It makes sense that an industrial building-cum-artist community will host an exhibition paying homage to art inspired by cities and city life. Urbanites, opening November 18th at the Distillery Gallery in South Boston, features new work by Josh Falk, Sean Flood, Kenji Nakayama, Adam O’Day, Chris Smith and Chris Clark. According to curator Scott Chasse, Urbanites “reflects experiences within cities … the energy, technology, population and pace-of-life is easily inspiring.”
Chasse considers the Distillery itself a character in the exhibition. “It’s retained physical characteristics of former industrial use—exposed pipes, cement floor, freight elevator, varied ceiling heights … as there are ‘city people,’ I feel the Distillery is a ‘city building.’”
“Living in cities definitely inspires me,” says artist Adam O’Day, also a Distillery resident, who created work specifically for this exhibition. O’Day will show 2-D and 3-D work, including some oversized pieces. This urbanite has lived in Kalamazoo, Mich., Atlanta, Washington DC and Boston. “I love living/working in the Distillery. Since moving here, my art is influenced by the griminess and quirky residents. There are lots of found materials for mixed-media work. I always find something in the garbage that I can reuse for creating art.”
O’Day’s work has been called “scribbly and violent,” and his deeply colored Boston landscapes, often large and layered, are both dark and bright at the same time. The tone, when combined with pinks and yellows, stands as powerful, lovely and eerie while ruminating on city explosions, destruction and fire.
“My work shows the beauty and decay of urban landscapes,” says Kenji Nakayama, another Distillery dweller. In addition to Tokyo and Boston, Nakayama cites New York and Melbourne as other favorite cities. Nakayama’s elaborate process involves crafting original, hand-cut, multilayer stencils, which when illuminated with colorful spray enamel, become one image—a diary from start to finish—and draws inspiration from photographic imagery.
Originally from Weymouth, Sean Flood will show a handful of oil, canvas and panel paintings. His work embodies the Northeast cityscape: brownstones, alleyways, classic triple-deckers, intersection traffic lights, rooftop views of Boston’s skyline, bridges of the Charles River and the iconic Chinatown Gate. Even a seemingly mundane long-view image of stacked fire escapes comes alive via Flood’s brush.
Chris Smith, a Brooklyn resident for half his life, will show paintings from his series, “Roadwork Ahead,” acrylic and enamel on reclaimed road signs. He has lived in Boston, Montreal, Baltimore, Tucson and Istanbul. This exhibition marks his first time showing outside of New York. He paints anonymous-looking females—some in high heels or bikinis—layered on road signs that read “25 MPH,” “Sidewalk Closed” or “Keep Right.” According to Smith, it explores “what men discover as adolescents: attempting to read ‘signs’ that women give is confounding at best.”
Multimedia artist Josh Falk will install “Adaptation,” one large 3-D piece segueing into the gallery’s architecture. It involves wood, rice paper, acrylic, spray paint and photos. “I enjoy the Boston DIY mentality,” says Falk, hailing from a small industrial city in central Massachusetts. His work, often thoroughly based in photography, here incorporates building materials and paint into this powerful, bright installation with great detail and precision.
Philadelphia artist Chris Clark incorporates screen-printing into his mixed-media paintings. With images of helicopters, power stations, bridges, streetlights, power lines and buildings—the work ranges in color from dark to bright, often building upon layers.
Like many once-industrial buildings in Boston, the Distillery and its new exhibition lay praise to the original structures they once were, as well as their transformation into artist spaces and community hubs today.
URBANITES
THROUGH THURSDAY 12.16.10
516 E. SECOND ST.
1ST FLOOR
SOUTH BOSTON
OPENING RECEPTION
THURSDAY 11.18.10
6PM-9PM
GALLERY.DISTILLERYBOSTON.COM
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