In the Body
Opening Sept. 28, 2020- Jan. 8, 2021
Inaugural Exhibition Curated by Laudelina Martinez
For this exhibition, the artist is invited to explore the meanings of “body” beyond the ordinary conception of the word. It refers not only to the human figure, but to other things whether animal or plant or mineral.
Paradoxically, a body may be living or dead. In that way, body may stand for material reality in contrast to spirit or soul, although certainly a living body has a distinguishing animate nature. As it transforms, body has the potential to be perceived as dormant or dynamic. It certainly contains the potential of energy.
Beyond the material world, “body” may bring up notions of ideas, especially grouped collectively, in that way, body may be seen as a kind of thought abstracted from the material world. Through intelligence and imagination, artists pull on whatever is evocative in matter,thereby granting what they produce (or create) a significance that is their own.
Whether viewers come in touch, or become aware of the artist’s significance is another question. The space inhabited by a work of art is complex for the viewer. Ideas and /or emotions generated spring from the preparation and cultural expectations the viewer has, a subtle working out of intertextuality.
Alexis Mendoza
About Alexis Mendoza
Cuban-born Bronxite Alexis Mendoza is an interdisciplinary artist, independent curator, and author. Mendoza exhibited his artworks in museums and galleries around the world. His artworks are part of public and private collections at the Museum of Modern Art, Museum of Contemporary Art in São Paulo, and many more. Alexis Mendoza is also the author of books, such as Latin America, The Culture and the New Men and Objective Reference of Painting: The work of Ismael Checo, 1986-2006. Mendoza is also the organizer of the NY Latin American Art Triennial and founder of the BX Arts Factory.
Barbara Masterson
About Barbara Masterson
In 1971 Barbara Masterson graduated with an AAS in Fine Art from Elizabeth Seton College, received her bachelor’s degree in Art Education in 1988, and her Master of Arts in painting in 1990 from SUNY New Paltz. Her main influences include Monet, Edward Hopper, Windslow Homer and Michaelangelo.
In late May of 2015 while painting en plein air on a local farm, Masterson began adding the migrant workers to her work. At first they were faceless figures in the fields. They became prominent in her compositions; the figure becoming large/cropped. These workers are some of the “faceless” people that impact our lives. These workers often remain unseen and unknown despite their presence in our Valley for many months each year. Getting to know and then paint them has transformed Masterson and her work.
Bob Blackmon
About Bob Blackmon
Bob Blackmon has been painting since 1973, but retirement as a university dean has allowed him to work full time on painting, teaching art, and exhibiting. Blackmon’s still life style is influenced by the Baroque-style paintings. Blackmon's landscapes and still lifes have been shown in galleries throughout the country. His work is represented by two Irish galleries, one in County Waterford, and the other in County Kerry; he lives and has a studio in Troy, NY.
Gary Masline
About Gary Masline
Gary Masline is a landscape and figurative artist, whose works present wide and expansive American panoramas in which humans try to toil. His background includes training in the law, a career as a government official, and active participation in a community of Upstate New York artists. Masline's previous creative incarnation was as a screenwriter, and he reasons that painting is a consistent development stemming from that history.
George Simmons
About George Simmons
George Simmons is an artist who focuses on printmaking, painting and fine art photography. A graduate of the University of Wisconsin with an MFA in studio art, Simmons exhibits mostly in the Northeast region and has been the recipient of photography awards. He recently retired from NY state service and now lives and has a studio in South Carolina.
Speaking about his recent work, "I used my body/self-portrait as subject. Initially, it was a journey of discovery in that there was no real pre-visualization of the final image. I soon found myself combining and layering images in diptychs. This duality reminded me of W.E.B. DuBois’ concept of Twoness. He wrote: '…this doubled consciousness,this sense of always looking at one’s self through the eyes of others…'. And more personally: my feelings of belonging and not belonging, of not being black enough and a sense of separation from both the black and white cultures. This duality/conflict is particularly exacerbated by the present tumultuous socio-political climate."
Jacqueline Watsky
About Jacqueline Watsky
Jacqueline Watsky grew up attending classes at the Brooklyn Museum Art School. She eventually went on to study at Hunter College for her BA and Brooklyn college for her MA. Watsky founded Art de Cure in 2010, a not-for-profit volunteer driven organization whose mission brought original work of regional artists into medical practices. She currently lives in Upstate New York where she devotes her time as an artist, humanitarian, and activist.
Jeanne Finley
About Jeanne Finley
Jeanne Finley began creative life as an aspiring visual artist but instead became a published writer of poetry and fiction, later non-fiction, later yet an editor––all the while making photographs as a sidelight. Jeanne didn’t give photography a conscious place in her creative life until she reached the end of her active writing life several years ago––and it was like meeting an old friend absent for years: familiar but different, finally present in form and daylight. Their conversation picked up immediately where they had left off, and photography is now her primary creative practice. Since 2015, she has exhibited in galleries and venues throughout the Capital Region and beyond.
"For this exhibit I interpreted the body as the form that both humans and animals exist in, on both the material and intellectual planes.This form has its own language––'body language'––and I tried to capture moments when one body speaks to another, or (in the case of animals) just by existing tells the viewer what it’s like to live inside it."
Marie-Louise McHugh
About Marie Louise-McHugh
Marie-Louise McHugh was born in Switzerland, attending the University of Berne and exploring photography. After moving to the United States, she attended the University at Albany to study painting. Exhibiting widely, her paintings are in collections internationally, including Germany and Hong Kong. Currently, she shows in New York and Florida.
Roxanna Melendez
About Roxanna Melendez
Roxanna Melendez is a visual artist, who often uses Caribbean themes in her paintings. Born in Puerto Rico, she graduated with an MSW from Columbia University and studied art at Hunter College and at The Art Students League. Melendez has exhibited in Long Island, New York City, Woodstock, and the Capital District. Her bold paintings depict real life events within a personal symbolism. Melendez explores her cultural roots and her life in New York City through paintings with strong figurative and narrative elements.
Tina Lincer
About Tina Lincer
Tina Lincer, a New York City native,is an oil painter, collage artist and writer. An unabashed colorist with a love of impasto and sgrafitto, she shows in galleries throughout Upstate New York, where she lives. Many of her landscapes are inspired by travels in New England and Canada.
"Art is my escape from words, and also a language of its own. It grounds and balances me. I love nothing more than the horizon line, from which I can create earth, ocean, desert, sky; indeed, an entire universe in a few simple strokes and bursts of color. I’m also captivated by the concept of the vessel; so many of my florals and vase paintings are explorations of containers. I veer toward texture, thick impastos and jewel-toned colors. A great experimenter with both subject and mark-making, I’m always open to accidental discoveries, leaps of the imagination and unintended connections."