Stephen Mallon "The Reefing of USS Radford" Exhibition

The Front Room Presents:

Stephen Mallon

“The Reefing of USS Radford”

May 18–June 17th
Reception, Fri. May 18th, 7-9pm
Hours: Fri-Sun 1-6 

The Front Room Gallery is Proud to present “The Reefing of USS Radford.” Stephen Mallon’s 3rd solo exhibition at The Front Room, this body of work is a continuation of his ongoing series “American Reclamation,”which chronicles and examines recycling processes in the U.S. This series holds optimism in the innovation of salvaging techniques, showing the possible gains that can be made as industrial waste is revivified. 

In the summer of 2010, American Marine Group (AMG) assumed responsibility of sinking the longest vessel ever reefed in the the Atlantic Ocean to date. 135 feet deep, and 28.5 nautical miles southeast of Cape May. 

563-feet in length, the USS Arthur W. Radford has nobly served her country for over 26 years as a US. Navy Spruance destroyer. Her impressive military background includes 10 deployments ranging from Venezuela, Panama, Argentina, Brazil, Senegal, Oman, Bahrain, the Azores, Nova Scotia, Italy and Turkey. Campaigns from Persian Gulf War, peace keeping operations off Lebanese coast, and finally retiring from her latest tour to battle in Operation Enduring Freedom makes her as decorated a hero as any Naval Admiral. 

This ship, once home to over 340 sailors at a single time, was given it’s last mission; to retire and become an underwater eco system to house algae, fish, anglers, and other under water life alike. Creating an underwater community not only for fish, but for divers as well. 

Stephen Mallon’s new series charts the final stages of this glorious vessel’s life and the destructive beauty of preparing it for reefing. 

Saturated Laughter on Cloud Nine at the Front Room

LAUGH SATURATED on CLOUD NINE
May 4, FRIDAY 8 to 9:30

PERFORMING: (in order)

MINDY RAF hip-hopin' lesbian songstress

CARLA RHODES rock n' roll ventriloquist

JOHN F. O'DONNELL wacky monologist

VICTOR SCHELLY performer & troubadour

The third segment of the LAUGH SATURATED series created by Larry Walczak & Lisa Levy.  An evening of music, performance & much, much laughter...


in conjunction with:

“Cloud Nine”
Curated by Larry Walczak
a group exhibition featuring visual interpretations of the concept of “ecstasy”
April 21st—May 13th, 2012
Featuring:
Bruce Checefsky • Chris Jehly • Chris Clary • David Kramer • Gregory de la Haba • Jesse Lambert • Patricia Fabricant • Lorella Paleni • J. Fiber • Brent Ridge • Linda Ganjian • Fred Tomaselli • Cham Giobbi • Jeanne Tremel • Amy Hill

Cloud Nine finds its roots in the religious art of Sassetta and Bernini, the bold and emotional works of Gericault, Delacroix and Goya from the Romantic period, William Blake’s paintings and prints from “Heaven & Hell”, the “inner language” of Clyfford Still’s abstractions and the contemporary psychedelic & color field paintings of Philip Taffee, Bridget Riley and Tom Moody. This exhibition bears no connection to the much-publicized 2005 exhibition titled “Ecstasy: In and About Altered States” at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles, which focused on the drug “ecstasy” or its chemical name MDMA. Nor is it intended to reference tantric sex or elements of rave or techno culture.

In an age when feelings of ecstasy can be realized in a six hour “experience” (MDMA), the more common route to harmony and happiness comes from the prozac revolution. Serotonin Uptake Inhibitors such as Paxil, Lexapro, Zoloft and others effectively repress feelings of depression and anxiety. By anesthetizing their emotional pain and conflict, people today seem to have done away with the need for ecstatic experiences. However, it could be argued that in today’s strained global economy and potentially apocalyptic landscape, the ability to escape or transcend to ecstatic states may never have been more necessary.

The artworks in Cloud Nine are visual interpretations of the concept of ecstasy and generally fall into the three categories: religious (or spiritual), philosophical, and personal.

LINDA GANJIAN’S sculpture “Theresa and I, Dreaming of You” is informed by Bernini’s “Ecstasy of St. Theresa” and intentionally conflates religious and sexual ecstasy by combining the visual vocabulary of both: phallic towers, heavy lidded eyes, stacks of breasts, and other forms arise from a turbulent sea of fabric.

AMY HILL’S oil painting titled “Worship” is influenced by the spiritual qualities found in northern Renaissance painter Hans Memling.

JESSE LAMBERT’S drawing “Future Butterfly” depicts a man reclining in an ambiguous state, perhaps sleeping, dreaming, hibernating or expiring. Vegetation bursts from his body as if it is an awakening from a dormant state of chrysalis.

BRUCE CHECEFSKY’S piece deals with simple pleasures, powerfully built on the achingly beautiful lines of the Japanese flower DAHLIA Tsuki Yore No Shisha and how they reside deep in this searing photograph.

FRED TOMASELLI’S collages combine cutout images of plants, birds, smiling mouths and hands with occasional passages of paint.

JEANNE TREMEL’S abstract painting on paper sees ecstasy as a “transformation to take place, both, in mind and psyche”.

In CHRIS JEHLY’S large painting ecstasy occurs with moments of catastrophic disbelief where feelings of fear and panic are replaced by feelings of euphoria.

LORELLA PALENI’S painting has a surreal pulp magazine cover feel that presents a revelatory daydream that suddenly brings the viewer to a parallel reality or unknown truth.

In “Heaven/Hell” BRENT RIDGE focus’ on the oppositional pole that represents a space between the literal and the transcendental.

CHRIS CLAREY creates an installation about out-of-body experience using wallpaper of images of over 1500 men downloaded from gay porn and dating websites collected over the last twenty years. Additionally, his desktop takes on mythic proportions when pixels are blown up to larger-than-life paintings.

CHAM GIOBBI’s piece “Se7n Gluttony (After Freud)” is a collage made from hundreds of photographic fragments covered with bees wax, embodies the isolation and shame of an obsessive urge, yet the private satisfaction of gorging leads one to a blissful, decadent state.

DAVID KRAMER contributes a painting on paper of euphoria as seen through the eyes of his “everyman” persona.

PATRICIA FABRICANT’s gouache paintings are a meditation on color & line. She aims to move beyond thought & conscious intent into a pure visual, transcendental space.

GREGORY DE LA HABA creates a wailing wall for recently departed artist Mike Kelley who reportedly died as a result of suicide. He creates a dynamic mixed media installation for an artist who may have been searching for something beyond the material world.

J.FIBER is the collaborative artist team of James Esber & Jane Fine whose works on paper feature cartoony images with lush colors of mischievous, sometimes sexy characters. 

"Cloud Nine" exhibition opens this Friday

The Front Room Presents:

“Cloud Nine”

Curated by Larry Walczak

a group exhibition featuring visual interpretations of the concept of “ecstasy”

April 21st—May 13th, 2012
Reception Friday April 21st 7-9

Featuring:
Bruce Checefsky • Chris Jehly • Chris Clary • David Kramer • Gregory de la Haba • Jesse Lambert • Patricia Fabricant • Lorella Paleni • J. Fiber • Brent Ridge • Linda Ganjian • Fred Tomaselli • Cham Giobbi • Jeanne Tremel • Amy Hill

Cloud Nine finds its roots in the religious art of Sassetta and Bernini, the bold and emotional works of Gericault, Delacroix and Goya from the Romantic period, William Blake’s paintings and prints from “Heaven & Hell”, the “inner language” of Clyfford Still’s abstractions and the contemporary psychedelic & color field paintings of Philip Taffee, Bridget Riley and Tom Moody. This exhibition bears no connection to the much-publicized 2005 exhibition titled “Ecstasy: In and About Altered States” at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles, which focused on the drug “ecstasy” or its chemical name MDMA. Nor is it intended to reference tantric sex or elements of rave or techno culture.

In an age when feelings of ecstasy can be realized in a six hour “experience” (MDMA), the more common route to harmony and happiness comes from the prozac revolution. Serotonin Uptake Inhibitors such as Paxil, Lexapro, Zoloft and others effectively repress feelings of depression and anxiety. By anesthetizing their emotional pain and conflict, people today seem to have done away with the need for ecstatic experiences. However, it could be argued that in today’s strained global economy and potentially apocalyptic landscape, the ability to escape or transcend to ecstatic states may never have been more necessary.

The artworks in Cloud Nine are visual interpretations of the concept of ecstasy and generally fall into the three categories: religious (or spiritual), philosophical, and personal.

LINDA GANJIAN’S sculpture “Theresa and I, Dreaming of You” is informed by Bernini’s “Ecstasy of St. Theresa” and intentionally conflates religious and sexual ecstasy by combining the visual vocabulary of both: phallic towers, heavy lidded eyes, stacks of breasts, and other forms arise from a turbulent sea of fabric.

AMY HILL’S oil painting titled “Worship” is influenced by the spiritual qualities found in northern Renaissance painter Hans Memling.

JESSE LAMBERT’S drawing “Future Butterfly” depicts a man reclining in an ambiguous state, perhaps sleeping, dreaming, hibernating or expiring. Vegetation bursts from his body as if it is an awakening from a dormant state of chrysalis.

BRUCE CHECEFSKY’S piece deals with simple pleasures, powerfully built on the achingly beautiful lines of the Japanese flower DAHLIA Tsuki Yore No Shisha and how they reside deep in this searing photograph.

FRED TOMASELLI’S collages combine cutout images of plants, birds, smiling mouths and hands with occasional passages of paint.

JEANNE TREMEL’S abstract painting on paper sees ecstasy as a “transformation to take place, both, in mind and psyche”.

In CHRIS JEHLY’S large painting ecstasy occurs with moments of catastrophic disbelief where feelings of fear and panic are replaced by feelings of euphoria.

LORELLA PALENI’S painting has a surreal pulp magazine cover feel that presents a revelatory daydream that suddenly brings the viewer to a parallel reality or unknown truth.

In “Heaven/Hell” BRENT RIDGE focus’ on the oppositional pole that represents a space between the literal and the transcendental.

CHRIS CLAREY creates an installation about out-of-body experience using wallpaper of images of over 1500 men downloaded from gay porn and dating websites collected over the last twenty years. Additionally, his desktop takes on mythic proportions when pixels are blown up to larger-than-life paintings.

CHAM GIOBBI’s piece “Se7n Gluttony (After Freud)” is a collage made from hundreds of photographic fragments covered with bees wax, embodies the isolation and shame of an obsessive urge, yet the private satisfaction of gorging leads one to a blissful, decadent state.

DAVID KRAMER contributes a painting on paper of euphoria as seen through the eyes of his “everyman” persona.

PATRICIA FABRICANT’s gouache paintings are a meditation on color & line. She aims to move beyond thought & conscious intent into a pure visual, transcendental space.

GREGORY DE LA HABA creates a wailing wall for recently departed artist Mike Kelley who reportedly died as a result of suicide. He creates a dynamic mixed media installation for an artist who may have been searching for something beyond the material world.

J.FIBER is the collaborative artist team of James Esber & Jane Fine whose works on paper feature cartoony images with lush colors of mischievous, sometimes sexy characters.

Meet Melissa Pokorny Tonight at the Front Room for Second Friday

Friday, April 13th, from 7-9pm join us at the Front Room for a reception with artist, Melissa Pokorny for her solo exhibition, "Useful Things (For Getting Lost). As part of the Williamsburg Every Second Event, the gallery will be open until 9.

Front Room is pleased to present “Useful Things (For Getting
Lost)”, a solo exhibition of new work by Melissa Pokorny. As the title suggests, this show is about looking--for things, at things, or through things. It’s about the pleasure that can be had from getting lost, as well as the anxiety that can produce in those leftbehind.

These new photo/collage/sculptural works reveal the extraordinary beauty hidden in the guise of the quotidian. Domestic objects gleaned from estate sales are combined with photographs and casts of utilitarian things--hammers, flashlights, pin cushions and coat hooks, to create evocative tableau that blur the boundaries between the domestic sphere and the natural world, the animate and the inanimate, the magical and the mundane, and remembered or invented memories of places and things.

Melissa Pokorny’s sculptural work examines connections between “things” as potent containers of memory, capably representing loss and estrangement, and the deeply metaphorical, haunted landscape of the everyday. Drawing on traditions of assemblage, these sculptural tableau and wall mounted forms address the status of marginal objects and things. Narratives that incorporate these occulted objects allude to the allure of magical thinking, and the collapse of boundaries between the animate and inanimate.

Spring is Here!

Visit us for the first weekend of Spring with our current exhibition, Melissa Pokorny's "Useful Things (For Getting Lost) exhibition. On view through April 15th

"Useful Things (For Getting Lost)", a solo exhibition of new work by Melissa Pokorny. As the title suggests, this show is about looking—for things, at things, or through things. It's about the pleasure that can be had from getting lost, as well as the anxiety that can produce in those left behind.

These new photo/collage/sculptural works reveal the extraordinary beauty hidden in the guise of the quotidian. Domestic objects gleaned from estate sales are combined with photographs and casts of utilitarian things—hammers, flashlights, pin cushions and coat hooks, to create evocative tableau that blur the boundaries between the domestic sphere and the natural world, the animate and the inanimate, the magical and the mundane, and remembered or invented memories of places and things.

Melissa Pokorny's sculptural work examines connections between "things" as potent containers of memory, capably representing loss and estrangement, and the deeply metaphorical, haunted landscape of the everyday. Drawing on traditions of assemblage, these sculptural tableau and wall mounted forms address the status of marginal objects and things. Narratives that incorporate these occulted objects allude to the allure of magical thinking, and the collapse of boundaries between the animate and inanimate.

The Front Room Gallery is located at 147 Roebling Street in Williamsburg Brooklyn. Gallery hours are Friday-Sunday 1-6PM and by appointment.

Join us at Fountain Art Fair, Opening this Friday

THE FRONT ROOM IS PROUD TO PARTICIPATE IN:






Location:
69th Regiment Armory
68 Lexington Avenue @ 25th Street
March 9 - March 11, 2012

General Hours: Saturday, March 10 & Sunday, March 11, 1pm–7pm

Hours & Special Events:
Friday, March 9, 1pm–7pm – VIP & Press Preview
Friday, March 9, 7pm–11pm – Artlog presents: Fab 5 Freddy (DJ set)
Saturday, March 10, 7–11pm – Art For Progress presents: Saturday Night Party

Melissa Pokorny: "Useful Things (For Getting Lost)" Exhibiton

Melissa Pokorny

“Useful Things (For Getting Lost)”

March 9 – April 15
Reception March 10, 7-10


Front Room is pleased to present “Useful Things (For Getting Lost)”, a solo exhibition of new work by Melissa Pokorny. As the title suggests, this show is about looking--for things, at things, or through things. It’s about the pleasure that can be had from getting lost, as well as the anxiety that can produce in those left behind.

These new photo/collage/sculptural works reveal the extraordinary beauty hidden in the guise of the quotidian. Domestic objects gleaned from estate sales are combined with photographs and casts of utilitarian things--hammers, flashlights, pin cushions and coat hooks, to create evocative tableau that blur the boundaries between the domestic sphere and the natural world, the animate and the inanimate, the magical and the mundane, and remembered or invented memories of places and things.

Melissa Pokorny’s sculptural work examines connections between “things” as potent containers of memory, capably representing loss and estrangement, and the deeply metaphorical, haunted landscape of the everyday. Drawing on traditions of assemblage, these sculptural tableau and wall mounted forms address the status of marginal objects and things. Narratives that incorporate these occulted objects allude to the allure of magical thinking, and the collapse of boundaries between the animate and inanimate.