A Human Extension

Posted on March 24, 2014 by Jason Patrick Voegele

Reception: Thursday February 6th, 7-9pm

Exhibition: February 6th – February 16th, 2014

Artists Include: Isaac Arvold, Erik Benson, Julie Elizabeth Brady, Paul Brainard, Monica Cook, Melissa Cooke, Peter Drake, MaDora Frey, Jane LaFarge Hamill, Aaron Johnson, Christian Johnson, Michael Kagan, Karl LaRocca, Francesco Longenecker, Daniel Maidman, Lindsay Mound, Reuben Negron, Javier Piñon, Colette Robbins, Jean-Pierre Roy, Michael Schall, Kristen Schiele, Andrew Smenos, Melanie Vote, Frank Webster, Eric White, Barnaby Whitfield, Mike Womack . Curated by Amy Berger, PR and Arrangement/ Installation by Keith Schweitzer and Jason Patrick Voegele

Inspired by the Designs of Jacqueline Popovic / Jankele

The Lodge Gallery presents an exhibition of new work exploring the relationship between fine art and fashion through a celebration of the accessory. Inspired by the organic and geological accessory designs of Jacqueline Popovic, A Human Extension features twenty-eight artists who have adapted the direct designs, production materials or visual spirit of Popovic’s celebrated Jankele collection into a body of work that investigates the challenging and curious marriage of fashion and art at the dawn of the 21st century.

A Human Extension is an attempt to re-conceptualize the fashion accessory as both sculptural and utilitarian. It is a chance to revisit ideas and philosophies that have long been explored by artists such as Vanessa Beecroft. Alexander McQueen, and Nick Cave who investigated the art/fashion relationship in unique and alternative contexts. Inspired by these ideas and in the context of Jankele’s designs, the artists of A Human Extension are pioneering influential new ideas about the role of fashion in contemporary visual culture.

Artist Julie Elizabeth Brady explains “Fashion is always on my mind when I am coming up with an idea for a painting, but first let me define what ‘fashion’ means to me. Fashion often implies something that is “of the moment” and stylish, but the fashion that captures my attention are pieces that are objects of beauty, new and old, that start a conversation.”

Effectively, all of the artists featured in A Human Extension are developing physical structures that are capable of extending the inner self beyond the confines of the material body. An inspired concept that has driven the philosophy of Jankele’s designs and the central theme around which she has become a muse to this group of artists.

Levan Mindiashvili : BORDERLINES

Posted on March 24, 2014 by Jason Patrick Voegele

January 16th, 2014 – February 4th, 2014

Opening Reception: Friday, January 17th, 7-9pm

Levan Mindiashvili has been making work about urban landscapes that inform our sense of identity and the intimate connections we make with the spaces we inhabit since 2012. In 2003 he graduated from Tbilisi State Academy of Arts (Republic of Georgia) and the same year started intensively exhibiting his works in Europe. From 2008 – 2012 he lived and worked in Buenos Aires, Argentina where he received his MFA from the National University of Art of Buenos Aires

Mindiashvili’s new series, entitled Borderlines, is a study of his reflections on cities as both public and private meeting points. Originally conceived in Buenos Aires, this recent body of work explores the artist’s personal and collective experiences with the architecture and public structures of New York, where he is currently based. It is through his renderings of reflections amongst monumental objects, combined with a uniquely subjective reinterpretation of urban stimulation/inundation, that he reveals his complex and evolving personal relationship with the city.

Borderlines is an investigation into the sediment of his global experience, the invisible realities that have been burned into his subconscious country by country, city by city, block by block. “Generally, architecture most clearly defines and reveals the changes in our contemporary world, in our approaches and common visions,” says Mindiashvili.

His new work depicts distorted, almost abstract fragments of old architecture reflected on new, transparent surfaces or seen through them. “I perceive them as maps of consciousness of the contemporary world with its migrations, gentrification, identity and social issues,” the artist explains, “I want to trigger a dialogue about recent history.” The idea that a personal history is valuable and that the reflected perception of each individual dictates the overall substance and spirit of the larger urban landscape is deeply rooted in his intentions.

TOTALLY GAY FOR SPORTS

Posted on March 24, 2014 by Jason Patrick Voegele

Curated by Paul Brainard at The Lodge Gallery

December 13th, 2013 – January 12th, 2014
Opening Reception: Friday, December 13th, 7-9pm

Artists Include: Paul Brainard, Chris Caccamise, Peter Daverington, TM Davy, Franklin Evans, Evie Falci, Dawn Frasch, Duncan Hannah, Kurt Kauper, Hyun Jin Alex Park, Jean Pierre Roy, Tom Sanford, Lane Twitchell, Eric White, Barnaby Whitfield, Kelli Williams

Self-actualization is defined as the process by which an individual achieves a more authentic version of oneself; a realization of one’s full potential. Sports, or more specifically, the athlete engaged in a sport, are often seen as a celebration of this process. The Olympian. The champion. The lone long distance runner determined to consistently improve on her performance. Pushing the boundaries of our known human limitations.

This journey of self-discovery is possible if the individual is free to address their personal nature and discover what lies within. We’ve forgotten this. The relatively recent celebritification of athletes, and the mania of modern fan culture, has changed the game.

It is from this perspective that we have arrived at our current position; “Totally Gay for Sports” combines an irreverence for the culture of sports celebrity while wrestling with one of the major issues of our time, equality for all. -Paul Brainard