"Unseen Lines" text detail (c) Dianne Bowen
Drawing is like taking a line out for a dance, sometimes it's a heavy metal slam dance, sometimes it's as structured as a waltz, and sometimes it's a virgina reel and I'm just switching hands and partners, pencil, paint, paper, film...

An artist's journey making sense of the world through art, language and conversation.




Thursday, February 7, 2013

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