More Than A Tree Grows In Brooklyn (Original post July, 2007)

Brooklyn’s BWAC Red Hook and Carroll Gardens open studios June 9-10, 2007 created a garden of art and dialogue through out the borough. I down loaded a great self guided tour map, which included 32 destinations and headed back to my hometown. Artists of all calibers and disciplines are leaving their marks as Brooklyn’s Open studios weekend made evident, they have found fertile ground in the borough to create innovative and interesting work.

On foot I navigated through myriads of studio buildings, galleries and artists project spaces. In a large warehouse building at 98 4th street in Carroll Gardens, I visited artist Chris Coffins studio, which he shares with fellow artist and curator Jennifer Burbank. Coffins intense personal connection to water and his urban environment are evident in his triptych photographic works, which seek a deeper understanding of the connection within the two “places”. They are contemplative images finding their own dialogue in which to converse. Abandoned buildings and underwater shots of jellyfish, which he shoots looking up from under the water find, and connect within reflective abstract space and color. Jennifer Burbanks large black and white wall drawing solicits conversation through line and form. A large black circle collaged to the wall seems to be in the process of moving out of the space and off the wall, grounded to it’s environment by thin elegant lines leading back through the work. Vince Contarino also in the 4th street building presented works on paper, which he may use for larger paintings. Contarino painstakingly collages tiny bits of colored and patterned paper into highly controlled lines, which are released into organic flowing gestures reminiscent of plant life, or a diagram of some strange unknown organism.

These artists capture your attention with a quiet ease, simply giving over something of yourself in order to sit with them for more time then you realize, suddenly hours go by... and your wishing you had more time.

Think Tank Notes: February 7th

 "Histories Accumulations, I", 2012 (c) Dianne Bowen

I recently had a solo show, October-November, 2012 with NINAPI' Gallery-Nesting Art Gallery in Ravenna, Italy. Simply titled, "Tell Me Everything". Staying in Ravenna during the course of the exhibition and creating new works influenced by my time there brought many inspirations to work, process and thoughts for new directions moving forward. I brought a large journal to write my thoughts about the time there which I've continued thus far. Accumulation, history, art, culture, expression and use of books and re-thinking what constitutes a book? What is it about them which draws me to them, to create original artists books recently? Ripping the traditional ideas and associations of the traditional structure, bindings, how we look through them, what is a page? How are lines constructed and de-constructed? In the almost 3 months since, I'm still investigating these questions. To date I've created almost 14 of these original books in various techniques, mediums and materials. In doing this I created 2 of what I term or describe as a book construction installation titled "Histories Accumulations", 11/2012. The text, an original note poem is written on several sheets of paper nestled between layers separated by now at this time glass bowls which mimic the decorative domes throughout the city of Ravenna's architecture. A slim clock hand embedded into a sheet standing on an angle as if pointing towards a specific clock is underneath the second glass bowl. An ordinary T pin stands straight up on top again, referencing the architecture while maintaining it's original intention of holding something down or together. There are several elements which make similiar references throughout the work. How would you "read" it? A question I allow the viewer to answer. There are several ways, each requiring careful consideration. You could if desired move elements and pages, in essence taking it completely apart and putting it back together. The act itself maintains the intimacy and personal experience of reading a book but through a different way of doing so. It is to destroy it and rebuild it, over and over. Like history itself an organic telling of tales which shift in accordance to who, what, where and when.

I'm continuing my explorations and investigations into books. Currently with two more underway, I'm working on building a collection of about 25. 

"Histories Accumulations II", 2012 (c) Dianne Bowen, detail downward view

Sit Back And Get Comfortable, This Will Take Awhile…

Original Review: January, 9, 2008

By Dianne Bowen

Back Side

A collaborative exhibition featuring:

Chris Coffin, Michelle Jaffe', Kristine Robinson, Chris Walsh

45-46 21st Street second floor
Long Island City, NY 11101

Exhibition opening: Sat. Jan 5th 3:00pm to 6:00pm

Image courtesy of  Chris Coffin

Sit Back And Get Comfortable, This Will Take Awhile…

 In an age of one minute to feel anything, sound byte moments, and short attention spans, artist Chris Coffin's (sound component by Jeremy Slater) DVD and sound installation Hudson River Bump and Grind, does not adhere to the notion that the public is said to only spend five minutes viewing a work of art. Coffin's piece is quite the contrary requiring your attention with all senses ready… Sit back and get comfortable, this will take awhile…

The black and white video of frozen ice on the Hudson River moves from large over view angles to close up shots of particular pieces. Large broken forms of ice become abstract, bumping up against each other from the natural rhythm of water. In a macro view they are a collective of shapes reminiscent of cells, or a carapace protecting the fluid underneath. It is as if you're watching something so tremendous it is impossible for the human mind to comprehend its scale. An ancient guardian of the ocean we're observing breathing, watching back and waiting for something we are not privy to occur. Moving slowly into close up shots of individual sections, the bumping and grinding against each other take on "living" characteristics; nudging, sliding, flickering lines of light surrounding the forms where the water catches light are a silent communication. An alien pattern seemingly rooted in mathematics or musical composition. The nervous system or brain’s electrical flickering also comes to mind. Natural sounds of the environment surround you. Wind, water flowing and lapping up against the ice forms, crackling sounds repeat. You're moving ever closer as the view becomes two forms. Their edges rounded by centuries of movement, your sense of time slows down, and you’re in a prehistoric realm observing the earth shift. One piece, bobbing in the water, nudging the other as if it is its soul mate appears tender and lamenting. The second form appears still, floating in the water, life-less. They are like a pair of large orca’s or hump back whales, in the vast ocean, and you are a voyeur within the most private intimate moment between them, hoping for the forms to somehow connect. The depth of the water, smaller piece’s submerge, their weight and thickness throw you off kilter, questioning, contemplating the relationship and responsibility between human-kind, the environment and the universe itself. After a deep breath, I emerge from the dark, small room into the bright expanse of the warehouse space, changed, affected, emotions laid bare.