GAFA Exhibits Archives

Reconstructed

Works by David Linneweh

Exhibition: November 12 – December 12
Gallery Reception: November 12, 1:30-3:30 p.m.

Artist Statement:

The ways in which we experience landscape largely relate to the way in which they have been reshaped to suit are needs. Our relationship with landscape is universal in that every culture experiences similarities while incorporating diversity which reflective specific needs and goals. For my proposed exhibition entitled: Reconstructed, I’m interested in presenting my work as an exploration of how our landscapes are constructed.

The architecture within our culture can tell a great deal about who we are and who we were, varying from each setting they incorporate elements both past and present and it is through their decayed and shiny surfaces we consider their projected significance. In this sense landscape has a transitory nature and utilizes aspects of maintaining architecture, abandoning it, or re-configuring it into a type of architectural hybrid.

These variations of architectural hybrids have found a place of direct influence within my work, their alterations spawning my own re-configurations. In my most recent series of paintings I’ve approached this idea by re-assembling the architecture found within our landscape through my own hybrids. Within these configurations both representational and abstract forms are arranged in a way that draws comparison with the actual landscape experience we associate with them. Viewers find a way into the work through the familiarity of representational fragments and are left to consider their relationship with abstracted shapes of formal color.

The exploration of the themes of landscape aren’t inherently new, artists have been making work about landscape for centuries yet specific towards this show I’m interested in showcasing work mostly from my Re-Assembled series. My paintings allow a viewer to acknowledge my own hand in constructing them, which draws comparison towards actual landscapes, but also speak to the playfulness of the formal language.

Gallery of Works:

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The Evidence of Being

Works by Erin Wiersma

Exhibition: October 6 – November 4
Gallery Reception: October 14, 12:00-2:30 p.m.

Artist Statement:

Figuration has consistently been the foundation of my paintings. My practice as an artist has progressed from observing the tangible human form of another, to the physical representation of myself in relationship to the paper, to expressing the emotional and intangible aspects that make up my being. When I paint, I seek to maintain a meditative-like state in which I’m present and in the moment, experiencing what T.S. Eliot calls “a still point of the turning world.” Freed from ordinary time in this way, I give myself a place where I can ask questions and search for assurance; with large surfaces to paint on, engaging the scale of my whole body, I’m able to use my physical energy and manipulate materials to see beyond myself, to catch a glimmer of something powerful and ineffable. Tracing my body’s movements, I generate a language of marks across the surface of the paper, leaving physical evidence of my presence, residues of energy transcribed over time as lyrical passages and encountered again in the present. Observing this score of bodily gestures, I discover a confluence of the spiritual and the material.

Gallery of Works:

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Missouri Over There, WWI Traveling Exhibit

Exhibition: January 16- February 23, 2018
Gallery Reception and Guest Lecture: January 30, 5:00 – 7:00 PM

Description:

Over 156,000 Missourians went “over there” to serve in World War I, resulting in more than 11,000 casualties. Prominent Missourians who fought in the War include Generals John J. Pershing and Enoch Crowder, future President Harry S. Truman, and Walt Disney. The last surviving U.S. veteran from World War I, Frank Buckles, was a Missouri native.

As part of a larger exploration of Missouri’s contribution to WWI (1914-1918), this traveling exhibit is touring five community college campuses across the state to give residents a closer look at the local war effort. The exhibit features 7 double-sided panels with end caps featuring notable Missourians who served in WWI, as well as two interactive kiosks & a short documentary film curated by Missouri Over There staff.

Visit missourioverthere.org to view an extensive digital collection of historical documents, photographs, artifacts, oral histories and other primary source material from museums, archives, libraries, and private collections from across Missouri. Funding and logistical support is provided in part by the Missouri Humanities Council and the Springfield-Greene County Library.