13 September – 27 October
RICHARD BARNES
Murmur
Richard Barnes’ recent photographic pursuits have centered on two
distinct bodies of work, linked by their relationship to natural history.
The first series represents an ongoing investigation into the ways
museums classify and display information, and de- and re-contextualize
objects, thereby altering their meaning and value. The second body of
work, developed during his fellowship at the American Academy in
Rome in 2006, investigates the bizarre and fantastic effects of swarms
of starlings flying over the city.

In a series of photographs taken at natural history museums in
Washington DC, San Francisco, Paris, and Ottawa, Barnes reveals the
‘behind the scenes’ processes through which museums recreate a
context for artifacts. Images of natural history dioramas in construction
and taxidermic animals in storage are surreal and compelling, as the
real and simulated coexist in an ambiguous space.

The series titled “Murmur” follows thousands of starlings as they fly
above Rome and its suburbs in the fall and winter. These photographs
capture the birds’ breathtaking aerial displays as they swoop and
swarm at twilight in astonishing and somewhat sinister formations.
 
EMIL LUKAS
One to the Other
Emil Lukas evidences the importance of process in labor-intensive
pieces derived from the artist’s experiments in unusual combinations
of objects and materials. Byproducts of his studio practice and the
natural environment around his home in rural Pennsylvania become
source material for and subjects of works that are both painting and
sculpture.

Philosophically, these works balance form and idea. Overlapping
colors, contrasting tonal ranges, the repetition of universal shapes
and structures, and the dynamic of positive and negative space create
the formal foundations in which the artist explores new ideas and
processes. Wide-ranging materials, including paper coffee cups used
to mix paint, bottle caps, plaster casts of objects and body parts,
organic residue, string, glass, and bubble wrap are part of the
archeology and vocabulary of each piece. The residual evidence of
process makes each work a history of its own making.

 
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Ottawa Buffalo 1, 2007
 
 
 

 
Stacking Linear Color, 2007