First Thurday August: Gardner, Pennebaker, Gosnell, Humphries

Join us First Thursday August 4th from 5-8pm at the Fayetteville Underground for another exciting month of all new exhibitions! Duane Gardner's latest works will be on display in the Vault. The glass works of Ed Pennebaker will be on display in the E Street Gallery. Jan Gosnell's paintings will be on display in the Hive. The Revolver will feature the work of visiting artist John Humphries.

Duane Gardner

Duane Gardner
The Day After Yesterday

This series of paintings continues to explore the idea of mark making as well as the process of editing. At the beginning of this year I decided to go in a new minimalist direction and pare down paintings. I felt that my work prior to this series was very heavy handed and I wanted to move away from that.

I have also begun to experiment with using text to express feelings or thoughts. I did not want the text to be immediately apparent so I have attempted to abstract the text. This has been a very interesting process for me because it has forced me to think about text as shape and how to manipulate it. To further obscure the text, I have drawn from my Mexican-American heritage and used Spanish translations of the words or ideas I wanted to convey.

Ed Pennebaker

Ed Pennebaker
Concatenations/Connections

We are all linked together. Nature and our relationship with natural resources has been a topic I relate to in my sculptures. Sometimes the simple movement of grasses and plants is mirrored in the fluidity of the glass. Other times, the concerns of what man is doing by poisoning nature and ultimately himself become the topic. I hope to let viewers interpret and imagine something that speaks to them about our surroundings and our link to nature.

Jan Gosnell

Jan Gosnell
The Fulla' Brush Man

Jan Gosnell will be exhibiting works representative of two modes of perception. One will be works in oil on canvas and the other, figure drawings on paper. The oil paintings are expressions of ideas created from interior resources and developed through the imagination. The figure drawings are rapidly rendered with Conte’ crayon or charcoal with great attention exterior resources.

John Humphries

John Humphries
Fragments of Landscape

John Humphries received a MARCH and BFA from the University of Texas, Arlington. A visual artist and designer focusing on translating one media form to another. Currently, Humphries is an Assistant Professor at and a faculty in the Armstrong Interactive Media Studies at Miami University, Oxford. His extensive history includes group and solo exhibitions such as Kleinert/James Arts Center: Woodstock, New York; Jay Henry Memorial Gallery: Arlington, Texas; Hochschule: Rosenheim, Germany; Foxfire Studio: Rabun Gap, Georgia; Cage Gallery: Oxford Ohio; Beinnale of the Americas: Denver, Colorado, among others.

For Humphries, cities and the representation of cities are rife with uncomfortable hybrids born of erosion, neglect, misconception, new stories, changes in zoning, codes, and program. The ability to quickly transform the essential nature of a context is not to design, create, or fabricate the ideal representation of a place. His reason for going to a place is to transform perception of a place and capture the essence of a moment, for the purpose of engaging, intellectually and emotionally the context.

In this exhibition, the watercolor drawings refer specifically to John Humphries current travels in Malta and focus on using the visual syntax of architecture; to describe urban landscape, shadows, and sun; specifically the moments where these meet.

September: Petillo, Gosnell, Chen and more...

September at the Fayetteville Underground:

First Thursday Opening reception Sept 2nd 5-8pm.

This September will be another exciting month for the Fayetteville Underground. The Hive gallery will host Nashville, Tennessee based photographer Thomas Petillo. In the Revolver gallery painter Lin Chen will present her exhibition of still life paintings. The Fayetteville Underground's own Jan Gosnell will present his most recent work in an exhibition in the Vault gallery, entitled Past Forward. Join us First Thursday on September 2nd from 5-8pm for our opening reception and meet these talented artists.

Thomas Petillo

Hive Gallery

Thomas Petillo : North, West, East, South

Thomas Petillo is perhaps best known for his strikingly intimate portraits of great musicians (Robert Plant, Ben Folds, John Prine, Kid Rock and Porter Wagoner, to name only a few).Thomas has spent fifteen years honing the skills necessary to produce these beautiful images for record labels, magazines, and ad agencies. These portraits have come to define his style. But a very different Petillo has emerged in the last few years as the result of a series of commissions by Hammock, the ambient duo, who asked him to create images for their recordings. No matter his subject, Petillo's images are characterized by a delicate balance of stark realism and magical wonder, as if he stands with one foot in the spirit and the other in the flesh. This rare talent has given his work a singular imprint and has earned for him a distinguished place among contemporary photographers.

Jan Gosnell

Vault Gallery:

Jan Gosnell: Past Forward

Jan Gosnell will be exhibiting a selection of paintings he has completed during the past year. They are the results of the desire to explore subject matter chosen intuitively from a lifetime exposure to the written word, media imagery, and the works of other artists. This series of paintings represents a development along a natural path, primarily with regard to the resolution of opposites. This direction is reflected in an attempt to resolve the use of masculine subject matter exhibiting aggressive spatial confrontation with a more sensitive usage of line and a richness of color. While these paintings are apparently straight forward in their imagery, they are also an engaging invitation for personal interpretation.

Jan Gosnell received a B.F.A. from the University of Texas and an M.F. A. from the University of Arkansas. His professional personae includes that of college level art instructor, gallery owner, commercial art director, movie sketch artist, and editorial cartoonist. He presently lives in Fayetteville, teaches painting and drawing at NWACC, and is a resident member of the Fayetteville Underground.

Lin Chen

Revolver Gallery:

Lin Chen

Artist Statement:
"When I set up things to paint, I have a vague idea about how I want the picture plane divided depending on the shape and attitude of the figure, still life, etc. After spending a brief time looking at the setup, I establish a vision. All I do after that is geared toward realizing that vision.

Vision is bigger than sight, or, what meets the eye. It can also be fragile and elusive, and paradoxically, can only be made visible through sight. I try to hang on to that vision because it is what has stirred my imagination in the first place. In the meantime I remain open to necessity for revisions, even serendipitous happenings. Not infrequently I find myself, half-way through a composition, stopping to completely revise a setup or color scheme. When the established vision is too forced, or worse, false, I have no choice except to adjust or throw it away and start over upon the realization of it.

Painting from observation requires the process to be dynamic. Sight is physical, empirical to the extent applicable to the structure of the human eye. Vision wants purging, clarification, eventually, crystallization. The painter moves between the tension of the two forces, slowly peeling away and discarding the false and the incidental. An apple must look like an apple, also a globe, a circle, a crucial participant in the poetry of the picture’s totality.

As a painter I am not a rationalist. What’s being purged and discarded are confusion, false notions, melodrama, bravado, etc., not mystery.

I paint to understand who I am, how I relate to the external world, with which I am smitten. But more often than not I paint to overcome boredom, to combat ennui."

As always there are open studios to tour, work in progress to see, and artists to meet. There will be new work by the talented underground studio artists in the back Vault gallery and the fine crafts you have come to expect in the E Street Gallery.

Once again this is all a part of the cultural amenity that is the visual arts on the First Thursday of every month at the Fayetteville Underground on the Fayetteville Square from 5-8p.m. After the reception be sure to come back and visit the galleries during our regular business hours of W-F 12-7 and Sat 10-5.

Tell your friends and see you there!
The exhibitions will remain up through October 2nd

The Fayetteville Underground
Basement of One East Square Plaza
East side of the Historic Fayetteville Square.
Fayetteville, Arkansas
Gallery Hours W-F 12-7pm
Saturday 10-5pm
4 galleries: Open Studios
www.fayettevilleunderground.com
www.fayettevilleunderground.blogspot.com

15 minutes with Jan Gosnell

I recently had the pleasure of sitting down to talk with painter Jan Gosnell about his life as an artist. We sat outside of The Vault Gallery in front of his current solo exhibition, Back from Krypton which opened the First Thursday of September and will close this Saturday, September 26th at 2:00p.m. This is his show's final week, so be sure to see it and all the other wonderful exhibitions currently on display at the Fayetteville Underground.

Jan has always been an artist; drawing and painting from a very early age. He was encouraged in his art by his geologist father (who perhaps yearned to be a painter) and his crafty homemaking mother. He remembers his father laughing and enjoying the art Jan would make and this encouraged him to remain on the artist's path for life. Jan also remembers time spent creating art in local museum classes; he was especially intrigued by an oil painting class that was going on across the way from where he was making "kids art." He wanted to take the more advanced class so badly that he went and talked with the teacher and they told him to come back when he was 11 years old. He did come back and he remembers his first oil painting was that of a still life.

Jan maintained his affinity for art through school, and once headed to college there was only one major that would do. Jan received his B.F.A. from the University of Texas at Austin, and then later he received an M.F.A from the University of Arkansas, here in Fayetteville. Jan taught art as a graduate assistant for two years while there. Currently he has been teaching at North West Arkansas Community College for the past for 4 or 5 years. Jan says he particularly enjoys the advanced courses he offers because of the one on one interaction he has with the students.

When asked to classify his style of painting, he says it is "basically pop imagery done with traditional oil painting techniques." Jan's paintings are filled with the same sardonic humor that make working with him such a joy. He says he approaches his work playfully with an openness that children have when making art.

I asked Jan if he ever experienced any of the common "artist's blocks." He mentioned that starting a painting can be a problem at times, like jumping in without warming up. He actually has a term for this issue: "The Shit Barrier." He has gone 2 months without painting as sometimes he feels it becomes too much of a commitment to get started with a new work. When this happens he turns to his drawing, as he feels this is less of a commitment. Jan also can become self conscious about a painting, and when this happens he feels the most important thing to do is just to keep on working. He knows that eventually he can make it work, but even then it doesn't mean it will be a good painting. There have been at least 2 instances where Jan has burned his paintings, whether because of moving or just making space, sometimes he has to let them go. He is not as sentimental about his work as some artists but at the same time when he looks at a body of his work up in the Underground or in his home gallery, he is always shocked, and wonders where it all came from and he is pleased with what he sees.

Jan has been enjoying working around other artists in the Fayetteville Underground. He wanted to re-establish his ties with the Fayetteville art community after feeling a bit reclusive over recent years. When I asked him if he had any advice to younger artists struggling with their art careers or passion for art, he said, "Use your ability in art: Art has a stabilizing influence in your life, you shouldn't let it slip away, just do the work and focus on the process. Whatever else comes from it, is gravy."

Jan Gosnell
"Back from Krypton"
Exhibition remains up through this Saturday September 26th at 2:00pm.

Fayetteville Underground
One East Center Street
East side of the Fayetteville Square.
Fayetteville, AR
Gallery Hours W-F 12-7pm
Saturday 8-2
4 galleries: Open Studios
www.fayettevilleunderground.com

As is common in this segment, I ask the artist to list 15 things. Jan came up with a list of 15 Diversions. So when he is not painting you will find Jan Gosnell...

Reading Science Fiction, Exercising, Practicing Martial Arts, Enjoying Ice Cream, Building things, Meditating, Spending time on the Computer, Focusing on Politics ( comes in handy when you draw award winning editorial cartoons) Watching Films, Smoking, Shopping, Researching a variety of subjects, Making conversation, People watching, Writing

Pictured above: a selection of works from "Back from Krypton"
© 2009 Jan Gosnell
Photography by Henry Turner

Krapausky, Moore, Gosnell and Wilks: First Thursday!

September's First Thursday is sure to pack a punch! Don't miss these talented featured artists, as well as new work from the Studio Artists in the back vault and new work from the E street artists as well. Sure to be an wonderful night at the Fayetteville Underground. Join us Thursday Sept 3. from 5-8pm to celebrate these artists and the thriving arts district in downtown Fayetteville.

Retired © Thomas Krapausky

In the Revolver gallery we have Supremacy and Myth, an exhibition of photographs by Thomas Krapausky. The works on display explore the strains of human activity on a constantly recovering natural world.

Krapausky’s photographs emphasize the “hidden worlds” that we pass by every day, but rarely notice. His unique and sometimes abstract work has received multiple awards, has been displayed in juried exhibitions, and has been published on an international level.

Castle in the Park © Steve Moore

In the Hive gallery we have long time Fayetteville craftsman and photographer Steve Moore and his exhibition, A Panoramic Project. Moore’s photographic style is a culmination of his early film photography, influenced by Ansel Adams, and his more recent investigations of panoramic images using contemporary digital processes. His early film photography, documenting village life in Mexico, will be included in this exhibition along with his more recent documentary photographs of Fayetteville's changing landmarks over the past several years.

Moore's work is first inspired by light; illuminating from within a building or reflected off or around a structure. Whether you recall a location of Moore’s image as it once appeared or you come to it for the first time, you are left with a haunting sense of human intervention; the composition of a place and the artist's will to reveal a theatrical sense of time and light during a moment. This exhibition is curated by Leilani Law.

© Jan Gosnell

In the Vault gallery we have painter Jan Gosnell, treating us to selections of his newest paintings in his exhibition Back from Krypton. For sixty years Jan has been a compulsive picture maker. His work enjoys a conventional knowledge of drawing and painting, and its apparent sources of influence lie in both the classical and popular modes of two-dimensional expression.

He sees his work as primarily an orchestrated projection of the imagination upon a simple rectangular support. It is there that he seeks to firmly establish a visual pathway between literal consciousness and the alternate reality of the unconscious. The traveling of this pathway, with its inherent experience of the greater personality, sustains and enriches his life.

© Kelley Wilks

In the E Street Craft Gallery the featured artist will be Kelley Wilks. Kelley Wilks, a Fayetteville native, is the gallery’s second artist to hold a solo show. She’s been working primarily in clay for almost 20 years. The theme of this exhibition is Let’s Party and the works range from punch bowl sets, cake plates and platters to individual colorful cups all with a fun and festive feel since everything from Game season to the Holidays are just around the corner.

“I really enjoy creating with clay and working with it’s natural characteristics. It’s so pliable and it is possible to mold it into most any form. I love coming up with an idea, putting it on paper and then working the clay until I get what I was looking for. I like holding to the body of a cup like as in a teabowl. So, when I was making the cups for the punch bowl, I decided I did not want handles but had to come up with another way to store and present the cups with the bowl as a set. I designed this basic form for the cups and mimicked it in the bowl. The shape allows the base of the cups to be the instrument to hang the cups on the rim of the bowl there by eliminating the need for handles and making them more sleek and unique.”

Kelley will also be giving a Gallery Talk about her work and process Thursday Sept 10th from noon to 12:30ish. Bring a sack lunch and come gain some insight to the workings of an artist and her process of creating these wonderfully unique pieces.

Please join us for all this and new work by Studio artists in the back vault and open studios to tour, work in progress to see, and artists to meet. Don't forget to visit the fabulous DDP gallery as well. It is all a part of the cultural amenity that is the visual arts on the First Thursday of every month on the Fayetteville Square from 5-8pm

Fayetteville Underground
One East Center Street
East side of the Fayetteville Square.
Fayetteville, AR
Gallery Hours W-F 12-7pm
Saturday 8-2
4 galleries: Open Studios
www.fayettevilleunderground.com