The Summer Show

June 23 - August 5, 2000

Opening Reception: Friday, June 23, 5 - 8pm

Artists' Talk: Saturday, July 15th, 2pm

Gallery 312's annual summer exhibition of emerging and under-represented artists will feature the work of 15 artists this year, and will include photography, painting, video, sculpture, sound and mixed media works.

Sally Alatalo's recent projects have evolved from her history as a printer and publisher of artist's books. A fascination with pulp paperbacks, especially romance novels, has led to projects such as printing several editions of a trompe l'oeil wallpaper "library" of paperbacks. Alatalo will be installing a new site-specific project for this exhibition.

Worn Embraces (detail), 1998, screenprinted wallpaper, 10' x 23'

Caroline Allison's photographs explore the artificialized, aesthetisized landscape and focus on our relationship to these constructed places. Seeking out often bizarre scenes such as roof-top gardens, overly symmetrical landscape architecture and sterile interior spaces punctuated by living foliage, Allison questions our romantic conceptions of nature and yearning for the natural in an increasingly fabricated environment.

External Relations, 1999, C-print, 25" x 25"

Ellen Campbell's paintings use stylized, organic forms derived from foliage and flowers as decorative motifs which evolve into a more secretive exploitation of consumer culture and pop design. Shifting layers of spaces and planes add a constantly changing dimension to these works which is at odds with their, initially breezy, surface optimism.

Untitled, 1999, oil on canvas, 32" x 24"

Mark Clarson stages scenes of domestic drama which are then photographed in an ongoing narrative in which characters appear and re-appear in different combinations. Set in suburban and rural middle-class banality, they are presented in such a straight-forward manner by the artist that any irony is more a reflection of the viewer's background and interpretation than a critique of this lifestyle by Clarson.

Janet's House, 1999, photograph, 60" x 40"

Derek Fansler's recent project is a modification of a popular video game with a new, personalized twist. The artist has recreated the neighborhood in which he grew up and, as the player, he blows away representations of his own "bad sides" while they do battle with each other. More information on Derek Fansler at his web sites DF1 and DF2 and at www.squeakyduck.com.

Q2DF1, 2000, video still

Hannah Hammond-Hagman's photographic series "Decked" investigates young men's facial hair as a site of stylized masculinity. The closely cropped images dislocate the gaze of each subject, so not only are the men open to scrutiny, but their presence to the viewer and to each other is disconcerting and ambiguous. The viewer is left to deduce other symbols (e.g. jewelry, clothing and gesture) to sum up the individual depicted.

John Judge paints suburban parking lots and mall spaces with the surreality of De Chirico's metaphysical urban scenes of the early 20th century. The parking lot has replaced the town square as American society's public gathering place, where citizens convene before partaking in our culture's most important activity, shopping.

Do You Have These in a 5, 1999, oil on canvas, 14" x 16"

Girth 2000, ink jet print, 40" x 204"

Alan Labb's photo mural, created for the first time for this exhibition, features the torsos of six overweight men. At first glance, they appear to be the same person but on closer inspection, made possible by the detail provided in this larger-than-life scale, the individuality of each human body becomes strikingly apparent.

Mayumi Lake's new sound installation is a reflection of the Japanese culture she was raised in; its gentility, propriety and discomfort with bodily functions. This piece plays on a recent trend in Japan to install boxes emitting artificial sounds (such as waterfalls) in restroom stalls, meant to mask more human sounds.

Natalie McClernan's most recent work is a photographic investigation of the standard Rorschach test patterns, recreating these blotches with unique imagery and developing her own patterns with her cat. This work continues her quirky investigations of self-portraiture, previously seen in photographs of pristine home interiors, into which she placed her body in the most unlikely spots.

Feline Diagnostics, 2000, ink jet print, 16" x 20"

Untitled, 1999, goauche on paper, 9" x 12"

Christopher Patch's paintings and drawings exude a fifties pop aesthetic in their lush pastels and bold, stylized forms. By isolating elements found in old magazine advertisements and comic books, Patch recreates forms eliminating function. The results are seemingly decorative and sweet, Disneyesque cartoons that often belie a darker element of unease.

Steve Reber's whimsical sculptures combine found objects with plaster, rubber, wax and steel. Though some of these works incorporate forms that are derived from functional objects or have an initial impression of being functional, the viewer is more inclined to imagine or invent a function than to try to deduce if there is an intended use.

Untitled, 1999, plaster, fabric, paint, 30" x 22" 13""

Rachel Roske's paintings continue in the modernist tradition of color field painting a la Barnett Newman. Always directly inspired by a specific visual reference from the external world, such as a bare wall or a building against the sky, the artist builds "still- lifes" in the studio from memory which hone and contain the formal and emotional weight of the original subject without direct, recognizable depiction.

Rachel's Box, 2000, oil on panel, 11.5" x 11.5"

Ellen Shershow's recent project is quirky and bordering on grotesque in that she has been inventing her own form of taxidermy and photographing the results. Bird bodies are turned inside out, and propped up as if still able to move under their own power. Other works by Shershow have documented collections of nail clippings, bird eyeballs, and other relics of the natural world.

Bird Inside Out #5, 1999, C-print, 60" x 20"

Mel Watkin's highly detailed drawings on lace stem from a series of plant and flower images she has been developing over several years. These plants look viable but do not actually exist; though her drawings have a historical, almost field illustration look, Watkin tries to imbue them with a sense of danger - a poisonous quality - despite their delicacy.

Tree Gall (detail), 1999, pencil & acrylic on lace, 46" x 23"

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	Sally Alatalo's recent projects have evolved from her history as a printer and publisher of artist's books. A fascination with pulp paperbacks, especially romance novels, has led to projects such as printing several editions of a trompe l'oeil wallpaper "library" of paperbacks. Alatalo will be installing a new site-specific project for this exhibition.
Worn Embraces (detail), 1998, screenprinted wallpaper, 10' x 23'

	Ellen Campbell's paintings use stylized, organic forms derived from foliage and flowers as decorative motifs which evolve into a more secretive exploitation of consumer culture and pop design. Shifting layers of spaces and planes add a constantly changing dimension to these works which is at odds with their, initially breezy, surface optimism.
Untitled, 1999, oil on canvas, 32" x 24"

	Derek Fansler's recent project is a modification of a popular video game with a new, personalized twist. The artist has recreated the neighborhood in which he grew up and, as the player, he blows away representations of his own "bad sides" while they do battle with each other. More information on Derek Fansler at his web sites DF1 and DF2 and at www.squeakyduck.com.
Q2DF1, 2000, video still

	John Judge paints suburban parking lots and mall spaces with the surreality of De Chirico's metaphysical urban scenes of the early 20th century. The parking lot has replaced the town square as American society's public gathering place, where citizens convene before partaking in our culture's most important activity, shopping.
Do You Have These in a 5, 1999, oil on canvas, 14" x 16"

	Natalie McClernan's most recent work is a photographic investigation of the standard Rorschach test patterns, recreating these blotches with unique imagery and developing her own patterns with her cat. This work continues her quirky investigations of self-portraiture, previously seen in photographs of pristine home interiors, into which she placed her body in the most unlikely spots.
Feline Diagnostics, 2000, ink jet print, 16" x 20"

	Steve Reber's whimsical sculptures combine found objects with plaster, rubber, wax and steel. Though some of these works incorporate forms that are derived from functional objects or have an initial impression of being functional, the viewer is more inclined to imagine or invent a function than to try to deduce if there is an intended use.
Untitled, 1999, plaster, fabric, paint, 30" x 22" 13""

	Ellen Shershow's recent project is quirky and bordering on grotesque in that she has been inventing her own form of taxidermy and photographing the results. Bird bodies are turned inside out, and propped up as if still able to move under their own power. Other works by Shershow have documented collections of nail clippings, bird eyeballs, and other relics of the natural world.
Bird Inside Out #5, 1999, C-print, 60" x 20"

	Mel Watkin's highly detailed drawings on lace stem from a series of plant and flower images she has been developing over several years. These plants look viable but do not actually exist; though her drawings have a historical, almost field illustration look, Watkin tries to imbue them with a sense of danger - a poisonous quality - despite their delicacy.
Tree Gall (detail), 1999, pencil & acrylic on lace, 46" x 23"