EARLVILLE – The Earlville Opera House Arts Center on Saturday, Aug. 7, from 6-7:30 p.m: Traveling Landscapes with acrylic paintings by Jim Loveless and Ray Wengenroth, photographs by Jim Leach and Everyday Meditations with thread on paper towel pieces and pencil drawings by Arjan Zazueta.
In the East Gallery, Arjan Zazueta of Syracuse employs methodical processes to explore the concepts of identity, hybridity, and gender. Embroidery is the traditional province of the feminine, Arjan takes up the needle to hand-stitch abstract patterns, “creating works that formally relate to minimalism, design and abstraction.” Thus he embeds, “multiple layers of identity in the artwork, based on [his] Mexican-American heritage and [his] desire to confuse stereotypical notions of feminine and masculine.” Exhibited alongside and in contrast are drawings born quickly and uncensored as a result of a new baby influencing the artist’s workday patterns, “at 7 a.m., without planning, plotting, or sketching, before his workday begins.” A cast of characters from his past, including his family, populate the drawings. “This work is a departure from the other half of my art practice where I make a conscious decision to not include family or past directly in the work.in these drawings there is no conscious censor. There is only repetition, focus, and the space between awake and asleep.”
In the West Gallery, Traveling Landscapes celebrates new work by Jim Loveless and his artist traveling companions: former Colgate student and painter Ray Wengenroth and photographer Jim Leach. Many will remember their last collaboration and show in January 2008: Monhegan, Maine, this time they travel to Arizona for inspiration. For Jim Loveless “landscapes have been the predominant motif in my work.whether depicting the countryside here in upstate New York, sites in Maine and Arizona or in those inscapes spawned by invention.” Ray Wengenroth of Beverly, MA paints in oils outdoors “en plein air.” While his paintings are representational, there is also a certain fondness for the abstract in the waves of color found in the landscapes. “A common rhythm emerges in strokes of pigment which I push around with brushes and palette knives. I love color and paint!” Jim Leach’s interest in photography began more than 40 years ago, and was reenergized when he learned what was possible with digital equipment. “When my photography works, it conveys a sense of a place, or a moment, or a feeling.”
The community is invited to attend the shows, which open on Saturday, Aug. 7 from 6-7:30 p.m. The exhibits run through Sept. 18. The EOH galleries are open Tuesday-Friday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Saturday, noon to 3 p.m. Visit www.earlvilleoperahouse.com or call (315) 691-3550 for more information.
Earlville Opera House events are made possible, in part, with public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts, a State Agency, and through the generosity of Earlville Opera House members.