September 4 2020 #180
Tierra del Sol Gallery: Helen Rae
From September 4 until October 23, 2020, Tierra Del Sol Gallery, California, is presenting "The Evolution of Helen Rae", open by appointment only.
These 15 works represent the ongoing development of Rae’s studio practice and confirms her status as an iconic contemporary artist.
Untitled, Helen Rae (2020). Colored pencil and graphite on paper, 60 x 45 cm (24 x 18 in.)
Helen Rae was over 50 when she joined the Tierra Del Sol Studio program and 76 years old when, in 2015, she had her first solo show at The Good Luck Gallery. Tierra Del Sol Gallery director Paige Wery, founder and principal of the commercial Good Luck, sold out Helen’s work at the Outsider Art Fair in 2016, putting Helen on the national map of galleries, collectors and museums.
Untitled, Helen Rae (2018). Colored pencil and graphite on paper, 60 x 45 cm (24 x 18 in.)
In an arc that has included ceramic masks, sculpture and water color, Rae is now known for her vibrant, highly patterned, color dense pencil and graphite drawings inspired from couture magazines. In The Evolution of Helen Rae, she continues with her muse, yet focuses on portraiture and on the faces of women she does not know but brings to life with complexity and intimacy, using line, form and color to reveal a range of emotions.
Untitled, Helen Rae (2018). Colored pencil and graphite on paper, 60 x 45 cm (24 x 18 in.)
"The Evolution of Helen Rae" [...] marks another milestone in a prolific career that breaks boundaries of labels and categories in the art world and beyond.
For more information and to see more of Helen Rae's art, visit Tierra del Sol's website.
Kentuck Gallery: Athlone Clarke
Kentuck Art Center, Alabama, will exhibit Athlone Clarke's "Quantum Intuition on a Tangential Path" from September 3 until October 22, 2020.
Athlone Clarke was born in Jamaica and immigrated to the United States in the mid-eighties. During what he calls the “early years” he made his living as a published writer, but soon realized that his heart was deeply rooted in visual arts.
Artwork by Athlone Clarke. Photo: Kentuck, 2020
As the years progressed his visual work began to stand on equal footing with his literary work; hence, he found himself at a creative crossroad. The usually distinct line between his writing and his paintings began to blur, and after much introspection, he decided that it didn’t matter what road he took since in the end it would lead to the same destination. Authentic creative expression.
Artwork by Athlone Clarke. Photo: Kentuck, 2020
For more information, visit the exhibition homepage and keep up to date by following Kentuck on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.
Check out Kentuck Art Center's other work as well as their online shop for unique pieces by their talented artists.
NIAD Windows: Weaving Circle
Currently on view in NIAD Windows is “Weaving Circle”. NIAD Art Center is located in Richmond, California. “Weaving Circle” is on view until September 18.
NIAD Windows streetview. Photo: NIAD, 2020
Organized by Círculo Tejido/Backstrap Club, the exhibition showcases NIAD artist weaving practices together with those of masterful Bay Area-based Guatemalan backstrap weavers. To extend the visual dialog, the works in the show are juxtaposed alongside and even on top of photographs of historic Guatemalan woven garments from the Mills College Art Museum Collection.
Untitled (F0001), Backstrap Club (2019). Unique hand-woven textile, 71 x 56 cm (28 x 22 in.)
Círculo Tejido/Backstrap Club is an Oakland-based community group that creates a space for Guatemalan backstrap weavers and those interested in learning the art of backstrap weaving.
Left: Untitled (F0005), Evelyn Davis (2019). Unique mixed media weaving, 30 x 36 cm (11 x 14 in.) Right: Untitled (F0006), Davis (2019). Unique mixed media weaving, 30 x 46 cm (11 x 18 in.)
They strive to provide weavers with a meeting place and the supplies needed to sustain this art form while also promoting cross-collaboration with other communities through weaving classes, weaving demonstrations, and weaving exhibitions. Members of Circulo Tejido/Backstrap Club are Emma Spertus, Erin Kökdil, and Maricela Martin Aguilar.
Untitled (F0008), Joseph Rux (2019). Unique mixed media weaving, 101 x 101 cm (40 x 40 in.)
NIAD Windows offers sidewalk and street side opportunities to view the exhibitions. On view in the windows are nine works from local backstrap weavers and NIAD artists Evelyn Davis and Joseph Rux.
Slovakian folk art home: József Balogh
Artist and curator Gergő Fülöp, born in eastern Slovakia but currently living in working in Budapest, shared his story of a little known folk artist József Balogh.
"Balog Jozsef, Pribenik 66" by Peter Kerekes (1996)
"Back in the 1990s, in a small village in the south-eastern corner of Slovakia, there stood a strange house on Main Street. As a kid, I used to walk past it daily, on my way to school. As a matter of fact, there were two buildings: a peasant house and a small workshop beside it. Decorated with all sorts of weird and wonderful art, they were the highlight of my childhood mornings."
József working on the roof of his house. Some characteristic objects are nicely visible, like the mutilated dolls, bike wheels, animals, stuffed plastic flasks. Photo: Zoltán Leczo (2004)
"The house and the workshop belonged to József Balogh, a local cobbler. He was a big, strong man, but already old; missing a few teeth and with long, pearly-curly hair. He was born in Vojka (present-day Slovakia) on 3rd January 1920 into a peasant family."
"He made his own clothes in his own distinct style. With great boldness and a bit of extravagant flare, he started to wear shorts – at the time, an act of exuberant metropolitanism, which allegedly shocked the villagers."
A close-up of one of the biggest mosaics of the front facade of his small workshop. Photo: István Fülöp (cca. 2008)
"He was usually cruising on one of his two, heavily-modified bicycles. He rode slowly, the bike weighed some 30 kilograms, and its tires were always flat. He was roaming the region for 40 years, collecting trash to make poetry from."
"He would compose his ready-made and assemblage works from junk. Colourful pinwheels and mutilated dolls hacked onto thrown out bicycle wheels, resembling some sort of strange Eastern European dreamcatcher from a long forgotten tradition. Plastic flasks cut in half and filled with flamboyantly-coloured plastic flowers, placed carefully on this ever-growing body of art."
József Balogh's house in 2000. Photo: Tibor Szeman
"The Slovakian-Hungarian filmmaker Peter Kerekes shot a fantastic short film about József back in 1996, entitled Balog József Pribeník 66 (the title refers to the name of the village where he lived and the street number where his house stood)."
"József’s house was sold by his children, and was demolished by the new owner– without any effort from the civil community or village council to save it, there was nothing left to do."
Mosaic intertwined, swallow-like birds, alongside flowers, mushrooms and fish. Photo: Gergő Fülöp
Read the full story on Przsekrój Magazine's website.
Gergő Fülöp runs an underground gallery in Budapest called Kavics (meaning ‘Pebble’ in English). In order to commemorate József Balogh, the author recently presented an exhibition of József’s works at his gallery.
Mexican sculptor Alejandro Santiago: 2501 Migrantes
Alejandro Santiago Ramírez (1964 – 2013) was a Mexican painter and sculptor best known for his amazing sculpture series "2501 Migrantes".
"The First Migrant" by Alejandro Santiago | 2501 Migrantes" by Bond Latin Gallery
Santiago studied at the Centro de Educacion Artistica and was among the first graduates of the Rufino Tamayo Plastic Arts workshop. After living abroad in the US and Europe, Santiago returned to his hometown to find many of the former residents had migrated from southern Mexico to the United States in search of work.
Some of the more colourful statues in the 2501 series
In 2002, he started sculpting clay figures to place around the village to "repopulate" it and honour those who had left. Their faces are bizarrely misshapen and they are covered in tattoo-like markings.
2501 life-size ceramic statues is in the plaza in front of the Santo Domingo church
Santiago said the idea to make 2,500 statues was inspired by the mass emigration of the villagers and also by the number of crosses he saw on a fence at the US—Mexican border (one for every person who died trying to cross). The 2,501st figure symbolized how there is always one more person willing to risk his life in the hope of finding a better one. He also said the extra sculpture represented his own migration.
Askari Mateos's article on Alejandro Santiago was published in Raw Vision #61.
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Alejandro Santiago was featured in Raw Vision #61, currently half price.