Virginia Artists featured in Pushing Boundaries Exhibition at The Linden Row Inn

PUSHING BOUNDARIES:
Art as Metaphor in Love and War
Summer - Fall 2011

Pushing Boundaries: Art as Metaphor in Love and War, 1708 Gallery’s latest satellite exhibition at Richmond’s historic Linden Row Inn, features artists from across Virginia. Curated by local artist and 1708 Gallery Board Member Amie Oliver, Pushing Boundaries will be on view through the month of October. The proceeds from all art sales benefit the artist and the exhibition programs of 1708 Gallery, with the exception of Roberto Ventura and Joshua Poteat’s “For Lucy and Yardsale.” The proceeds from the sale of this installation will be donated to the Daily Planet, a non-profit organization that provides services to those at risk of, or experiencing, homelessness.

CURATORIAL STATEMENT:

“Pushing Boundaries: Art as Metaphor in Love and War" consists of painting, prints, sculpture, drawing and installation work by artists who contribute to the rich cultural landscape in Virginia. This exhibition coincides with the 150th anniversary of the American Civil War and presents artists who push the boundaries of their medium and as well as reveal personal interpretations of themes embedded in our history, landscape and literature.

Boundaries are often referred to as something that indicates the farthest limit, as of an area; border in the context of team sports as well as national defense. The department of defense determines a boundary to be a line that delineates surface areas for the purpose of facilitating coordination and deconfliction of operations between adjacent units, formations, or areas on land or in airspace.

Other references to this term explore the importance of setting personal boundaries. It is a term which refers to the political, personal and public space and one which has resulted in physical and symbolic lines of demarcation that have inspired some of the greatest propaganda, cartography and historical dramas the world has ever known.

Line, and its implied role in the sand or on the map, is an elemental component for each of the artists presented here.Genesis Chapman's (Bent Mountain) ink drawings of Bottom Creek are a primary example of this duality with each strata of earth implying a generation of farmers, fathers, sons, mothers and daughters. Chapman's sense of "loss" and his investigation of its "sense of place" are evident with each mark of his pen or brush.

Ed Dolinger (Roanoke) created a series of mixed media paintings which imply maps, parables and theorems on fields of color. The history of the surface sets the tone of each panel and our reading of it. Kris Iden (Charlottesville) has created the series of color intaglio printed titled "…the world is round" inspired by the Gertrude Stein children's book of the same name. This poetic sequence of 15 prints emphasizes the circularity of time and identity and the ability for each to fold it back upon itself. Iden explains "This intensely personal work is a reflection of the feelings of being caught between two cultures, two dearly held landscapes, and the process of constructing an intimate hybrid-geography." Greg Kelley's (Richmond) mixed media sculptures are totem like "combines" which reflect a hybrid iconography of our history and culture.

Joshua Poteat and Roberto Ventura (Richmond) created the installation "For Lucy and Yardsale". They present fragments of Poteat's poetry as an unconventional memorial consisting of wooden strips of text, collage, light boxes and other media. This work is an ode to the relationships that form and are lost within the invisible boundaries in which Richmond's homeless residents reside.

-Amie Oliver, 1708 Gallery Satellite Exhibition Liaison and Curator

For more information on the artists or 1708 Gallery's Satellite Exhibition Program visit this link.