Recent
Exhibition
One Mellon Bank Center Gallery
Located
in the “T” station lobby of One Mellon Bank Center
SCC's off-site exhibition space is open daily through midnight.
Recent
Exhibition
One Mellon Bank Center Gallery
Located
in the “T” station lobby of One Mellon Bank Center
SCC's off-site exhibition space is open daily through midnight.
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James
Church/Robert Villamagna
Trickster Makes This World: Recent Work by James Church and Robert Villamagna |
November
30, 2001 — January 18, 2002 |
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SCC
presents Assemblages by James Church and Robert Villamagna
An exhibition featuring 28 works by assemblage artists James Church and Robert Villamagna opens on Friday November 30, 2001 and continues through January 18, 2002 at the Society for Contemporary Craft’s satellite gallery located at One Mellon Center in downtown Pittsburgh. One of the most mysterious art styles, assemblage has enticed and provoked our imaginations for over half a century. By definition, a process that combines atypical found objects and mixed media materials. Evolved from the collage work of Pablo Picasso during the Cubist Movement, and commonly used by the French artist Jean Dubuffet, assemblage has become one of the most frequently used styles in pop culture. Many artists are defined by the objects and artistic processes that they continually incorporated in their work—James Church and Robert Villamagna are two of these artists. James Church began his career as a painter in the mid 1970s. After a move from New York City to Pittsburgh in the late 1990s he began to introduce non-traditional materials into his work using "shadow box" and sculptural assemblage to create a new form of visual expression. Juxtaposing disparate found objects such as religious statuary, old postcards, marbles, wallpaper, stamps, rubber balls, bird nests, sea urchins, x-rays, eggs and toys — objects that carry unique individual histories — Church creates metaphorical assemblages that capture a range of complex emotions. Often thematically based on past personal experiences, Church's work often "addresses notions of hope and renewal." Church opened the Penn Gallery in Lawrenceville in June 2000, along with abstract artist Mark Gualtieri, and his work is featured frequently in regional exhibitions — most recently at Penn Gallery with artist David Pohl. Robert Villamagna works in a similar assemblage style combining found materials with mixed media. Born in California, Villamagna moved to the "Rust Belt" region in the late 1960s. Over the past 20 years he has worked as an illustrator, a steelworker, an art therapist, and a teacher and it is through these life experiences that the artist draws his passion for art. Combining found machine parts, hardware, toys, furniture parts, plumbing and building materials with art materials such as acrylic, oil and enamel paints, oil sticks, clay, wood and metal, Villamagna creates thought-provoking and often humorous compositions giving these found materials new life and transforming them into art. Reflecting on his process and use of found materials Villamagna reflects, "I wonder about the person who made them, who used them, who held them. I like to think that a part of the soul or energy of that person is still contained in that item, and now it's transferred into the artwork." Villamagna received a Master's Degree in Art Therapy from Wright State University, and is currently an assistant professor at West Liberty State College in West Virginia. His work has been featured in many regional and national exhibitions, including the 91st Associated Artists of Pittsburgh exhibition at the Carnegie Museum of Art and Parallel Analysis a two-person exhibition with Harriete Estel Berman at the American Jewish Museum of the Jewish Community Center of Greater Pittsburgh. The works on exhibit in Trickster Makes this World are for sale. |
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