| Opening reception: First Friday,
June 4, 6 - 10 pm
White Trash - main gallery
Kim Alsbrooks' White Trash series began
in 2004. It was originally conceived as a broad statement against
ideas about the social elite and their cultural values as romanticized
in art history, museums, and books (which all depict their agreeable
lifestyles, artifacts, and wars). These historical records often
ignore the bulk of our past, which includes many classes of people,
ways of life, and stories of wars that are not told and, most
likely, have had the most impact on our culture and history. Consequently,
it seems as though the most important facts have been discarded
or "trashed."
She thought to challenge the ideals and perhaps level the playing
field by depicting various sought after images on trash. Originally,
this series included classical garden landscapes, fine houses,
interiors and their accoutrements. Miniature portraits were painted
for wealthy families on ivory in oval shapes.
The series of miniature portraits further became known as her
"White Trash Family." She began with her own family,
the Pringles, who are well represented in the city museum of South
Carolina. She later represented other privileged, wealthy, or
politically elite families. The irony is that she grew up as a
suburban redneck on James Island, SC. The last few years have
focused on the portraits in this series, but the new work at Bambi
Gallery will uncover some of her original ideas on trash.
Most importantly is her technique. The trash is found flat on
the street, without wrinkles in the center area. The graphics,
ideally, need to be well centered. The images of the portraits
are found and married to the trash in such a way that they are
complimentary. The trash is gessoed in the oval shape; the image
is drawn in graphite, painted in oils and then varnished.
Kim's work was recently seen in Juxtapose Magagine. click
here to review the article
Nutrition Information - project space
Hailing from Medellin, Colombia - "The City of Eternal
Spring," Andrés Alvarez came to Scranton,
Pennsylvania -- the so-called "Electric City" -- during
the 2008 - 2009 year to work as a Foreign Language Teaching Assistant
in the World Languages and Cultures Department at The University
of Scranton, a position he received through the prestigious Institute
for International Education. He used to work for German hotshot
on-site-sculptor Michael Beutler, from whom he acquired a fascination
for painting landscapes and nature.
During his time in Scranton, Andrés was both scholar and
tourist, hoping to polish up his English in preparation for a
Ph.D. while seeing much of the typical landscapes that are associated
with American popular culture in the meantime. Much of this only
resulted in what he calls "visual bulimia," where seeing
things for the sake of seeing them prevented having more meaningful
experiences of the American culture. Thus, Andrés turned
to his recycling bin and utilized empty cereal boxes and other
garbage that, for him, spoke of his experience living amongst
a bunch of poor college kids. By painting mundane Scranton landscapes
on food packaging materials, he hopes to address the American
tendency to develop, market, and consume not only goods and products,
but spaces and places as well.
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