Jennifer Poon: Strange Blooms

Jennifer Poon | Untitled (detail) | Watercolor and gouache on paper | 41 x 53.5 in. | 2011

Jennifer Poon’s lyrical and confident paint conveys the fragile nature of and the sensitive balance between our physical and spiritual selves. Conducted with a delicate hand, her dark, heavy subject matter becomes tractable enough for us to approach it, reflect on it, and digest its message. Poon’s solo exhibition “Strange Blooms” creates a provocative dialogue by juxtaposing her meticulous watercolors with her obsessively crafted fabric sculptures. Mining the relatable from both human and animal subjects, Poon’s studio practice is at once intellectual and emotional; she maximizes the feminine nature of her media while allowing it to express compelling and bleak themes. The Artist’s cut and sewn paper, gouache, and watercolor along with her densely stitched, stained, and sculpted fabrics entice the viewer’s enamored gaze.

Claire Oliver Gallery Named “Best Booth in Art Miami”

Andrew Erdos | The Texture of a Ghost | Hand blown mirrorized glass, video, acrylic mirror | 8′ 4″ x 5′ x 4′ 6″ | 2011

Claire Oliver Gallery is proud to announce that we were selected as the “best booth in Art Miami” by both The Huffington Post and Whitehot Magazine.

The Huffington Post said:

“Claire Oliver was the best booth in Art Miami featuring an Andrew Erdos walk in booth installation and Andy Denzler’s dramatic out of focus figurative works.”

Other rave review include the Miami Herald:

“Moby and Will Smith were both seen separately at Art Miami. Smith, who knew, is an art fan was seen Thursday night at the Claire Oliver Gallery at Art Miami, where he was tooling around with fair director, Nick Korniloff.”

As well as Glass Quarterly:

“Art from glass is increasingly present at Art Miami  (December 1st-4th) with Schantz Galleries, Heller Gallery, and Barry Friedman among those 2011 exhibitors spotlighting silica sculpture. But it was New York-based Claire Oliver Gallery that may have generated the most attention for the material with her art and video installation of the work of up-and-coming glassblower Andrew Erdos, who brandishes a 2007 BFA in glass from Alfred.”

Matthew Sleeth: The Rise and Fall of Western Civilization (And Other Obvious Metaphors)

With tongue planted firmly in cheek, Matthew Sleeth chaperones us through an absurd and ambitious ‘roadmap to happiness’ in his Lilliputian freeway installation The Rise and Fall of Western Civilization (And Other Obvious Metaphors). The Artist questions the legitimacy of our preconceived ideals of perfect lives unfolding on cue, be they based on Eastern philosophies of the “journey” or Western philosophies of the “destination.” Cleverly handling the conceptual underpinnings of the installation, Sleeth co-opts the clichéd use of the road metaphor in the very title of the exhibition. He approaches the work with a hearty dose of realism, punctuating the familiar, concrete freeway with ironic billboards, street signs, and gantries pontificating “Sincerity Is The New Irony” and proclaiming “Happiness = Expectation / Achievement.”

Surviving Your Creativity

On October 5, Judith Schaechter presented the 14th Annual Page Hazlegrove Lecture in Glass Art at the Massachusetts Institue of Technology. The Hazelgrove Lecture was created in 1997 to honor the memory of Page, who brilliantly directed the Glass Lab from it’s beginning in 1988 until her untimely death in 1997. During her life, it was a dream of Page’s to invite young and upcoming artists to MIT to use Glass Lab and other resources of the Institute to deepen their artistic visions. Page believed that an annual artist-in-residence would also be a valuable experience for students in the Glass Lab. In this spirit, the Hazlegrove Lecture was born, and since 1997 a number of outstanding artists working in glass have been invited to MIT to lecture, do research, conduct workshops, and use the Glass Lab to further explore their own work. Artists include: Kiki Smith, Josiah McElheny, Maya Lin, Dale Chihuly, and Lino Tagliapietra, among others.

Judith was selected for this esteemed position, and gave her own lecture “Surviving Your Creativity: On Inspiration, Perspiration, Practice, Audience, and Beliefs” to a rapt audience. The full video of this talk can be seen here. As a preview, she supplied the following statement:

Reflection @ Art Miami: A Special Claire Oliver Gallery Exhibition

Last year at the close of Art Miami, Claire Oliver Gallery was proud and delighted to be traveling home with an empty truck. The Gallery worked with public collections and private individuals to place nearly every work that was presented in its site specific exhibition. Juxtaposing the confrontational works of American sculptor Beth Cavener Stichter with the reflective and empowering works of Austrian Norbert Brunner created a powerful and thought-provoking installation.

With the bar set very high for this year’s edition of Art Miami, Claire Oliver Gallery has curated a special exhibition of works by artists Andy Denzler, Norbert Brunner, Herb Jackson, Stephanie Lempert and Andrew Erdos entitled “Reflection.”

Reflection [ri-flek-shuhn] noun:

1. The act of reflecting or the state of being reflected.

2. A fixing of the thoughts on something; careful consideration.

3. A thought occurring in consideration or meditation.

Andrew Erdos | The Texture of a Ghost | Hand blown mirrorized glass, video, acrylic mirror | 8′ 4″ x 5′ x 4′ 6″ | 2011

Special Preview of Judith Schaechter’s Upcoming Exhibition at Eastern State Penetentiary

Maquette

Claire Oliver Gallery is proud to announce Judith Schaechter’s installation at the Eastern State Penitentiary in Philadelphia, PA. The USA Artists-funded project has realized a long-standing dream for Schaechter, as the historic site built in 1829 serves as the self-proclaimed ideal setting for her work. After two years of dedication and resolve, the Artist’s installation is just months away from its highly anticipated conclusion and will be on display from May to November of 2012. For those unable to travel to this unique venue for what promises to be an amazing exhibition, these works as well as all preparatory drawings will compose the Artist’s third solo exhibition at the Gallery, immediately following the installation at Eastern State in December of 2012.

Bernardi Roig and Judith Schaechter participate in the 2011 Venice Biennale

Bernardi Roig | Illuminated Head | Glasstress 2011

Claire Oliver Gallery is currently represented by two artists at the Venice Biennale, making this the fourth consecutive Biennale in which Gallery artists have been invited to participate. The exhibitions wil be on view through November 27th.

Glasstress: Collateral Event of the 54 International Art Exhibition

Over 50 internationally accliamed artists explore the possibilities of glass at the Palazzo Cavalli Franchetti in “Glasstress,” and Bernardi Roig and Judith Schaechter were invited to participate. The exhibition is defined as:

“Smart Artists, Architechts, and Designers creatively express their thoughts and ideas through a new medium – glass. Their contemporary artworks are proof positive of the limitless possibilities inherent in glass.

Glassblowing is hot . . . Glasstress is cool.”