BIG SHOW

September 14, 2012 - October 20, 2012

The Detroit Artists Market presents THE BIG SHOW
September 14 – October 20, 2012

The Detroit Artists Market invites you to come and immerse yourself in the experience! THE BIG SHOW is a group exhibition celebrating DAM’s 80th anniversary year with large scale works by 14 local artists. Selected and juried by the DAM Exhibition Committee, THE BIG SHOW runs September 14 – October 20, 2012, opening with a public reception Friday, September 14th from 6pm – 9pm. DAM will host a Gallery Talk with the exhibiting artists on Saturday, October 6, 2012 from 2pm – 4pm.

DAM Exhibition Committee Chairman Gary Eleinko explains, “To honor our 80th anniversary, it seemed a fitting thing to do something ‘big’, thus THE BIG SHOW.  Large-scale pieces creates a different experience for the viewer, they can provide a panoramic image, envelope you and draw you in.”

“It is unusual for a gallery our size to feature such large artworks”, adds DAM Director Nancy Sizer. “We invite everyone to enjoy these breathtaking works, celebrate the opening of our 80th exhibition season, and kick-off the next chapter of the Detroit Artists Market.”

Photo Credit: Vanessa van Eeghen, New Creation

ARTISTS

Eileen Aboulafia Deals in the past and the present as a metaphor for life. Nature is an ongoing theme in her work. This piece begun as a photo in 1998 of a forest standing pregnant with history and its accumulation of debris and countless stories. This works matrix is a photo, with accumulated natural foliage, and small photos, oil, shellac and brought forward with dried stalks bundled in a tight sheaf reading as a metaphor for memories of her life.
  
Brian Barr Received his BFA from the College for Creative Studies and his MFA from American University in Washington DC. He is currently a Visiting Assistant Professor of Fine Arts at the College for Creative Studies. Barr has exhibited his work nationally at venues in Detroit, St. Louis, Chicago, Washington DC, Philadelphia, Boston, New York, and beyond. His work was recently featured in Totems at Vox Populi in Philadelphia and the publication, New American Paintings.

Holly Branstner My life has been split between industrial-scapes and the landscapes of northern Michigan. For most of my career I have explored my place in nature; now it is my time to reason out my fascination with the industrial landscape that surrounds me. This has opened a new path for me, a path that is still in the process of revealing itself.

Peter Crow Makes brightly colored paintings of swooping gestures, linear marks, and invented forms that evoke the human figure, nature and the drama of searching for a personal artistic language. Crow invents space that can be walked around in, filled with forms and colors that come alive with their own existence.

Joan Farago A painter and printmaker who looks for the wonder in our natural world and is drawn to references with historical, spiritual, or mythological themes. Color layering, dimensionality and emotional twists are earmarks of her work. A reoccurring circular shape refers to an inescapable time
line and structure, exposing our connections to the natural world.

Marcia Freedman All of her investigations have centered on using the figure and nature as a vehicle to describe the human life cycle, She fractures images of the landscape and the figure to create abstract images that are based on the constant inquiry into the reality of life experience.

Dick Keaveny Paintings are abstract, figurative and reflect his interests in satire and travesty. “Piggies and Other Peoples”, a recent painting series, was exhibited at the Front Gallery in New Orleans this past April.

Addie Langford These works on paper demonstrate the obsessive replay of regrettable events. The attempt to wash away through layers of color, which only add and obscure, is in some way the unknowing sabotage of repeated naïve efforts of looking. Great effort is then required to look through the muddied layers that have entrapped the original object imprisoned by indiscernible layers.

Vanessa Merrill born in Midland, MI and lived in Herndon, VA for the ?rst eight years of her life before moving back to Michigan. After receiving a BFA in 2007 from the College for Creative Studies, she and six other artists rented studio space and founded CAVE gallery located in the Russell Industrial Center.
Merrill is currently the institutional development administrator at CAVE. She has been a teacher in the Community Arts Partnership working with students in the Detroit Public School system for the past three years. Her current work relates to transitions, borders, and landscape on macro and micro levels. She has shown at The Butcher's Daughter in Ferndale, MI, Detroit Artist Market, Detroit, MI, Museum of New Art in Pontiac, MI, and Forum Gallery at Cranbrook Academy of Art, MI. Merrill currently resides Livonia and works in metro Detroit, MI.

Tom Pyrzewski Discarded objects with curves and diagonals are collected – natural deadfall and human-made.  Bend, cut and assemble - the armature is constructed.  Muscle is applied, similar to a body.  Cloth that has been soaked in paint is placed onto the structure, providing durability, skin and color.  Resonance from the objects influence application and determine the overall composition, often described as visceral.  The sculpture is organic in form but contains mostly industrial materials within.  This attribute implies an interconnection between humanity and nature, aiming to reverse themes associated with function. 
   
Senghor Reid current body of work I am searching for the capacity to reconcile our collective inability to interact with the natural environment on a regular basis.  Living in an urban environment, it is possible go days, weeks and even months without ever touching a natural organic form of matter that is physically connected to the earth at the time of contact.  We are constantly reconciling the barriers that always seem to stand between our bodies and the earth, i.e. soled shoes, rubber tires, layers of clothing and physical structures, on both subconscious and conscious levels.  The work began to reveal a yearning and recognition of this missing exchange.  Through this exploration I have learned that there is biological imperative that calls us to reconnect with the earth.

Robert Sestok In painting Nicole I have focused on making photo projection paintings of Nicole because I find her to be interesting as a subject and mysterious as an artist. I evolved into creating portraits of her and using photo generated images to helped me gain some clarity in my work I see this period as a growth process and a opportunity to advance my knowledge about making art.

Amanda Thatch Time, accumulation, density, and containment are the main subjects of my work. The response of materials to time – the drying of ink in progressively opaque layers, the oxidization of silverpoint in light and air – are points where the works take on a life of their own, continuing a time-based narrative and process of change beyond the point where I am directly involved. I explore density through the repetitive layering of media, such that it becomes a record of time and a map of its own making.

Vanessa van Eeghen has worked in the Detroit area for over 35 years. She has a Fine Arts degree in Painting and Color Theory from Sienna Heights University. Vanessa teaches paint and drawing, and is a devoted disciple of “The Artist Way”. She has exhibited her work in local galleries, exhibitions, and is represented in many private collections. Her latest permanent installation can be viewed in the Renaissance Unity Chapel. Vanessa’s new work embraces gold leaf, an ancient media, which she uses to create magnificent imagery with her modern sensibilities. I use the ancient art of gilding, to covey my message with modern sensibilities, challenging the observer to engage in the deeper spiritual conversation. I feel the artists of the past at my shoulders whispering, hopeful...  The Light conquers the Darkness


About The Detroit Artists Market
Founded in 1932, the Detroit Artists Market (DAM) shows and sells works by emerging and established Detroit-area artists, and provides the community an accessible place to see, learn, and collect contemporary art.  DAM is located in the Detroit Cultural Center at 4719 Woodward Ave, Detroit, MI  48201; three blocks south of The DIA, and one block east of Wayne State University.  Gallery hours Tues – Sat., 11am-6pm.  Detroit Artists Market is free and open to the public.  Parking is available in the lot directly behind the DAM Gallery.  Visit online at http://www.detroitartistsmarket.org.