Silvermine Arts Center, located in New Canaan, CT will be opening a new set of exhibits February 24th, ranging from the dazzling abstractions of Sharon Cavagnolo to the visually complex installation by Mary Jo McGonagle. There is also the hyper-real figurative paintings of Anca Pedvisocar and the aptly named “Human Touch” figurative print group show featuring Karen Butler, Helen Cantrell, Alanna Fagan, Nancy Lasar and Nomi Silverman. The show runs through April 5th. All are welcomed to the opening reception on Sunday, February 24th 2:00pm – 4:00pm.
In her exhibit, “New Paradigms,” artist Sharon Cavagnolo deals with chaos and the human need to control and come to terms with it. For the artist, a gestural or impulsive movement often serves as the beginning of an idea for a painting, with subsequent layers imparting balance, line, color and pattern. The creation of the ‘whole’ represents a new place to be.
“(Dis)connect” is the new site specific installation by Silvermine Guild Artist, Mary Jo McGonagle. Combining video and signature wall coverings and paintings, the installation reflects her fascination with how relationships take place in our everyday lives, hovering between humor and desperation. Time-based media in conjunction with painting creates the overall environment. McGonagle’s work is a multi-disciplinary exploration of images and narratives of sublimated family dynamics and the idea of the suburban home as an environment of contradictions. . In her exhibit, she uses decorative wallpapers, patterning and colorful language to conceal contemporary phrases. The phrases are camouflaged within the wallpaper patterns. There is an element of discovery, revealing our innermost feelings which deal with the unspoken, “not so nice,” thoughts that we all share.
Anca Pedvisocar’s exhibit “Take 2” is about second chances given to forgotten moments in forgotten lives of forgotten people, to be re-lived in a different way by people of our time. For this artist, the most difficult part in her work is choosing what to do next and why. Anca will look over the many black & white snap shots she has collected of the last century before choosing the most significant “insignificant” moment in time worth painting. The central theme of Pedvisocar’s paintings is a mixture of tension and solitude that seems to bring people together, while simultaneously pulling them apart. This conflict makes itself visually apparent in people’s most inconsequential and mundane actions and postures, glossing their figures with an unmistakable varnish that makes them impervious to one another and to themselves. The treatment of the figures in her paintings are restrained, as in a black and white movie, while exalting the color of the background, evoking the presence of an old, skipping soundtrack and a narrator’s voice starting to tell their story.
The Guild group exhibition, “The Human Touch: Five Printmakers,” showcases new figurative works by Silvermine members Karen Brussat Butler, Helen Cantrell, Alanna Fagan, Nancy Lasar and Nomi Silverman. The five artists share a love of printmaking, exploring contemporary interpretations of the figure in a variety of print techniques including woodcut, intaglio, lithography and other media.
For more information on these exhibits and other events at the Silvermine Arts Center, please visit www.silvermineart.org or call 203-966-9700 ext. 20. For area information www.visitfairfieldcountyct.com.
