EXHIBITIONS
NEW YORK CITY Rosemarie Fiore Priska Juschka Chelsea [May 19 - Jul 2]
Rosemarie Fiore: (top) Firework Drawing #67, 2011, lit firework residue on TS Saunders and Fabriano paper, 65.75”x89”; detail of Firework Drawing #25, 2009, lit firework residue on paper, 54.75”x41”.
Peter Blake Mary Ryan Chelsea [through Jun 18]
Peter Blake, Paris - 'Dancing' From Paris Suite, A Portfolio Of 20 Prints, 2010, Silkscreen, 22”x 14.63”, Edition Of 100.
18 A|C|A May 2011
With Artificiere, Rosemarie Fiore continues her practice of using fireworks as her sole medium to create works on paper and, most recently glass sculptures, by uniquely using fireworks and smoke bombs for her work and compositions. By referring to the Italian word artificiere for 'pyrotechnician,' Fiore points out that the first gunpowder and fireworks specialists were considered artful masters of a rare trade. Ars, the Latin noun for art and skill, and ficere or facere, the Latin verbs for creating and making, extrapolates Fiore’s intent. Applying and adding a new method, Fiore cuts and slices into layers of paper, then ignites the fireworks and smoke bombs in between the paper folds. The effect, similar to a Rorschach test, creates a mirrored pattern within the entire composition, produced by fireworks randomly exploding over the paper, sometimes contained and/or loosely dragged over the surface with both metal and plastic canisters in various sizes. Fiore’s introduction of glassworks expands her repertoire by sculpture combined with the method of
pyrotechnics, resulting in a series of Smoke Domes, blown glass with smoke bombs, sandwiched between two gathers of malleable clear glass at 2200 degrees, whereby the smoke bombs "breathe" bubble-like forms of glass, opal and gunmetal in color, for Fiore “mini-explosions contained in glass.” The artificer (English), a typically male mythological figure with exceptional powers in fantasy games, cartoons and animation also refers to Fiore’s determination to blur the gender lines often implied with the term and the task. The craft of controlling gunpowder and fireworks was highly regarded, first in battle, and then for celebratory occasions only entrusted to a few chosen men who had proven their expertise beyond doubt. By choosing this medium and making it entirely her own, Fiore has demonstrated that the control of fireworks can be as "artificial" as the connotation of being fantastical, chimerical, hallucinatory and as it must have occurred to the spectators of the first fireworks, marveling over the magical touch of the artificiere.
English artist Peter Blake. Blake has often been called “the godfather of Pop Art” and his work is widely shown and collected throughout Europe. He has rarely shown in the United States; this is his only third exhibition in New York since 1962. Though he is best known in the states for creating the album cover of The Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, his paintings, drawings, prints and collages have focused on all aspects of popular culture from sports to music to film. Beyond being seen as iconic imagery, Blake’s work has always had a particular ability to translate the social preoccupations of the time. While immersed in pop culture, his art belongs to a long tradition of figurative realism and he has been influenced by Victorian imagery, myth, folk art, outsider art and vintage illustration. Peter Blake: World Tour will feature 10 unique collages on paper and canvas depicting New York, Paris, Los Angeles, Venice and Tokyo. These unique mixed media pieces combine real imagery (vin-
tage postcards and photographs) with Blake’s invented additions, transcending time and leading the viewer deep into the artist’s imagination. This body of work features Butterfly Man, a whimsical character who travels the world orchestrating butterflies. This exhibition also marks the debut of Blake’s newest suite of silkscreens, Paris Portfolio, also based on vintage postcards, as well as two new editions, Union Jack and Old Glory. Blake is a relentless collector and experimenter. While all of the works in this exhibition feature imagery that has attracted Blake since the 1960s, his exploration of digital technology has added a new component to his collages. Computer scanning, manipulation, and ink jet printing happily provide Blake the ability to alter his collage imagery in ways that would not have been possible through earlier photographic techniques he used. By increasing the scale of his collage elements, Blake heightens detail and reveals new information to the viewer.