mnartists.org: Gallery13

Stephen Mark . Mystical Skin . 56"x56"x18" .2008, $7,500.00

Gallery13 — Sun, 15 Jan 2012 21:03:27 GMT

Stephen Mark refers to his big canvas works as ‘Amalgamations', or ‘rugged landscapes' which are fashioned as sculptural paintings: constructed outside and aged in the elements. Mark's work is heavily influenced by Native American Pow Wow regalia, ceramic glaze patterns, Jackson Pollock, satellite imagery, and Anselm Kiefer. Horse sculls with the main, horse hair, horns, cow sculls, bones, and dried plant materials, with added toy parts are sculptural elements that are amalgamated within Mark's rugged, painted landscape constructions: the paint is a poured on to the canvases in a thick, viscous mixture of oil and water based paints. Stephen Mark, by design or through serendipity, deals with a number of themes: decay, mortality, reclamation, and transformation. These landscapes feel like that have an ancient past that has been found in a dry, waterless desert excavation: uncovering remains of animal and plant life in the delta sand or in a remote tar pit. Mark's uses color, as a blanket, a.k.a. Louise Nevelson, which pulls all the elements of the work together. The narrative in these works is less important than the looking at each piece as a unique symbol of our ecology and steward ship of land and life. Gallery13, 2009 Artist Statement I am an artist working and living in Southern Minnesota, 30 miles west of New Ulm in Springfield. I hold a Master of Fine Arts from Southern Illinois University and have alternately been teaching and working as a house painter to support my art and family. The title of this exhibition "Return to Horse Culture' is a painting which is part of a larger series of paintings, which I have been working on the past seven years. I call these works ‘Amalgamations' for they represent the confluence of different materials and philosophies. The Amalgamations combine found artifacts such as bones, shells, feathers and old toys with tied horse hair that represent a sculptural manifestation of painting. The horse hair often ties the compositions together, creating visual paths and connecting the work to animals and nature. These works are made with the canvases that are flat on the ground, out side in the elements. Thick mixtures of oil and water based paint are poured over them, covering the canvas and found objects. The paint acts as glue holding the objects on the canvas. These works can take weeks to cure. I look at these works as meditation landscapes. In "Return to Horse Culture" there is a sense of the background being parched earth. The central sculptural element, the horse skull, is meant to be a surreal boat traveling through this environment. My idea for this piece stems from a thought that many of us may, someday, learn to rely on horses again as a major component of culture. I think of this painting as grounding and hope. Along with the meditation landscapes I am developing painted sculptures called "Earth Mirrors" based on circular shapes and am continually wrestling with more psychologically charged figurative work. 'Return to Horse Culture' is supported in part with a grant from The McKnight Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts." Stephen Mark: 2009

Yoon Sang Chun Reflection Series 9. Oil on metal .car hood, 44" x 32" approx , 2010 $5000.00

Gallery13 — Sun, 15 Jan 2012 20:54:00 GMT

[size= 14pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"]Artist Statement [/size]

From old times, the pine tree, one of ten longevity symbols, has been considered very auspicious. This was also regarded as a symbol of fidelity and integrity, and used for many poems as primary subject matter. Widely distributed throughout the nation, the pine tree was used as the main timber for building a house, and is currently used as fuel, food, medicinal stuff, and lumber. It exerted a strong effect on Korean people’s lives both materially and spiritually, to say that “Korean people are born under pine trees, live with pine trees, and die under pine trees.” In a word, Korean culture is the culture of pine trees.

A pine tree has an exquisite contrast and harmony between red and blue. Its leaves appear blue eternally, and its body never gives up its red color even if the tree is dead. Its red body symbolizes warding off evil spirits, while its blue leaves refer to life and prosperity. The spreading of its branches and hues are particularly diverse, and changes at every moment, depending on each space and time. It is a spiritual tree, a tree brimming with life, a tree standing in the center of the universe, a tree composed of a mass of ‘gi’ (inner energy), and a mysterious tree. To employ it as the subject matter of a painting might be somewhat burdensome for all painters, but it is surely an attractive object worth seeking eternally.

Pine trees have become my work’s subject matter and motif for long years. Through an encounter of the pine tree, a symbol of Korean culture with cars, a symbol of contemporary civilization, I dream of natural coexistence and communication between tradition and modernity, the past and present, the natural and artificial, sensibility and reason. Artworks on display at the show feature pine trees rendered in diverse, unique techniques on the car hoods, sunroofs, and their models.

The pine trees depicted on the car hoods appear deformed, but their lines and colors in air and light seem profound and abstruse. [i]Pine Trees Reflected[/i] presents a tree language in that it evocates energy of a tree lost in contemporary people’s mental image, rather than simply depicting something reflected onto car parts.

Informatization, globalization, and industrialization are the worldwide trends of the 21^st century. I discovered works addressing pine trees may stimulate a connection between tradition and modernity, and the establishment of national and individual identity. I wish my pine tree work could offer momentum for the setting up of new, creative painting through communication between man and nature, and for the achievement of ecological harmony between man and nature, leading the exploration of creating future-oriented new culture.

Sang Chun

2010

Yoon Sang Chun . Refelction 2. oil on metal. car hood. 44.5 x 28.7. 2008 . $5000

Gallery13 — Sun, 15 Jan 2012 20:47:26 GMT

[size= 14pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"]Artist Statement [/size]

Sang Chun -2010

Yoon Sang Chun: Reflection Series. Oil on metal car hood, 44" x 32" approx , 2010 $5000.00

Gallery13 — Sun, 15 Jan 2012 20:45:36 GMT

[size= 14pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"]Artist Statement [/size]

Yoon Sang Chun: Pine tree Art Car.

Gallery13 — Wed, 10 Aug 2011 00:15:47 GMT

Gallery13 651-592-5503 Info@gallery13.com 811 Lasalle Ave. Minneapolis, MN. 55402 Gallery Hours: Tues.- Sat. Noon - 6:00pm or by appointment. Yoon Sang Chun ‘Pine Tree Art Car ‘ August 18 th- September 9th, 2011 Artist Opening Reception: Thursday, August 18th, 2011,7.m. -10.p.m. Sang Chun , the artist, will be present and give a short short talk: 7:30 p.m. - 9:00 p.m. about his work with an emphasis on the importance of the Korean Pine tree and its relationship to modern industrial society Yoon Sang Chun returns to Gallery 13 with his second exhibition entitled ‘Pine Tree Art Car'. Sang Chun uses the Korean Pine as an economic, spiritual and cultural symbol of Korean Culture. Sang Chuns' new work includes 3 primary art works: a fully painted 2002 Hyundai Accent, a symbol of the machine and industrialization, painted with the Sang Chuns' distinctively modernist yet surrealist style of Korean Pine Tree forest. Central to the car installation are 2 -30' foot painted canvas murals that depict a blend of pine tree silhouette over lapping the urban ,city, metropolis , and the pine tree forest ,a representation of ancient culture, and memory. "Pine trees have become my work's subject matter and motif for long years. Through an encounter with the pine tree, a symbol of Korean culture as pervasive as the Korean automobile, the Korean Pine is also symbol of contemporary civilization. I dream of natural coexistence and communication between tradition and modernity, the past and present, the natural and artificial, sensibility and reason. Artworks on display in this exhibition feature pine trees rendered in diverse, unique techniques on the car and on the canvas. " For several years Sang Chun has painted pine tree images on metallic car bonnets. For the artist, the pine tree is a symbol of a previous life (the past, or tradition), while the bonnet or car is a metaphor for modern convenience (reality, or contemporary times). Sang Chun is experimenting with diverse subject matter and techniques, and since his first solo show in the U.S. Sang -chun has been fascinated with the automobile as a canvas and device he can use to create the consummate blend of machine and pine tree tableaux that exists in symbolic equilibrium with the machine (industrialization). Sang Chun has constantly pursued change in his work which is overtly reflected in this current body of work. Sang Chun works for and against historical, cultural, and traditional ruts and customs, demonstrated in his work by virtue of a new form, style, and direction away from traditional motifs well known in Korean Culture. ‘The Pine Tree Art Car' is a continuation of Sang Chuns desire to bring the Pine Tree painting into a modernist form breaking with more culturally accepted depictions of the Pine Tree. Yoon Sang Chun has come from Daego, South Korea with his wife Noh and their two children to create and install ‘Pine Tree Art Car". Sang Chun currently teaches painting in the Master of Arts program in the Department of Fine Arts, Kyungpook National University.. Gallery13 with Yoon Sang Chun 2011

Louisa Greenstock. at Gallery13 : ' A Woman's Place'

Gallery13 — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 23:12:13 GMT

Gallery13 Artist Opening and Reception: Fri. Feb. 12th 6:00 p.m.-10:00 p.m. 811 LaSalle Ave. Minneapolis MN 55402 -Meter Parking on LaSalle and side streets is free al; weekend and after 6pm -Ramp Parking: $3.-$5. All within ½ block of gallery. ‘A Woman’s Place’ is new exhibition of paintings by Louisa Greenstock that looks at the roles and lives of women in society. Sounds tame and comfy right? There is really nothing tame and comfortable about Greenstock approach to painting the complexity of women’s lives and personalities. In her book, ‘Vicious Delicious and Ambitious’, Sherri Cullison makes a succinct and astute observation about Greenstock’s work: [i] “On canvas Louisa takes the oddities of human experience and renders them in oils. She mocks human nature by creating scenes full of sudden truths, outlandish possibilities, and sometimes dire necessity.”[/i] Louisa Greenstock is holding firm to Collison remarks in this new series of paintings in which she reveals her empathy and her kinship with women. Greenstock paints women from all walks of life in roles that they may or may not have chosen. Louisa empathizes with these women through her paintings. . They are Greenstock’s alter egos. The portraits come from the artist’s imagination endowed with real life experience and observation. -Gallery13 2010

image: Louisa Greenstock. Tough Love. 'A Woman's Place'

image: Louisa Greenstock 'Story Lines' 'A Woman's Place'

image: Louisa Greenstock . 'Girl Friends' 'A Womans Place'

Gallery13 : Ben Reed : 'Train To Execute'

Gallery13 — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 23:03:23 GMT

Ben Reed 'Train to Execute Recent work: Sculpture and installation Thru August 31st. Gallery13 651-592-5503 info@gallery13.com 811 LaSalle Minneapolis Mn. 55402