Spotlight On: Elizabeth Szymczak

Choreographed Color, Elizabeth Szymczak at TAG Gallery, 24 February – 21 March 2015

Elizabeth Szymczak, Repose, Oil on canvas, 24 x 30 in 

Elizabeth Szymczak's current exhibition at TAG is entitled Choreographed Color.  It features representational figurative oil paintings celebrating the human form using compositionally vague atmospheres, anatomy, light and expression.  Following is text from her Artist Statement.

"I have always had a passion for dance, particularly the juxtaposition between the physicality of the discipline and it’s expressive aspects. Dance is a technical art with its own vocabulary, it takes so much control and rehearsal to achieve the beautiful results seen on stage, and tickles the boundaries of careful thought with unfiltered expression. I see the process of painting the same way, this body of work is a direct mirror of my love for both disciplines. Just as a dancer is trying to find their artistic voice, a visual artist is trying to do the same; yearning for that delicate balance between technique and expression. 

Elizabeth Szymczak, Behind Every Great Man, Oil on canvas, 40 x 30 in

My painting style and process takes root in the classical painting principles of the Renaissance. I primarily focus on the contemporary dance genre, as this is the discipline I am most familiar with and less costume gets in the way so that I can study more anatomy. I draw and paint dancers as they move in rehearsal and on stage, which helps keep my brushwork fresh. Because of my dance training, I can choreograph dancers into compositions, which allows me to control the costume, concept and lighting conditions. In addition to working from life and photographs, I rely on anatomy books, invention, travels, thumbnails, drawings, and color studies for referential material. But the real magic happens in the unplanned moments of painting, when I find the right balance between technique and expression.

Elizabeth Szymczak, Reflection, Oil on canvas, 32 x 48 in

As a semi-professional dancer, I toured with small dance companies in the Midwest. I have chosen to continue my passion for dance with figurative painting. I choreograph strong and purposeful figures with emotion and energy. I like to dance on the boundary between which emotions are acceptable to see in public, which is why some of my paintings seem “dark.” For me, the figure can metamorphose into so many conceptual directions, so I try to convey common emotions of the human psyche."

Spotlight On: Christo Brock

Unwonted Eye, Christo Brock at TAG Gallery, 24 February – 21 March 2015 

Christo Brock, Blue Ripples #3, 2015, Photo on metal, 20 × 30 in

The Unwonted Eye is photographer Christo Brock’s latest exhibition of work on view at TAG Gallery.
In his latest work, Brock continues to explore unwonted (unusual, unexpected) imagery from everyday life. His eye ranges from the languid rolling ocean in Blue Ripples #3 to the macroscopic Tortured Orange Line and the enhanced fantastical forest-scape of Christmas Trees.

Christo Brock, Christmas Trees, 2015, Photo on metal, 20 × 30 in

In all his imagery, printed exclusively on metal, Brock shows the unique vision that has characterized his work. It’s this metal surface that provides a medium to complete Brock’s abstraction of image. These photographs don’t merely sit on the metal as a photograph - they seem to live in the metal. His images shimmer and glisten, and the metal often adds a welcome element of abstraction to his work. At times, Brock plays with the metal, as if daring to evoke the molecules to speak. Dew Drops become glowing orbs, waves become undulating stripes of blue, trees become lines of color and depth.

Christo Brock, Pearl Harbor, 23 December 2011, 2011, Photo on metal, each 20 × 30 in

In his triptych Pearl Harbor, 23 December 2011 Brock pursues this approach in photos taken only minutes apart at the Hawaii National Park that memorializes the horrible attack that brought America into war. The oil floating on the surface above the sunken monument USS Arizona has an eerie visual shimmer to it. It’s like looking at a series of demon clouds conjured from a 70 year old monument eager to speak its secrets. In the piece entitled Tiny Bubbles, tiny bubbles appear arranged with a hidden logic, and the piece looks to be a close-up view of piebald crocodile skin. Brock reveals that it was shot it was condensation on a fruit bowl’s saran wrap.

Christo Brock, Tiny Bubbles, 2015, Photo on metal, each 20 × 30 in

“I don’t like to reveal to people what the image was,” Brock says with a wry smile, “because when I took the image, it was one thing. Now it’s something else.” When pressured, Brock will reveal the provenance of the original image, but he much prefers to let the viewer decide. “People ask me all the time what the image “is”. … when what they really mean is, what did I aim my camera lens at. Now, it’s something else, and I want people to feel that new thing.”

Christo Brock, Squiggly Lines, 2015, Photo on metal, 20 × 30 in

UnWonted Eye is on display at TAG Gallery from Tuesday 24th February through Saturday 21st March.

Join Christo at TAG on Saturday 7 March at 3pm, where he will part of an Artists Talk.

Upcoming Exhibition: Christo Brock, Elizabeth Szymczak, Kamil Vojnar

February 24 - March 21, 2015

Reception: Saturday, February 28, 5-8 pm

Artist Talk : Saturday, March 7, 3 pm

Unwonted Eye, Christo Brock

Christo Brock, Tortured Orange Line, Photo on metal, 20 x 30 in

In his latest work, Brock continues to explore unwonted (unusual, unexpected) imagery from everyday life.  His eye ranges from the languid rolling ocean in “Ripples #3” to the macroscopic “Tortured Orange Line” and the enhanced fantastical forest-scape of “Christmas Trees”.  In all his imagery, printed exclusively on metal, Brock shows the unique vision that has characterized his work. 

It’s this metal surface that provides a medium to complete Brock’s abstraction of image.  These photographs don’t merely sit on the metal as a photograph - they seem to live in the metal.  His images shimmer and glisten, and the metal often adds a welcomed element of abstraction to his work.  At times, Brock plays with the metal, as if daring to evoke the molecules to speak. Dew Drops become glowing orbs, waves become undulating stripes of blue, trees become lines of color and depth.

Choreographed Color, Elizabeth Szymczak

Elizabeth Szymczak, Dream, Oil on canvas, 30 x 30 in.

"Contemporary figure painting has become, for the most part, too stabile. People sit, stand, or lie around the house or garden, stolid and inert, their poses without animation, often they seem as if they were stuffed. By not moving, they often fail to move us: the loss of animation has meant a loss to painting, in the range of both expression and subject matter,” wrote art historian Gerald Ackerman in his paper, “On Motion in Art”.

Elizabeth Szymczak captures the dynamism of motion, whilst maintaining an exemplary level of realism. She paints out of a love for dance and the expressing of emotion through movement. Szymczak’s paintings render what the figures are attempting to evoke.

As her latest body of work, Choreographed Color is a more positive collection. Szymczak concentration is centered on the blend of surrealism and realism. As in life, she is striving to find the right balance between expression and approach.

Just Pictures, Kamil Vojnar

Kamil Vojnar, From History of Aviation, mixed media on wood, 16 x 16 in.

Just Pictures is anything but… JUST PICTURES. Its a desperate cry, … it’s a hand sticking out from the water, trying to grab to whatever, to anything, that is still true and real, in today’s fast-paced world. Vojnar himself pronounces his work to be above everything else, … about collisions … “Of yellowish nostalgia, melancholy, of our sepia tinted past. colliding with the cold, ultra LED HDTV plasma, retina display, uninspiring, robotic present.”

Vojnar utilizes many paradoxical elements in his work. His pieces have a gritty, yet delicate and elegant feel. They are ethereal, yet remarkably tangible. The drips of paint, the layering of the image across numerous pieces of paper and the familiar elements and details in each piece (shoes, a sofa, a mirror, etc.) make the work part of our world. At the same time, central to the images are figures that are detached and untouchable. Like a muse or angels, they elude the viewer and perhaps the artist as well.