#sideshow gallery

IDEA: An exhibition of eccentric, ingenious musical sculptures and other artworks by artist-musicians Ken Butler and Ed Potokar.

WHAT: Although their intentions are rather similar, the two artists in SONARE are differentiated by the finished product. Butler exclusively uses up-cycled and transformed objects without much concern for a polished look. Potokar, on the other hand, uses mostly raw materials and fine wood with an interest in finish and craftsmanship. Both artists are motivated by things 'at hand' rather than by pre-existing plans, and are essentially improvisers. The resulting music and soundscapes are a by-product of these creations. The multi-media artworks in SONARE challenge previous notions of form and function as seemingly random juxtapositions of found objects, raw materials, electronics, and implied sounds force you to reconsider musical instruments as fine art. SONARE presents a unique confluence of art, instruments, sound, and performance.

WHY: Butler and Potokar believe a new definition is required as unprecedented access to new technologies has hybridized previous notions of what it means to be a musician, a composer, an artist, an instrument designer, a performer, or a gallery. The integration of all our senses, and the fusion of disciplines within an exhibition space are contemporary notions. While we see only what is in our field of vision, sound and light are pervasive, intrusive, and emanate in all directions, vibrating the walls and engulfing the surroundings unlike any static object. These innovative works bridge visual art, design, sound art and music, as function and form collide in an environment of sound, light, and motion. 

INSIDES: HOWARD KALISH AT SIDESHOW GALLERY

Howard Kalish’s sculpture isn’t meant to be seen from only the front or the back; better to view it from the inside out. 

  Insides, on display at Williamsburg’s Sideshow Gallery through November 2, exhibits Kalish’s idiosyncratic, transparent sculpture.  Kalish has a reputable background as a sculptor.  He studied at the New York Studio School and Cooper Union, received a National Endowment for the Arts in Sculpture, has taught at N.Y.U. and several other academies, and has sat on the Executive Board for the New York Sculptors’ Guild.  His public works can be found all over the U.S.

  Kalish’s sculpture reflects an artistic maturity one would expect from a man of his experience.  Built from the core outwards, the pieces in Insides reflect Kalish’s desire to express in a finished work the nature of its genesis and growth.  Some of the pieces, like Inside 1, or Inside 8 (Mandala) are abstract, representing nothing outside themselves.  Others, including Little Universe, Inspiration and Inside10 (Sea Leaves) are built out of more familiar forms indicating human figures, leaves, or sheaves of wheat. 

Howard Kalish, Inside 1, Resin, 24"x24"x20". (c) 2014 Howard Kalish.

Howard Kalish, Inside 8 (Mandala),painted steel, 21"x21"x21". (c) 2014 Howard Kalish.

Howard Kalish, Little Universe, resin stell and paint, 21"x21"x21". (c) 2014 Howard Kalish. Howard Kalish, Inspiration, resin steel and paint, 21"x21"x21". (c) 2014 Howard Kalish.

Howard Kalish, Inside 10 (Sea Leaves), urethane acrylic, 18"x22"x19". (c) 2014 Howard Kalish.,

  Yet in all of these there is an undeniable sense of the natural world, of development and expansion.  Kalish, who is profoundly influenced by nature, works on each piece by “following principles…which are analogous to the way forms are made in the universe.”  And because the works are “open,” conveying their internal structure as well as their final layers, they seem to breathe and alter as the viewer circles them.

  Insides perfectly melds Kalish’s conceptual and visual curiosities.  His interest in natural formations and the dependence of finished form on creative principle is evident not only in the press release, but in the works themselves.  This is a show by an artist who thinks clearly, crafts clearly, and makes a conceptual statement in an aesthetically beautiful way.

  Insides is on display at the Sideshow Gallery, 319 Bedford Ave, Brooklyn, through November 2, 2014.

All photos courtesy and quotation courtesy www.howardkalish.com.

  -Aaron Mayper