Exhibitions
PLUMBAGO
The Red Arrow Gallery / 919 Gallatin Ave., #4 May 14, 2016 - June 5, 2016
Amy Herzel
Casey Promise
Mark Stockton
PLUMBAGO, a graphite based exhibition devoted to the hand-drawn image, featuring Amy Herzel, Casey Promise & Mark Stockton opens at 6PM on May 14th, 2016 in conjunction with the Eastside Art Stumble.
From the Stone Ages through today, drawing with graphite has been integral to an artist’s training. The fluid, erasable medium allows for multiple attempts at sketching, allowing mistakes and giving an opportunity for an artist to hone their skills and technique. Painters often begin a new work by drawing, working out compositions and values before committing them to canvas. For these reasons, many experts believe that illustrations represent the majority of art work in existence today. The versatility of this ancient medium will be explored in PLUMBAGO, on display from May 14th, 2016 through June 5th, 2016 at The Red Arrow Gallery.
Amy Herzel (Roanoke, VA) uses a mechanical pencil on clay board to create her Micro Drawing series. The organic and delicate shapes are drawn without using an eraser and with the intent that each line is has purpose and place in the drawing. “I work with graphite because I love its versatility and simplicity. I focus on tiny shapes because I am viscerally aware of the miniscule and I believe that the addition of the miniscule formulate the inevitable structure in a building process similar to DNA.”
Casey Promise is a mixed media artist who lives and works in Nashville, TN. She continues to explore the possibilities of visually telling stories through organic design, dimension, varying materials, and abstraction. Promise bases her work on personal conflicts, their resolutions and the spaces in-between. “Aesthetically, I prefer things that are organic, broken, torn, and are in a state of growth. What is inspirational for me are the battles between good and evil, fight or flight, and darkness and light. It is also the act of contorting realism, simplifying chaos, and extracting the inward...outward.”
Mark Stockton is a draughtsman invested in the intimacy of the hand-made who lives and works in Philadelphia, PA. He is fascinated with the visual vernacular of American culture with a specific interest in individualism. Inspired by historical drawings and printmaking, he employs portraiture to depict contemporary icons with complex identities. His practice involves time-intensive traditional techniques, adding a level of investment to these fleeting subjects. Through his labor, he reproduces the synthetic product of media imagery through intimately human means. “I engage in the process of drawing to suspend time and reexamine previously consumed, popular imagery. Focusing on images of the famous and infamous, I rely on my memory to inform and reflect our media-saturated, collective consciousness.”
