Boston Young Contemporaries Exhibition

This Friday the 25th, from 6pm to 8pm, my MFA class at Boston University will be presenting the 5th annual Boston Young Contemporaries Exhibition at 808 Commonwealth Avenue in Boston. If you are in town, please stop by! This year we are including 80 emerging artist studying in MFA programs throughout New England. There will be over 150 works of art on display. If you are not able to join us at the opening, the show will be up until August 6th. I look forward to hearing your feedback! It's a must see "contemporary" show!

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – JUNE 2010

Boston Young Contemporaries Exhibition June 25 – August 6, 2010

Opening Reception Friday June 25, 2010, 6 – 8pm

Boston University is pleased to present the fifth annual juried Boston Young Contemporaries Exhibition. Established in 2006 by three Boston University graduate students, Boston Young Contemporaries has expanded in recent years into an important showcase of contemporary art from the New England area. This year’s show features over 80 artists representing 11 Master of Fine Arts and Post-Baccalaureate programs, and includes a variety of contemporary painting, photography, video, sculpture, and installation.

Jury Panel:

Katherine Bradford, artist, winner of the Pollock-Krasner Foundation Award

Jessica Dickinson, New York-based artist

João Ribas, Curator at MIT List Visual Arts Center

Participating Schools:

Massachusetts College of Art

University of Massachusetts Dartmouth

University of Massachusetts Amherst

Brandeis University

Boston University

School of the Museum of Fine Art Boston

The Art Institute of Boston at Lesley University

Johnson State College

University of New Hampshire

Rhode Island School of Design

Maine College of Art

Gallery Directions/Hours:

808 Commonwealth Ave., Boston, MA 02215

Thursday-Sunday 10am-5pm, Closed July 4^th. Free to the public, wheelchair accessible.

Contact: Daniel Herr (646) 957-7173, email: bostonyoungcontemporaries@gmail.com

Visit us at our website, www.bostonyoungcontemporaries.com

2010 BYC is made possible by the support of Boston University, Gapka Handmade Artist's Oil Colour, Gamblin Artist’s Oils, Golden Artist Color.

North Haven

I spent the last week in May painting on North Haven Island, which is 12 Miles off the coast of Rockland, Maine. This was my third year of retreat to the island. I revisited a few locations, but also discovered many views which were new to me this year.

News

Last Thursday night was the opening of the I-95 Triennial at the University of Maine Museum of Art, in which I had two pieces. Here is a link to the show and to the review in Yankee Magazine.

Just two weeks away from completing my second semester in grad school. The students ahead of me are currently displaying their thesis work at the 808 Gallery on Commonwealth Avenue, Boston.

Taped Landscapes

Over the past few weeks, I have been painting the lines of my weaving on my canvases. Juxtaposed to the organic tree shapes, the stripes add an architectural quality to my recent work. I will be showing the following paintings in my final critique on April 26th.








By reusing the tape from my painted canvases, I am working on creating new linear compositions.

Spring Work

Below are my most recent painting and print images. In the following two paintings, I have include shapes from my weaving practice. I would like these new painted stripes to begin a dialogue of the feminine and domestic within my paintings.




This large 12' x 4' print is a response to using a specific framework to create. In the piece below I carved blocks from cardboard and printed these images in sequence to the song "You Ain't Nothing but a Hound Dog" by Elvis Presley. My imagery and color were directed by my reaction to each line consecutively within the song. I have been thinking about words, color and image and how the three relate.

Detail

Our book project is underway and I have begun the first stages of printing. Each student in my program has been assigned a BU graduate poet to work with in collaboration on making an edition of 3 hand made books. The images below this wall of prints are practice images printed from wood blocks. I am experimenting with color, optical overlays and transparencies.

Tree Paintings and Weavings

I have continued work on the tree paintings from my last post. Below are two images, each with a detail corresponding. I am thinking about abstracting the landscape through sculpting space with shape, line and tone. Color juxtapositions, overlapping and transparencies are also becoming important in my painting.





Here are three paintings in progress. I have started to paint with washes by using more medium in my oil paint.




Weaving continues to infuse my painting practice. The weaving below hangs on my studio wall at 8'x10'.


Here are two details of my large weaving, followed by a two oil studies on canvas board.

Tree Shapes

To begin this spring semester, I completed 20 drawings of tree shapes growing near my parents' cabin in Wyman Township, Maine. These new works have inspired the series of paintings pictured here, where I have used a limited pallet and washed the canvas with a buttercup ground.



In the new work, I continue to think about the interplay of positive and negative shape. Similar to the shadows which crept across my paintings last semester, my tree paintings are a response to luminosity, patterning and the push and pull of light and dark.






Paintings are 3' x 3' .