Saturday, November 24, 2012

the earth is round yet we divide it into squares

galleRoy @ RiT

New and recent works by:

June Diamond
Nader Ghassemlou
Gabriela Perozo
Roy Anthony Shabla

RiT Gallery
15866 E. Main St.
La Puente, CA 91744

opening : November 17, 2012 (Old Town La Puente Artwalk)

Roy Anthony Shabla's - Water Music in the background of the punk band that played as part of
the La Puente Artwalk.
 
 
 
Roy Anthony Shabla is the curator and participant in this group show.  The title and premise for the exhibition is based on one of Shabla's poems and his life as a feng-shui yogi.  In feng-shui the round and the square signify heaven on earth.  Shabla was dealing with "earth aspects" as the metaphor for the artists that were chosen for the exhibition. 
 
Ghassemlou's photographs were described by Shabla as having a "skewed perspective".   Each of the photographs for the show pulls the viewer into the on-going energy in the shot. Shabla described Ghassemlou's selected photographs as "earth images with man-made structures around them-landscapes and buildings-squares and round things".
 
June Diamond's wall installation, Go (7' x 11') consists of hundreds of slivered tequila bottles which are cleverly linked by a small opening in each shape.  Diamond conceptually adheres to Shabla's "earth aspects" by abstracting the malleability of materials.  Go exhibits the periodic table of Silicon. The glass from the tequila bottles is obliquely returning to its elemental origins.  Human skeletons and plant ashes contain silica.  Diamond reminds us of our cellular connections.  Additionally, Gestation harbors a bird's nest in a sanctuary of a re-purposed aluminum chair.  The design of the metal chair, square acrylic casing and hand-made glass bowl, exalt the nest to reliquary.
 
Gabriela Perozo's Encadenada I (porcelain, 21"x 7"),  parallels Diamond's installation with continuous lines of clay highlighted by floral cups sprouting throughout the form.  The spiral forms, in each cup shape, relate to sub-atomic images of organic matter existing in their own micro-galaxies. The word encadenada in Spanish refers to being chained.  Perhaps Perozo's work references the dichotomy of nature needing to "link" to survive and wanting to become independent from metaphoric throngs.
 
Roy Anthony Shabla included two large scale paintings; Water Music and Grand Canyon Suite.   These paintings are conceived by pouring paint on canvas on the floor.  By working in this manner, Shabla replicates his experiences of aerial views of the earth via airplanes.  He poetically stated his experiences as;  "...when I look out the window of the airplane flying over the farm fields and the property- our property is all rectangles and squares but the earth is always round...I was working with that juxtaposition...".
 
 
The exhibition at RiT gallery will be on display for the next two months. 
 
Nader Ghassemlou
 






 
Gabriela Perozo -Encadenada
 
 
June Diamond- Go
 
 
June Diamond- Gestation
 
 
Roy Anthony Shabla- Grand Canyon Suite
 
 




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