abington art center solo series

arden bendler browning, Cling, 2009, gouache, archival marker, and caran d'ache on rag paper, 50 x 47, aside, 2008, gouache, marker and crayon on rag paper, 50 x 92, Sideline, gouache, archival marker, and caran d'ache on rag paper, 50 x 70, serena perrone, Tristessa: Reappearance of the Vanished Filicudi from In the Realm of Reverie, woodcut, silverpoint and goldpoint on frosted mylar, 72 x 48, In the Realm of Reverie from In the Realm of Reverie & detail, woodcut, silverpoint and goldpoint on frosted mylar, 72 x 48, shannon donovan, porcelain, wallpaper, marav ezer, venetian blinds, video.

i attended the opening of abington art center's solo series to see my friend arden bendler browning's work and while i was there i met two new friends and their fabulous work--serena perrone and shannon donovan. i've long been an admirer of arden's work since our graduate school days together at tyler and her work still amazes me (see this post for an image of a painting of arden's i just acquired through a trade.) i'm so happy for her that she was chosen to be a part of this series of solo shows! arden writes about her work..."My marks investigate nature's determined growth amongst the urban obstacle. I am continually trying to understand how urban and suburban life's constructs reflect on my view of nature....I identify this distorted understanding of nature as a metaphor for an impossible search for an 'ideal' environment...fascination pulls me in and aesthetics push me back out. I am fascinated by the visual curiosity of a gated no-man's land, full of intricacy in its extreme neglect."
after viewing arden's show, i was looking at serena perrone's work and she was kind enough to come over and talk with us to explain her use of the painstaking drawing technique of silverpoint and goldpoint--making marks by carefully scratching paper with a silver or gold tipped stylus. she was wonderful as she also explained some of the ideas behind the work and how each of the figure in the works represents a realm of time, memory or mood of her physical self and others close to her.
as i was admiring shannon donovan's work, my husband suddenly realized that he had graduated high school with her 20 years ago(!), so it was a good excuse to talk with her. of her work she writes..."By transforming urban detritus into a decorative domestic feature, I promote interplay between nature and artifice, foster a cycle of cross-pollination between outdoors and in, and champion the notion that exuberance is better than taste."
sadly, i didn't meet marav ezer, but admired the work anyway....venetian blinds hung from the ceiling that while following the existing architectural space seemed to construct new ones-there was also a video projecting off of some of the blinds. the show is up until march 29.