bluetan collective - news feed

We are thrilled to announce our upcoming exhibition, Ultisols, at the Index Art Center in Newark, New Jersey. We hope you can join us at our opening reception on January 17th. bluetan collective presents: Ultisols Joseph O'Neal Brandon Fonville Joe Strasser Geoff Henshall Steve Chellis Index Art Center 237 Washington Street Newark, NJ 07102 www.indexartcenter.org [email protected] Gallery ph. 862-218-0278 Reception: Saturday, January 17, 7 - 10PM Exhibit on view through February 11 Ultisols [uhl-tuh-sawls, -sols] a highly weathered leached red or reddish-yellow acid soil with a clay-rich B horizon (subsoil). We as artists have a conscious and visceral bond to the environmental surroundings of our youth. This connection still affects our use of color, composition, and at times the overall language of our work. Ultisols represents that place where nature and nurture meet, acting as a metaphorical idea of where the conscious mind meets the innate or subconscious mind. We see the act of creating as an excavation of the meta/pataphysical ether in an attempt to uncover personal and universal meaning. The works in this exhibition are tokens from this excavation; i.e. an archeologist bringing a bone back to the lab. In this case the bone (our work) is not the object of desire but rather an invitation for the viewer to embark on their own excavational journey. This unearthing manifests itself in an array of distinct expressions throughout our collective: Geoff Henshall's reflections on youth, love and friendship; Brandon Fonville's photographs emphasizing place and change in a growing city; Joseph O’Neal’s poetic non-objective forms and wordplay; Joe Strasser’s urgent application of material; and the ambiguous taunting of Steve Chellis’ paintings and drawings. These brief examples articulate Ultisols: the exposed soil meeting the air; mirroring the artists' inner excavations coming to fruition. Though varied in intent and outcome, as a whole the work in this exhibition is effective in its ability to translate the myriad of experiences of our varied group in the light of a connected reality. http://bluetan.com

new photobooklet/zine in the bluetan shop: http://bluetan.bigcartel.com/product/woodhull-brandon-fonville WOODHULL Brandon Fonville A photo series from the Winter of 2012/2013. 5.5" x 8.5" laser printed 24 pages, staple-bound hand numbered edition of 50 published by bluetan collective, November 2014 PREVIEW

Steve Chellis Four Barrel Art Dept 375 Valencia St, San Francisco, CA 94103 July 3 - August 4, 2014 Opening Reception July 10, 2014 10pm

Steve Chellis, Study for Primer, 16" x 20" BROOKLYN – Armchair/Shotgun, a Brooklyn-based literary magazine, will host a group exhibition at Williamsburg art gallery 7Dunham from May 4 to May 11, with an opening event on Saturday, May 3 from 6:00 to 9:00 PM. The show, titled “Traces,” will feature the work of seven visual artists whose work has been published in the pages of the journal. Armchair/Shotgun, which also publishes poetry and short fiction selected anonymously and interviews with established writers and artists, prides itself on choosing work exclusively on its own merits without regard to biography, credentials, or past publication. This commitment has resulted in the mix of new and experienced artists appearing in “Traces.” Steel Stillman, a New York photographer, exhibits works from his series “Incidents,” excerpts of which were featured in Armchair/Shotgun’s inaugural issue. Taking as their foundation snapshot-like images from the last 40 years—to which Stillman adds hand-drawn black shapes—these pictures rewrite the past from the perspective of the present and construct an abstract documentary of a world that no longer exists, if indeed it ever did. The effect is often eerie, making the viewer uncomfortably aware of the frailty of his or her own memory. Painter and sculptor Sono Osato combines found objects and paint in layered constructions that often resemble a river bottom laden with half-buried relics including animal bones and fragments of clocks, typewriters, and old tools. She describes a sacred voice, muffled but defiant, crying out in a “groping for light and air.” Osato has worked and exhibited extensively in San Francisco and New York galleries and museums as well as in Berlin, and now divides her time between the American coasts. She is exhibiting her large diptych Silent Language No. 6, a detail of which appeared in Armchair/Shotgun No. 2 alongside an interview with Osato. Soft, ghostly landscapes characterize Massachusetts artist Adina Bricklin’s work. Her drawings and rubbings in graphite on black paper, which she describes as “translations of photographs,” slip in and out of view in a tantalizing, dreamlike dance. Frank Lentini’s paintings “live as though they teeter in and out of existence,” he says, echoing his feeling that his own existence is in flux. Through his subtle and colorful canvasses, he seeks to communicate the sense of his private thoughts, at once “whimsical and crude,” in the hope of engendering a return to an unmitigated, child-like sense of wonder. He has had a number of solo and group shows and is based in Brooklyn. Steve Chellis revels in the physicality of his craft while taking full advantage of its psychological possibilities, saying “The paint is very real. The image is a lie. I let them fight it out.” His highly narrative paintings, which often incorporate found images, can induce an inexplicable dread—one wants to hear the end of the story so one can stop being scared of it. A member of the bluetan collective, Chellis lives in North Carolina. The “Object Physicality” series by Jen Plaskowitz explores the relationships among the physical body, the emotional self, and the external environment in haunting silver gelatin prints. Plaskowitz previously traveled to Israel and Palestine to document human behavior at pilgrimage sites, for which she was granted a residency at the MacDowell Colony. Photographer Andrew Wertz explores the small and mid-cities of the rural Northeast and Appalachia, where layers of history build up in tenuous relationship. Drawing on both formal training under Pablo Delano and a life including years of warehouse work and cross-country travels in a pick-up truck, Wertz composes with a sensitive eye. The subtle palette of beiges and soft violets in the photographs selected for this exhibition has a surprising intimacy that contrasts with the sense that his subjects—architectural and human alike—may not welcome the scrutiny of outsiders. more information: 7 Dunham

Joseph O'Neal, fort, 40" x 30" more information: Littlefield NYC

$8.00 Forty Nights at Sea Steve Chellis 5.25" x 8.25" laser printed color zine 32 pages, stapled published by bluetan signed and numbered edition of 30 published November 2013 plastic wrapped with stickers preview Purchase

Joseph O'Neal Onassis Study II pencil, oil stick on paper 15.5" x 12.25" (with frame) 7Dunham Friday, October 18th, 2013 7pm - 10pm 7Dunham Pl, Brooklyn, NY 11249 (map) http://7dunham.com/

Last Breath New work by Steve Chellis May 28 - June 30, 2013 Artist Reception June 1, 2013 7pm - 2am Gallery Twenty-Two 1500 Central Avenue Charlotte, NC

bluetan titles are now available at Petrella's Imports, a classic New York City newsstand now operated by artists at Canal & Bowery in downtown Manhattan. The newsstand sells artist-made zines, photo books, postcards, alternative publications and more. Read about the project HERE & HERE. Not in the city? Check out the bluetan shop

From RH Gallery: NEW YORK – January 31, 2013 – Michael Kagan, Jean-Pierre Roy and RH Gallery are pleased to announce Single Fare 3. This third annual open-call exhibition invites artists to make work on a tiny, innocuous piece of plastic: the New York City Metrocard! The exhibition opens at RH Gallery on February 13th, 2013 and will be on view through February 22nd. Over one thousand artists working across disciplines including painting, drawing, sculpture, photography and video will submit art on Metrocards to the exhibition. RH Gallery’s entire 3500 square foot space will be consumed by tiny works of art reflecting a network of artist communities in New York and beyond. With last year’s edition bringing lines around the block, the expanded third edition show is sure to be a sensation. All works will be sold beginning at the reception on February 13th open to the public, from 6-9pm. The first hour from 6-7pm will offer collectors their first choice works for $200 each, following which all works will be sold for $100. Beginning on February 14th, works will be available for purchase at the gallery through February 22nd as well as online at www.single-fare.com.

Kraine Gallery 85 East 4th st. New York, NY 10003 Joseph O'Neal will be participating in Kraine Gallery's Holiday event Put a Bow on It. This is a great chance to get a piece from internationally collected artists at a very reasonable price. From Kraine: "A holiday party for the friends and artists of Kraine Gallery! Just in time for the holidays, Kraine Gallery presents Put a Bow On It 2012, a collection of small works all priced under $300. Art will be sold on a first come, first served basis. Once sold, each piece will immediately be wrapped (complete with bow!) and sent on its merry way."

Joseph O'Neal Onassis Study Claiming home as North Carolina and residing in Brooklyn, NY, Joseph O’Neal creates a transcendental dialogue through a system driven by the archaic. Symbols, phonetics, and imagery come descendent from a past that, in the words of Motherwell, “…could only have been conceived of at present.” 11" x 8.5" Original Drawing oil pastel, pencil on paper Signed Preview buy

Joseph O'Neal recently did an interview with Lily Koto Olive of art-rated. Have a read for an insight into his process as well as an insight into bluetan.