nTwenty Six Artists display work in a variety of media and viewpoints reflecting the past, present, and a peek
\ninto the not so distant, future.<\/p>\n
[\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row admin_label=”Row”][et_pb_column type=”1_2″][et_pb_image admin_label=”Image” src=”https:\/\/archive.hamiltonstreetgallery.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/Heads_of_State_postcard-1.jpg” show_in_lightbox=”off” url_new_window=”off” use_overlay=”off” animation=”left” sticky=”off” align=”left” force_fullwidth=”off” always_center_on_mobile=”on” use_border_color=”off” border_color=”#ffffff” border_style=”solid”] [\/et_pb_image][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”1_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
Featured artists:<\/strong> [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”1_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 Caitlin T. McCormack [\/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=”40″ 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=”20″] [\/et_pb_portfolio][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 Luis Alves Collage ____________________________________________________________________________<\/p>\n Joanne Devine _____________________________________________________________________________<\/p>\n Steven Epstein(SIE) Chris Ernst _________________________________________________________________________________________________<\/p>\n Richard Gessner _______________________________________________________________________________________________<\/p>\n Jerome Gonzales _____________________________________________________________________________<\/p>\n Curt Harbits _________________________________________________________________________________________<\/p>\n C H E R Y L\u00a0 B.\u00a0 H A R P E R _____________________________________________________________________<\/p>\n Richard Joseph Isolde My father, God bless his soul, used to love to hunt the bargain bins and he would always find weird things and give them to me as a gift.\u00a0 One time he gave me an \u201cEasy Button.\u201d\u00a0 You hit a button and it would say \u201cThat was easy.\u201d\u00a0 Another time he found the Donald Trump action figure for $2.\u00a0 You pressed a button and Trump would say \u201cYou\u2019re fired.\u201d\u00a0 My young son found the figure somewhere in the garage and it soon became his favorite toy.\u00a0 He would hit the button and Trump would say \u201cYou\u2019re fired.\u201d\u00a0 My cousin asked my four year old son who his favorite superhero was and of course Anthony said Donald Trump.\u00a0 Then he ran into his room and eagerly brought her his superhero Donald Trump action figure.\u00a0 She asked him what his superpower was and of course Anthony said “He fires people.” \u00a0Then remarkably the action figure ran for president.\u00a0 Only in America.\u00a0 Some people think Donald Trump is a loud mouthed bigot.\u00a0 Is he a superhero, a loud mouthed bigot, an enigma, all of these things, or something else entirely?\u00a0\u00a0I will let you be the judge.\u00a0 One thing I can say with certainty is that you cannot have the Heads of State exhibition without Trump.<\/p>\n _____________________________________________________________________________<\/p>\n Suprina <\/p>\n Antonietta Kies ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________<\/p>\n Dave LaMorte _________________________________________________________________________________________________________<\/p>\n Natalya Tali Margolin ____________________________________________________________________________<\/i><\/p>\n Caitlin T. McCormack I graduated from the University of the Arts in Philadelphia in 2010 with a BFA in Illustration and a penchant for ambiguity. Although I strive to generate works that have comprehensible narrative properties, I find that I am more comfortable producing material that reflects my own vague sense of self.<\/p>\n Through the process of photographing the characters and environments I have created, I hope to provide visual indications that something has transpired in a fabricated reality. I would like to relay the impression that a subject is, or has been, responsive to its empirical surroundings, which may or may not operate according to the same parameters as our world.<\/p>\n __________________________________________________________________________________________<\/p>\n Tom McGill __________________________________________________________________________________________________<\/p>\n Kathleen McSherry _____________________________________________________________________<\/p>\n Kerry Mott __________________________________________________________________________________________<\/i><\/p>\n Daniel Oliva __________________________________________________________________________________________<\/p>\n Michelle Post _____________________________________________________________________________<\/p>\n Jeleata Nicole _________________________________________________________________________________________<\/p>\n Devon Reiffer We are one. Dave Rogers I have especially been fascinated with the transitions of cultures through their art, music, and language. I explore those cultures not just through reading and research, but through traveling to and visiting the countries current cultures as well as visiting dig sites which explore the cultures past.’<\/p>\n My Paintings a combination of Die Br\u00fccke, Der Blaue Reiter and POP they are strongly inspired by the great master artists I have studied and come to admire for their expressions of the world around us, and their exploration of even the most common of things in life through the use of color and lines. It is for this reason that I have come to believe that \u201cEven ordinary life can be immortalized in art\u201d and have explored these relationships between the known and unknown aspects of life.<\/p>\n __________________________________________________________________________________<\/p>\n Abby Elizabeth Schmidt<\/p>\n image list ABBY ELIZABETH graduated in 2004 with a BFA in Crafts from the University of the Arts in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She has since exhibited her work both national and internationally, including group exhibitions in Pennsylvania, New York, Maryland, Tennessee, Massachusetts, and South Korea as well four solo exhibitions in the Philadelphia area. In January of 2009, she won First Place in the Bucks County Gallery of Fine Art\u2019s annual juried art competition. In May of 2010, she was awarded the highly competitive New Courtland Artist Fellowship through The Center for Emerging Visual Artists as well as the Maplewood Manor Artist Fellowship the following year. In October of 2011, she completed a commission for the Leukemia Lymphoma Society that was unveiled at their annual Light the Night Walk at the Philadelphia Art Museum. Over the past three years, Abby has exhibited her work during Miami Art Basel Week with Paradigm Gallery + Studio as part of SELECT Fair 2013 and SCOPE Miami Beach 2014. In June 2014, she was a featured artist with Lugano-based Five Gallery during Art Basel Week in Switzerland at SCOPE Basel.\u00a0 In September of 2015, Abby had her fourth solo exhibition taking place at Paradigm Gallery+Studio in Philadelphia.<\/p>\n After the birth of her first son, Abby relocated to New Jersey, where she currently lives and works.<\/p>\n _____________________________________________________________________<\/p>\n Judy Reisen Skillman __________________________________________________________________________________________<\/p>\n Laura J. Spector _________________________________________________________________________________________________<\/p>\n Poramit Thantapalit \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Heads of State September 9th., 2016 to October 27th., 2016 Opening Reception \u2013 Friday September 9th. \u2013 6 to 9 pm In recognition of the upcoming presidential election Hamilton Street Gallery is watchfully anticipating the face of things to come.\u00a0 So, in accordance, this juried exhibition focuses on the portraiture of infamous leaders, both political […]<\/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-1342","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.hamiltonstreetgallery.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1342","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=1342"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/archive.hamiltonstreetgallery.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1342\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2420,"href":"https:\/\/archive.hamiltonstreetgallery.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1342\/revisions\/2420"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.hamiltonstreetgallery.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1342"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nLuis Alves Collage
\nJoanne Devine
\nSteven Epstein
\nChris Ernst
\nRichard Gessner
\nJerome Gonzalez
\nCurt Harbits
\nCheryl Harper
\nRichard Isolde
\nSuprina Kenney
\nAtonietta Kies
\nDavid LaMorte
\nNatalya Tali Margolin<\/p>\n
\nTom McGill
\nKathleen McSherry
\nKerry Mott
\nDaniel Oliva
\nMichelle Post
\nJeleata Nicole Putty
\nDevon Reiffer
\nDave Rogers
\nAbby Elizabeth Schmidt
\nJudy Skillman
\nLaura J. Spector
\nPoramit Thantapalit<\/p>\n
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n
\nImage List:
\n1\u00a0 \u201cWAR\u201d 24×36 Framed Handmade Collage $650.00
\n2\u00a0 \u201cCHOCOLATE CHEERIOS\u201d 12.5×3.5×8.75 Handmade Collage on actual 3D cereal box $450.00
\n3\u00a0 \u201cTYRANT\u201d 14×17 Framed Handmade Collage $275.00
\nStatement
\nMedia and Art exert powerful influences over all of us through continuous, evolving processes of reflection and creation.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 Each collage is hand-manipulated with the goal of transformation as a way of commenting on, satirizing or criticizing the source material.<\/p>\n
\nImage List:
\nTitle: Heads of Steak, 56″ W x 14″ H x 14\u201d D, mixed media, 2016, $25 each or $125.00 for the group Heads can be sold separately or as a group.
\nStatement:
\nSteak: The longer it’s around the more it rots.
\nWhen these animals are fully intact and alive some are full of it, some eat it, some roll around in it, and some throw it.
\nHEADS OF STEAK is a visual pun rooted in the words of John Emerich Edward Dalberg-Acton,
\n“Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men.”<\/p>\n
\nImage List:
\nTitle: \u201cThe Gravest Show on Earth\u201d, Acrylics on Canvas, 34″ h x 27″ w, 2016, $375
\nStatement
\nWhat hasn’t been said about our upcoming Presidential race and candidates?
\nMy painting is an expression of \u00a0the tragicomic and systematic unraveling of one of our political parties in the form of a circus poster. \u00a0Hope you can identify the main acts.
\nWhile researching public images for the caricatures I was struck by abundance of tight lipped visages of the main characters. \u00a0That and the doom and gloom of the acceptance speech of their candidate
\nprompted me to name the piece “The Gravest Show on Earth.”<\/p>\n
\nImage List:
\nTitle: \u201cMake America Great again\u201d acrylic, 24\u201d x 24\u201d, 2016, $300
\nStatement:
\nMy work transforms the familiar primarily via color selection and the painterly qualities present when painting by hand.\u00a0 Popular culture is a vital reference for me throughout the creative process. I am drawn to working with acrylic paint and through silk screen printing. Punk music, hip hop and skateboard and surf culture are all huge influences of mine. I prefer complementary, vibrant colors and lines. I enjoy creating tension for the viewer visually and intellectually.\u00a0 I am interested in the tension a composition holds when seemingly contradictory elements are present–tension created through specific color and semiotic creative decisions in my compositions.<\/p>\n
\nImage List:
\n1 Title: \u201cGenocide Report Cards\u201d 9\u201d x 12\u201d, ball point pen on paper, 2016 $150.00
\n2 Title: \u201cAmerica\u2019s Apocalyptic First Family\u201d 9\u201d x 12\u201d, pen and marker on paper, 2016, $150.00
\nStatement
\nRichard Gessner “Heads of State” Statement “The Genocide Report Cards” “America’s Apocalyptic First Family” These satirical drawings speak for themselves. They are cautionary scribbles, reminding us that in our catastrophic wasteful excess, we as a species will be join-ing the DoDo bird, Passenger Pigeon and Pine barrens tree frog in eternity. When we are gone, the plankton, Jellyfish and algae won’t mourn us. Until that time, vapid texas cheerleaders, bible thumping hermaphrodites and the progeny of false prophets, vulgar vain and rich Will proudly extinguish our fellow species to remind them who is at the top of the food chain.<\/p>\n
\nImage List
\nTitle: \u201cBorn\u201d Acrylic and newspaper on canvas, 47\u201d W x 58\u201dH, 2016, $800 or b\/o
\nStatement:
\nMuhammad Ali was born Cassius Clay, but he gave birth to a nation under his new name Ali<\/p>\n
\nImage List:
\nTitle: “Man of Steel” 8″ x 10″ \u00a0hand cut paper collage, 2016 $200.00
\nStatement
\nThe subject matter of Joseph Stalin certainly dictated the design direction. \u00a0I employed a Russian Avant – Garde style, influenced by Suprematist graphic design masters El Lissitzky and Kazimir Malevich. \u00a0I imagined as if they could have designed such ‘negative propaganda’, without fear of government reprisal. \u00a0Which is something most artists now take for granted. \u00a0In our current political climate here in the U.S., we may be reaching a tipping point, that if we are not thoughtfully placing people into power positions, ‘dissident thoughts’ of artistic freedoms could once again be out in the cold…….<\/p>\n
\nImage List:
\nTitle: \u201cHillary Bride Doll\u201d <\/b>(Inspired by American Girl Dolls) Hillary is a bride on one side and a politician on the other) ceramic\u00a021″h x 10″w x 13″d, 2008, $3,000.
\nARTIST STATEMENT
\nAs in many preceding cultures to our own, the public demands its leaders be icons, stepping into necessary roles acceptable to the masses.\u00a0 My inspiration comes from combining the reputations of these personages with historical references and metaphors.\u00a0 I document my observations of popular media, and draw from my experiences as a voter and global citizen with occasional spurts of political activism. I have been documenting American presidential politics since 2004, starting with the party conventions, through the 100 days until voters make their choice (and sometimes have it contested). I am very interested in the personalities and every four years, they give me the gift of much inspiration.<\/p>\n
\n<\/b>Image List:
\n1 Title: \u201cDonald Trump\u201d \u00a0 oil, 11\u201dW x 14\u201d H, 2016, $200
\nTitle: \u201cRonald McDonald\u201d\u00a0 acrylic, 16\u201d W x 20\u201d H, 2016, $200
\nStatement
\nRonald McDonald is one of the most recognizable and beloved food mascots on Earth. His appearance can cause thousands of children to descend on a restaurant for a chance to meet him.\u00a0 In his commercials, Ronald is never seen eating McDonald\u2019s food nor does he disclose the ingredients that can be found in McDonald\u2019s food.\u00a0 McDonalds hires highly paid, highly trained, highly polished actors to portray Ronald McDonald and every show and commercial is a performance with a mandate to get a message out there to children.\u00a0 Ronald McDonald is a powerful icon for a huge multi-national corporation.\u00a0 He is a Head of State in the Modern World.<\/p>\n
\nTitle: \u201cTipping Point \u2013 4th<\/sup> Stage Capitalism\u201d wax, foam, street trash, paper, fabric, wood, doll parts, detritus, epoxy and paint, 42\u201d H x 28\u201d W x 13\u201d D, 2016, $6,500.00
\nStatement for Tipping Point \u2013 4th<\/sup> Stage Capitalism
\nMy inspiration for this piece came from Karl Marx who predicted Capitalism, based on greed, would in the end devour itself.
\nRising out of a plentitude of misinformation I aim to unearth a hybrid of current trends and the mythological to reflect narratives we all find common among ourselves. As we wade through our information based world and pick and choose what we believe to be \u2018real\u2019 or \u2018truthful\u2019 we often find instead a heap of beliefs that don\u2019t satisfy our spirit and do little to make us complete.
\nThrough allocation, modeling, casting and paint I form shapes that question our belief systems, and look to investigate where we find ourselves in today\u2019s world. As our world continues on its disjointed and fragmented path, my work looks to come full circle using any medium or tool at my disposal to create my end goal- Reflections of our predicaments, and how these predicaments have so much to do with what we are made of\/with.
\nPortraiture circles around and intertwines with my finished works; pieces of the actual world, along with the meanings we place on them bring a collective pause that I use to tell a narrative.
\nI invite you to investigate, ponder and smile at our human condition today. Largely, we are no longer connected to each other in real, simple human terms. Short-term convictions and lack of sound ethics have crippled us as a species; and this leaves an empty void, a void I try to put into visual terms.
\nI feel allocation is especially affective for portraiture. My portraits are internal, so using objects allows me to bring in historical references without creating a physical likeness.
\nSome of my portraits are created with a particular person in mind; some of them come from a portrait study of the collective unconscious.\u00a0Using visual mapping I celebrate us, and our absurdity. We are beautiful, horrid, tragic, and profoundly funny.<\/p>\n
\nImage List:
\nTitle: “The Bridge to America” Oil on canvas, 36″x36″, 2016 $2,500.00
\nStatement
\nAs I’m sure is true of many Americans, this year’s election process has led me to become more involved than usual in politics. A longtime strong supporter of of Bernie Sanders, I nonetheless see a similarity in values between followers of Sanders and those who support Trump- Americans frustrated with the status quo and ready for a decisive and radical change. Therein may lie the only such similarity.
\nAs an artist who generally finds inspiration in magical impossibilities, dream-scapes and the personalities of food items, I was surprised when the inspiration for “The Bridge To America” arrived. On the other hand, given how many thoughts I’ve given the radical, inspiring, depressing and other superlative events of the last 6 months, perhaps it simmering and waiting to emerge all along. In this piece I hope to create a new narrative while staying close to a well known cultural reference. In Return of the Jedi, Princess Leia annihilates her captor by attacking him with the chains of her enslavement. Without chains, can my Leia escape or is she just as captive under the effects of Trump’s rhetoric, and his divisive vision of the future? Does my Hutt live under a bridge like a Fantastical Troll, personally devouring anyone who attempts to cross it? The space underneath the I-95 overpass in South Philadelphia is the most reliable place for me to park my car, and so I do.<\/p>\n
\nImage List:
\nTitle: \u201cWatch the World Burn\u201d\u00a0 watercolor on cut paper, 12\u201d x 15\u201d 2016, $100.00
\nStatement
\nDavid LaMorte is an artist and educator from Metuchen, NJ who has shown both locally and internationally. He make work that creates a personal narrative and a playful pop art sensibility. He draws from cartoons, comic books and contemporary art history.<\/p>\n
\nImage List
\n1 Title: \u201cAbraham<\/i>,\u201d Acrylic on canvas board, 13\u201dx17\u201d, 2014, $400.00
\n2 Title:\u00a0 \u201cElie Wiesel,\u2019 <\/i>Pencil on paper, 9\u201d x12 \u201c, 2016, $400.00
\n3 Title:\u2018Mao Tse-tung\u201d,<\/i> Pencil on paper, 12\u201d x15\u201d, 2016, $400.00\u00a0<\/i><\/p>\n
\nImage List:
\nTitle: \u201cL. Ron\u201d\u00a0 Mixed media, 3D\/Digital, 8\u201d x 10\u201d 2015 $50.00<\/p>\n
\nImage List:
\nTitle: “seven deadly sins, 2016″, 7 piece polyptych , each piece 10″ x 8″ or 8″ x 10”
\nacrylic & enamel on plywood $1500 (individual pieces $300)
\nStatement:
\nIn my painting, I am influenced by street art. I paint objects, people, animals, and abstract forms. I use color and form to communicate mood, to convey emotion, to express feeling. I usually paint people, animals, and objects disentangled from their usual environments. I find this isolation highlights their intrinsic human made or natural beauty. Iconic cultural, social, and religious images, outside of their expected surroundings, are freed to be reconsidered and reinterpreted. I seek to provoke thought with unusual or unexpected compositions. My work is political, religious, and spiritual; rooted in the human experience. My work at times prods viewers to discomfort and at others generates a smile, it is rarely neutral. My pieces are usually open ended. In many ways each piece is completed with the viewer’s experience. I am keen to explore my connection with the viewer through my work.<\/p>\n
\nImage List:
\nTitle: \u201cAmerika\u201d found objects, plastic bank, doll arms, lowercase letter, flag wood base,
\n14\u201d w x 10.75\u201d H x 7\u201d D, 2016, $550.00
\nStatement
\nMy work explores the world of the lost object: obsolete, cast off, and discarded.I take the objects found from the past that have lost their usefulness, and combine and alter them in such a way that they rise up, like a phoenix from the ashes \ufb01nding a new language, new meaning and a new form.<\/p>\n
\nImage List
\nTitle: \u201cHonest Abe\u201d media : many pieces of duct tape, 18\u201d W x 20\u201d H, 2016, $750.00
\nStatement
\nMy work can be made from thousands of pieces of duct tape.\u00a0 My pieces can take up to hundreds of hours to complete, as I very carefully and delicately cut and place each piece of tape down, the piece then has a sealant over it to preserve it.\u00a0 My work has won numerous awards including four People’s Choice awards.\u00a0 I also have pieces in Ripley’s Believe It or Not Museums. \u00a0My duct tape artwork is completely unique and continually expands the frontier of experimental art. Other than portraits, I do landscapes, cityscapes, and animals and objects.<\/p>\n
\nImage List:
\n1 View <\/i>W<\/i>est: Alexander Hamilton,<\/i> 2014\u00a0<\/i> oil on panel\u00a0 10 x 10 inches\u00a0 $1,000
\n2 V<\/i>i<\/i>e<\/i>w <\/i>Eas<\/i>t: <\/i>Aaron<\/i> <\/i>Burr<\/i>, <\/i>2014\u00a0 o<\/i>il <\/i>on<\/i> <\/i>pane<\/i>l<\/i>\u00a0 10<\/i> <\/i>x<\/i> <\/i>10<\/i> i<\/i>nches $1<\/i>,<\/i>000
\n<\/i>Statement
\nI explore the dynamics of power, class and social identity by using painting to reconfigure historical moments in American history. Social characters interact in a field of culture, vying for status and prestige within\u00a0 intersecting groups. I am interested in how we personally identify\u00a0 with characters and \u201ctypes\u201d, particularly the magnetic celebrities that are so prevalent in contemporary America. I choose\u00a0 figures whose\u00a0 stories exemplify the function of identity in groups, and resulting friction between groups, which is often considered \u201ctribal\u201d. After extensive preliminary research I will often paint\u00a0 them in a purposefully simple or direct way that evokes folk painting as well as American Regionalists. \u00a0I aim to create works\u00a0 that embody\u00a0 the contradictions in human nature that most relate to social authority and class relations, and to raise paradoxical questions about\u00a0 social equality.\u00a0 The Beer Summit<\/i> is a painting based\u00a0 on heavy research into the 2009 event with the same name, and the surrounding circumstances, from the arrest of Harvard Professor Henry Louis Gates, to President Obama\u2019s inadvertently controversial comments that the arresting officer had \u201cacted stupidly\u201d,\u00a0 to the subsequent reaffirmation of male identity during the Rose Garden \u201cBeer Summit\u201d.\u00a0 As I learned through research that each participant was a \u201cJr.\u201d and has family ties to Ireland, the painting developed into a multi-generational story\u00a0 of the human\u00a0 experience, albeit one where women\u00a0 were consciously excluded.
\nThe dynamics of social hierarchy are often played out by characters in intimate ways, where people from different social groups interact in ways that suggest both hatred and shared humanity. By studying racial and economic friction\u00a0 in the U.S. I have learned how individuals and groups\u00a0 operate in relation to the larger system,\u00a0 and I am working towards an understanding of how identity must function in the current chapter of American race, gender and class relations.<\/p>\n
\nImage List:
\nTitle: \u201cThe Commissioner\u201d, 2011, *Styrofoam, resin coating, acrylic paint. 19\u201dx13\u201dx12\u201d, $6,500.00
\nStatement
\n\u201cOutsourcing America\u201d
\nA state of denial of the adverse effects of outsourcing exists among policymakers and corporate CEOs who champion the outsourcing of jobs to foreign countries. Doing so greatly enriches the heads of massive
\ncorporation and their shareholders by offering cheaper labor, lower operational costs, tax breaks and cheaper locations, thus increasing profits.
\nOutsourcing has brought about record unemployment, a reduced presence in the consumer market, erosion of product quality, shuttering of American manufacturing and industrial base, and a major drop in university
\nenrollments in the technical and scientific disciplines.
\nThe tragic result of outsourcing jobs is the rusting away of the \u201cAmerican Dream\u201d and the United States economy by creating incurable unemployment and a steady economic decline, all at the expense of the Middle Class.<\/p>\n
\nImage List:
\nTitle: \u201c3 Generations of the Kings\u201dMedia: Oil\u00a0, 20″x34″, 2016, $2000.00
\nStatement:
\nArtist Statement:
\nBeing a Philadelphia native, art is a common subject. My love for creating art began as a child and I have been obsessively honoring my skills ever since. Capturing the character and emotion of my subjects has always been key. I am a professional self-taught artist specializing in graphite, colored pencil, and high contrast paintings.
\nI love working in all mediums, to express my interpretation of my subjects. You can see my artwork in private collectors\u2019 homes internationally. To be able to take a blank canvas and transfer it to a captivating piece, is an amazing process. It’s about rendering the character and essence of my subject, merely creating a likeness. Portraiture fills me with a sense of contentment and gives me a way to express my inner vision. As an artist it gives me great satisfaction knowing I can create something for someone to cherish for a lifetime.<\/p>\n
\nTitle: \u201cWe Can Do It Jenner, 2016
\nCharcoal, Gesso. and Pastel on Raw Canvas, 36 x 24 inches, $200
\nStatement
\nContemporary society has been conditioned to label the world in black and white terms. Because we are all interconnected, blended, and affected by each other, such simplicity is often unattainable. In one way or another, we can all be viewed as a shade of gray. Regardless of socially constructed labels and physical differences, we are all human.\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n
\n<\/b>My work, a series of charcoal and gesso drawings (paintings) on canvas, addresses this broad spectrum of gray. Although I focus on gender, identity, and sexual orientation, my art provokes an honest conversation that evokes empathy and serves as a visual reminder of the human condition. By openly discussing our differences, the similarities begin to surface. Each small change in perspective contributes a step forward to creating understanding and connection.
\n<\/b>We all deserve to live and love authentically; it is for this reason that I am an artist for social change. It is only with acknowledgment of the vast spectrum of gray that we are able to truly understand color.<\/b><\/p>\n
\nImage List:
\nTitle: \u201cI will bring Jobs Back to America,\u201d 40×40 inch, oil on canvas, 2016 $5,200.00
\nStatement:
\nThere are those that will say that knowledge is a power, but to me knowledge is a tool that I use to explore the world around me. During my years of traveling with the military and with art mentors in my time since serving in the military I have gained an interest in the history of people and cultures.<\/p>\n
\n1 Title: \u201cFeel The Bern,\u201d\u00a0 barley & spray paint on wood, 9″x9″, 2015, $400.00
\n2 \u201cW,\u201d sand and military toys on wood, 4’x6′, 2005, $1,400.00<\/p>\n
\nTitle: \u201cObama,\u201d\u00a0 Mixed media collage.\u00a0 22″ x 26″,\u00a0 \u00a0 2016,\u00a0 \u00a0 $500.00
\nStatement:
\nI am an art historian by training who has turned to studio art after many years of working in museums, and galleries
\nI study at the Montclair Art Museum’s Yard School of Art
\nI also lived in the Washington DC area for many years and am a self-professed\u00a0 “political junkie” I started the \u201cObama\u201d Collage many months before the show, \u201cHeads of State\u201d.\u00a0 The very pixilated picture of him stimulated my imagination, and led me to create one of my 3-D collages, mixing colors and shapes that seemed to enhance the original image of Obama.\u00a0 I do have an art historical reference in the use of the Joseph Albers work.\u00a0 Many of my pieces have references to very famous works that I admire. Finishing this piece was a \u201cnatural\u201d for this show.\u00a0 I, personally, have great admiration for Obama and I think we\u2019re going to miss him as our Head of State.<\/p>\n
\nImage List
\nTITLE: \u201c WOMEN OF STEEL\u201d\u00a0 (Golda, Indira and Elizabeth) Multi-Media\u00a0 12\u201d x 18\u201d by 1\u201d deep
\n2016, $200.00
\nStatement
\n\u201cWOMEN OF STEEL\u201d (Golda, Indira, Elizabeth) This piece is dedicated to these three amazing women and all women, young and old, past, present and future. Women, who in spite of adversity, use their strength and positive outlooks to make our world a little better.<\/p>\n
\nImage List
\nTitle: \u201cHeadline\u201d String art made of sewing thread wrapped through nails on a painted white wood board.
\n24\u201dx18\u201dx1.25\u201d, 2016, $500.00
\nStatement:
\nPoramit currently works on\u00a0unconventional material for sculpture\u00a0using recycled household found objects such as\u00a0sawing threads, nails, plastic bottles, cardboard,\u00a0papers,\u00a0wood,\u00a0rubber, wires\u00a0and\u00a0computer parts. His concept is to create three-dimensional sculptures or mixed media art using density of lines, light and shadow. The visual effect of the image comes from different angle and distance.
\nThis piece \u201cHeadline\u201d is inspired from his favorite monument, Mount Rushmore National Memorial. He uses 9 different colors weaving thread and nails to form the shape of the sculpture. The image is constructed from layered color threads wrapped through a dense array of nails mounted on a painted white wood board. The layer and density of the colored thread, light and shadow create the image of Mount Rushmore.
\nThe image is formed solely from the density of the string. Additional shadows of strings and nails are created the depth of field. The image appears clearly in the distance. The thread wrapped through nails represent the connection and unity of the 4 US President and the country.
\nHis concept is to use the repeating and patterns of thread and nails to create the movement of image. Angle of light and shadow will project the image in different ways. It will depend on where the viewer stands.<\/p>\n