Collaborative Arts is pleased to present CONCEPT: FOUND, a two month exhibition of new visual art featuring New Brunswick emerging artists Shane Gertner and Brent Klokis, and curated by Christina Entcheva. Opening reception is Thursday, October 14 from 7-10pm at coLAB Arts (49 Bayard Street, 3rd Floor, New Brunswick, NJ 08901). The opening will feature music, wine and food, and is FREE and open to the public.
Sync or Swim, Brent Klokis
Exclusions, Shane Gertner
Concept comes first. This notion fuels the work of conceptual artists Shane Gertner and Brent Klokis. Both artists employ a wide range of media and techniques to bring their creative ideas to life, but only after their concepts have been established. For Gertner and Klokis, concept is also what drives their choices for medium and technique. Concept: Found is a collection of the artists’ work that employs the use of found objects.
Shane Gertner creates rich narratives through found photographs, objects, and other ephemera. He affords the viewer glimpses into private worlds that are at once relatable, nostalgic, and bizarre. Gertner utilizes his vast collection of found materials to create immersive environments that reveal truths and invoke contemplation.
“As an artist I strive, through various media, to collect and create objects that remind me that each person’s perception is unique to them and never the same as mine; no two truths are ever the same no matter how similar. By collecting and creating various objects, doing research about their origins, gathering data, and performing field work I create assemblages and artworks which work to show someone’s truth, whether it is yours or mine. By collecting and creating various objects, doing research about their origins, gathering data, and performing field work I create assemblages and artworks which work to show someone’s truth, whether it is yours or mine. My work also concerns the relationships and values we create between things in our lives and how singular these are to us. I never approach making art with an idea of the finished piece. Instead I begin with an idea or concept and then decide what materials are needed to best express it. My body of work is therefore collection of different kinds of media all connecting to each other in order to further investigate an idea.
My work in Concept: Found is comprised of a more personal collection of works and artifacts. The photographs and objects on display were all found at various times in different places. My interest in each item led to further investigation and the presented works are the result of various investigations, inquiries, and expeditions. Each piece is part of a collection of insights, facts, and in some case voyeuristic truths that I have assembled. While some give more insight than others, all of the pieces work together to provide an insight into something other than my own perception.”
Brent Klokis uses found imagery and recyclable materials to distill layers of information. He employs the technique of collage to create seamless environments and imaginary worlds that capture an atmosphere that simultaneously evokes both intensity and calm. Klokis also creates three-dimensional topographical works that explore surfaces, layering, and the human form. What starts as a series of rectilinear planes is transformed into three-dimensional geometries that create an exaggerated sense of depth.
“Our reality is built on information. However, it is the specific organization and layering of this information that facilitates our understanding of this reality, whether it’s putting together bits of sound waves to constr uct a conversation, or pieces of visual information to construct our surrounding environment.
“In my work, I seek to explore this information landscape and exploit its constructs as I strive to find ways to present new organizations of that information. In my collection of collage work, this pursuit manifests itself through the creation of vignettes of environmental wholes. These vignettes are personified emotions portraying an almost muted intensity, as the emotion of each scene is balanced with a passiveness that resides as a reminder of the complexity and decentralized structure of the information landscape.
“No effect is the result of a single cause, there is no central focus in life, what’s exciting to one may be terrifying to another and mean nothing at all to a third. These pieces are made from disparate clippings of mainstream publications reinstated as a new whole, with a new story to tell.
“Manufacturing the thought process through a different method, my Topographs collection reimagines visual information as topographical layers. By simplifying visual information into two dimensional, hierarchically-colored elevation planes we can approximate an image with a definite depth. However a side view reveals a different picture. This collection uses cardboard as an easily accessible and workable material for surface exploration and layering.”
Christina Entcheva is an artist and designer. Her main focus as an artist and visual communicator is on concept, mastery of medium, and facilitating communication through common experience. Entcheva is continually inspired by design, technology, humanity, self-similarity, modernity, and urbanity.
- OPENING NIGHT for Concept:Found is Thursday, October 18 from 7-10pm. The opening will feature live music and a presentation by the curator. Free wine and food will be served. The event is FREE and open to the public.
- SECOND LOOK for Concept: Found, an event revisiting the exhibition its second month is on Thursday, November 11, 2010 from 7-10pm. The Second Look event will feature live music, and free wine and food. The event is FREE and open to the public.
