Sunday, November 30, 2008

if ARTwalk: Salon I & II: December 11- 24, 2008

For exhibition installation images, click here.


THE SALON I & II
Dec. 11 – 24, 2008
an exhibition at two Columbia, SC, locations:
Gallery 80808/Vista Studios
808 Lady Street
&
if ART Gallery
1223 Lincoln Street

Reception and ifART Walk: Thursday, Dec. 11, 5 – 10 p.m.
at and between both locations
Opening Hours:
Weekdays, 11 a.m. – 7 p.m.
Saturday, 11 a.m. – 5 p.m.
Sunday, 1 – 5 p.m.
& by appointment
Open Christmas Eve until 7 p.m.

For more information, contact Wim Roefs at if ART:
(803) 255-0068/ (803) 238-2351 – if-art-gallery@sc.twcbc.com

For its December 2008 exhibition, if ART Gallery presents The Salon I & II, an exhibition at two Columbia, SC, locations: if ART Gallery and Gallery 80808/Vista Studios. On Thursday, December 11, 2008, 5 – 10 p.m., if ART will hold opening receptions at both locations. The ifART Walk will be on Lady and Lincoln Streets, between both locations, which are around the corner from each other.

The exhibitions will present art by if ART Gallery artists, installed salon-style at both Gallery 80808 and if ART. Artists in the exhibitions include two new additions to if ART Gallery, Columbia ceramic artist Renee Rouillier and the prominent African-American collage and mixed-media artist Sam Middleton, an 81-year-old expatriate who has lived in the Netherlands since the early 1960s.

Other artists in the exhibition include Karel Appel, Aaron Baldwin, Jeri Burdick, Carl Blair, Lynn Chadwick, Steven Chapp, Stephen Chesley, Corneille, Jeff Donovan, Jacques Doucet, Phil Garrett, Herbert Gentry, Tonya Gregg, Jerry Harris, Bill Jackson, Sjaak Korsten, Peter Lenzo, Sam Middleton, Eric Miller, Dorothy Netherland, Marcelo Novo, Matt Overend, Anna Redwine, Paul Reed, Edward Rice, Silvia Rudolf, Kees Salentijn, Laura Spong, Tom Stanley, Christine Tedesco, Brown Thornton, Leo Twiggs, Bram van Velde, Katie Walker, Mike Williams, David Yaghjian, Paul Yanko and Don Zurlo.

Wednesday, August 20, 2008

The Line According To: August 29- September 9, 2008

To view works by Mary Gilkerson in this exhibition click HERE.
Three Rivers Variation VI, 2008
Monotype
19 x 15 in
$475


if ART
presents at
Gallery 80808/Vista Studios
808 Lady St., Columbia, S.C.

THE LINE ACCORDING TO
Roland Albert – Mary Gilkerson – Sjaak Korsten 
&
Kees Salentijn

August 29 – September 9, 2008

Artists’ Reception: Friday, August 29, 2008, 5 – 10 p.m.
Opening Hours:
Saturdays, 11 a.m. – 5 p.m.
Sundays, 1 – 5 p.m.
Weekdays, 11 a.m. – 7 p.m. and by appointment

For more information, contact Wim Roefs at if ART:
(803) 238-2351/255-0068 – wimroefs@sc.twcbc.com

For its August – September exhibition, if ART presents at Gallery 80808/Vista Studios The Line According to Roland Albert, Mary Gilkerson, Sjaak Korsten & Kees Salentijn. German artist Albert will present mixed media, mostly wood-based sculptures, and Columbia’s Gilkerson, a new series of monotypes. Dutch painter Salentijn will show paintings, mixed media works on paper, painted ceramic plates, lithographs and silkscreens. Korsten, another Dutch artist, will show mixed media works on paper. Korsten has recently joined if ART Gallery, and the upcoming exhibition will be his first in the United States.

Albert (b. 1944) is a widely respected painter and sculptor in Germany. He is part of the artists’ exchange between Columbia and its German sister city of Kaiserslautern. Albert studied with the famous Greek-American sculptor Kosta Alex in Paris in 1964. In 1970, he graduated from the prestigious Munich Academy of Fine Arts. Albert’s work overall fits European post-World War II contemporary traditions. He shares Joseph Beuys’ love for rough and unfinished materials. Like Art Informel artists such as Spaniard Antoni Tapies and fellow German Emil Schumacher, Albert considers not just forms and shapes important but also the tactile and physical quality of his materials.

Gilkerson (b. 1958) has recently completed monotypes for her Three River series based on Columbia’s Congaree, Saluda and Broad rivers. The sometimes strongly abstracted works are based on photos and drawings Gilkerson made earlier this year during walks along the riverbanks. Gilkerson for many years has been prominent on the art scene of the South Carolina Midlands as an artist, critic and curator. She teaches art at Columbia College in her hometown of Columbia. Gilkerson holds BFA, MA and MFA degrees from the University of South Carolina.

Korsten (b. 1957) is widely known and respected in the Netherlands. Not unlike Albert, he works in established post-World War II European modern and contemporary traditions. His work is related to Art Informel artists such as Tapies, Jaap Wagemaker, Wols, Jean Fautrier and Manalo Millares. Much of the focus in their work and that of Korsten is on materials and surface. While Korsten’s work is heavily abstracted, he typically includes representative elements. Korsten’s work has been shown at major European fairs, including TEFAF Maastricht, PAN Amsterdam and the Cologne Art Fair.

Salentijn (b. 1947) is among The Netherlands’ most prominent painters. The initial inspiration leading to his mature style came from post-war American art and from Spanish painters such as Tapies, Antonio Saura, and later Millares. Salentijn developed a personal style that combined the expressionist, painterly swath with smaller but equally expressionist marks that are quick and slightly nervous but sure. Combining vigorous painting with often-childlike imagery, Salentijn’s work eventually placed him in the Northern European, post-war CoBrA tradition of strongly expressionist, abstracted art that containes representational elements. Salentijn’s increased use of figuration in the 1990s confirmed this link. His work is in several European museums. In addition to the 1982 Chicago Art Fair, his work has been represented at major European art fairs, including Art Fair Basel, TEFAF Maastricht, Kunstmesse Cologne and KunstRAI Amsterdam.

Tuesday, August 19, 2008

Essay: Mary Gilkerson

Three Rivers Variation VII, 2008
Monotype
19 x 15 in
$475

MARY GILKERSON
By Wim Roefs


The vast majority of Mary Gilkerson’s works in the current exhibition are recent monotypes from her Three Rivers project. Still, one of the most telling pieces might be her one oil painting in the show, the large, recently completed Edisto River I. The painting shows the profound influence that Gilkerson’s exploration of the monotype medium in recent years has had on her approach as a painter.

In short, making monotypes has made Gilkerson a looser painter. Monotype is a painterly print medium in which the artist paints with printer’s ink on a glass or Plexiglass plate. The painted plate then is covered with a sheet of paper and both are run through a press, transferring the ink to the paper, creating one unique print. Among the characteristics of monotypes is the visibility of brush strokes or other marks in the print. They make the works look somewhat like paintings, albeit without much literal texture. 

But a crucial difference between painting and creating monotypes is the time it takes normally to complete a work. While paintings can take days, weeks, months, even years, monotypes have to be created in a few hours tops. They have to be completed before the ink dries on the plate, and many a monotype takes less than an hour. This circumstance creates a mindset geared toward deliberate but speedy execution rather than the contemplative, back-and-forth, layered approach of painting. It forces the artist to rely on talent and experience, diving into the work and getting out before too much second-guessing interferes with the process. 

The short execution time and resulting need for speed with monotypes usually prevents artists from getting too tight. It encourages artists who might typically have problems accepting a painting as finished to do more with less. That results in more loosely rendered imagery. In the case of precise, perfectionist, literal, hesitant or simply slow painters, the monotype mindset not seldom carries over in the way they paint, adding a new approach to their way of working. 

Since she began exploring monotypes in 2005, many of Gilkerson’s paintings have become decidedly looser. Edisto River I is a magnificent example of where her more liberated approach can lead. Gilkerson’s current Three Rivers monotypes also suggest that this liberation has allowed her to be less literal in her renderings. The recent monotypes are based on the three rivers running through her hometown, Columbia, S.C., which Gilkerson sketched, photographed and observed for on a weekly basis for months in preparation for the monotypes.

While renderings of nature, the new monotypes are at times highly abstracted, characterized by sweeping shapes, lines, the intersection of lines and the skewed grids the lines create. Some of the works have strong geometric qualities or juxtapose geometric and organic shapes. As a body, the work also explores the effect of light, atmosphere, weather and the passage of time on nature’s formal elements. The works are, Gilkerson says, “intuitive and abstracted responses to the intersection of the rivers with the urban environment.” 

Thursday, August 7, 2008

EXHIBITION PREVIEW

Preview of Mary Gilkerson's work in if ART Gallery's August 29- September 9, 2008 exhibition The Line According To Albert, Gilkerson, Korsten, and Salentijn at Gallery 80808/Vista Studios, 808 Lady Street, Columbia, SC.






Edisto River I, 2008
Oil on canvas
72 x 60 in.
$ 5,500











Edisto Variations LXVII, 2008
Monotype
17 x 15 in
$475










Three Rivers Variations XXIX, 2008
Monotype
17 x 15 in
$475










Three River Variations XXXI, 2008
Monotype
27 3/8 x 30 in
$1,500











Three River Variations XXXII, 2008
Monotype
27 3/8 x 30 in
$1,500











Three River Variations XXXIII, 2008
Monotype
27 3/8 x 30 in
$1,500











Three River Variations XXXIV, 2008
Monotype
27 3/8 x 30 in
$1,500












Three Rivers Variations XVI, 2008
Monotype
17 x 15 in
$475










Three Rivers Variations XX, 2008
Monotype
17 x 15 in
$475











Three Rivers Variations XXII, 2008
Monotype
17 x 15 in
$475










Three Rivers Variations XXIV, 2008
Monotype
17 x 15 in
$475










Three Rivers Variations XXVIII, 2008
Monotype
17 x 15 in
$475












Three Rivers Variation VI, 2008
Monotype
19 x 15 in
$475













Three Rivers Variation VII, 2008
Monotype
19 x 15 in
$475












Three Rivers Variation VIII, 2008
Monotype
19 x 15 in
$475











Three Rivers Variation XIV, 2008
Monotype
17 x 15 in
$475










Three Rivers Variation XV, 2008
Monotype
17 x 15 in
$475






Saturday, July 12, 2008

Paintings: Mary Gilkerson

Cypress Pond, Summer Evening, 2012,
oil on canvas, 32 x 40 in., $4,700
Deep Cypress, Winter, 2012, oil on canvas,
30 x 40 in., $4,700

Hayfield With Storm, 2014, oil on panel, 8 x 8 in., $600

Summer Evening Sky, 2014, oil on panel,
9 x 12 in., $900

Weston Road Fields, Spring, 2014, oil on panel,
10 x 20 in., $1,295

Weston Road, Spring Greens, 2014, oil on panel,
10 x 20 in., $1,295

Congaree Landscape VI, 2012, oil on panel, 5 x 7 in., $425

Congaree Landscape VII, 2012, oil on panel, 6 x 6 in., $425

Congaree Landscape VIII, 2012, oil on panel, 5 x 7 in., $425

Congaree Water II, 2012, oil on panel, 5 x 7 in., $425

Congaree Water III, 2012, oil on panel, 5 x 7 in., $425

Congaree Water IV, 2012, oil on panel, 6 x 6 in., $425

Congaree Water V, 2012, oil on panel, 6 x 6 in., $425
Congaree Landscape V, 2012
Oil on panel, 6 x 4 in., $300



Congaree Landscape IV, 2010
Oil on panel, 6x 4 in., $300


Congaree VI, 2010
Oil on panel, 6x 4 in., $300


Dune IV, 2010, oil on canvas, 7 1/2 x 7 1/2 in., $550

Dune V, 2010, oil on canvas, 7 1/2 x 7 1/2 in., $550
Marsh Variations V, 2011, oil on canvas, 40 x 40 in., $5,200






Congaree III, 2011, oil on canvas
72 x 48 in., $6,400

River III, 2010

Oil on canvas, 64 x 54 in., $ 5,500



Minervaville, Afternoon Clouds, 2014, oil on panel, 
8 x 10 in., $750

Summer Backroad, 2014, oil on panel, 
8 x 6 in., $475

Summer Cotton Fields, 2014, oil on panel, 
12 x 12 in., $1,200

Trees, Fall Light II, 2015, oil on panel, 8 x 10 in., $750

Friday, July 11, 2008

Biography: Mary Gilkerson




Mary Gilkerson (b. 1958)

In the past few years, Mary Gilkerson has produced a large body of monotypes with master printer Phil Garrett at King Snake Press in Greenville, S.C. Her work was exhibited earlier this year in a King Snake Press exhibition at the Greenville County (S.C.) Museum of Art. Her work also is in the current S.C. State Museum’s 20th Anniversary Juried Art Exhibition. Gilkerson for many years has been prominent on the art scene of the South Carolina Midlands as an artist, critic and curator. She teaches art at Columbia College in her hometown of Columbia. Gilkerson holds BFA, MA and MFA degrees from the University of South Carolina.

Saturday, June 21, 2008

Artist's Statement: Mary Gilkerson

Edisto Variations, 2005
Monotype
9 1/2 x 9 1/2 in

"Life is all memory except for the one present moment that goes by you so quick you hardly catch it going."

– Tennessee Williams

Certain images can trigger emotional responses that seem based not only on a primordial, gut level but also on the cultural baggage that they've accrued over time. I am interested in the ways that these memories and myths shape the way that we view reality.

I have come to realize recently that in many ways that what I am doing in my paintings is exploring what it means to be a woman born and living in the South during the late 20th and early 21st century. There is a seductive mysterious quality about the South that drew me back even after I went north to New York like so many other young artists.

A sense of place, in particular a connectedness to the land that borders on the irrational, has become increasingly important to me. This has manifested itself in my work in both my choice of subjects and how I handle them. For the last several years I have been painting and making monotypes of a place that I consider deeply engaging and mysterious – Edisto Island. There is a sense of fragility to Edisto's landscape that comes both from the play of natural forces and from the threatened encroachment of human "development".

A second series that I have been working on for several years is Midnight's Garden, a series of flowers, such as magnolias and camellias, some from life and some based on the floral still life paintings of Martin J. Heade. Heade was one of the first late 19th century artists to romanticize "moonlight and magnolias". I am fascinated with the strength of the forms, the sensuous lines of these flowers and the contrasting symbolism that has become attached to them, especially in Southern culture.

Friday, February 15, 2008

The Inventory: February 15-26, 2008

Congaree #I, 2007
Monotype
17 x 17 in
$1,500

if ART
presents at
Gallery 80808/Vista Studios
808 Lady St., Columbia, S.C.

THE INVENTORY:
A Group Show of if ART artists

Feb. 15 – 26, 2008

Artists’ Reception: Friday, Feb. 15, 5 – 10 p.m.

Opening Hours:
Saturdays, 11 a.m. – 5 p.m.
Sundays, 1 – 5 p.m.
Weekdays, 11 a.m. – 7 p.m. and by appointment

For more information, contact Wim Roefs at if ART:
(803) 238-2351 – wroefs@sc.rr.com

For its February exhibition, if ART presents The Inventory, a group exhibition of artists from if ART Gallery. The show will consist of many new works by if ART artists as well as older pieces from the gallery’s inventory.

Included in the show will be work by Columbia artists Jeff Donovan, Mary Gilkerson, Marcelo Novo, Anna Redwine and David Yaghjian. Other South Carolina artists include Carl Blair, Jeri Burdick, Phil Garrett, Bill Jackson, Peter Lenzo, Dorothy Netherland, Matt Overend, Edward Rice, Tom Stanley, Christine Tedesco, H. Brown Thornton, Leo Twiggs, Katie Walker and Paul Yanko. Furthermore, the show will present work by former South Carolina residents Tonya Gregg, Eric Miller and Andy Moon. Also included are California collage artist Jerry Harris, Dutch painter Kees Salentijn and German artists Roland Albert, Klaus Hartmann and Silvia Rudolf.