nroath
08-03-2007, 10:07 AM
Artspace 116 announces Dirt & Photosynthesis
Photosynthesis, an exhibit of paintings by JB Bryan. Neither representational, nor non-objective, these paintings evoke botanical entanglement rather than the scenery of landscape. Forms are invented out of observation and reworked in spontaneous brushwork. The continual adjustments of the process find harmony in a tension within diverse elements. Revealing space as part of melodic invention, his forms often emerge out of the surface nuances. Bryan uses a color wheel of “gourd, chamomile, globe mallow, elm bark, corn husk, tulip & iris, wisteria, peach blossom and rotten fruit.” Of equal concern is a finesse of calligraphic gesture. He considers the traditions of the East as important as the West. Also on display will be a series of ink paintings on paper, which reflect the bones of the larger oil paintings while being unique unto themselves as exemplary of the importance of each brushstroke.
About his work, Bryan says: “My visual syntax is more about flowering than any particular flowers. Where
some painters might think in terms of ‘grid,’ I work within an ‘open field.’ Essentially, painting is sensual, and it should include all of them. One day, after irrigating the garden, I was looking at my paintings while eating a large salad and drinking cold plum wine made from fruit grown in Placitas out of a little clay cup I had just fired and it all suddenly made a lot of sense.”
JB Bryan has lived in New Mexico for over 35 years. Long associated with the infamous Living Batch Bookstore, he has been active in the literary end of things as bookseller, poet, reading curator, and publisher of La Alameda Press. But he has always been a painter and ceramist as well. Education occurred along the way in Iowa, British Columbia, California, New Mexico and many paths off the map. Recent one-person shows have taken place at Inpost Gallery/Outpost Performance Space in Albuquerque, Deutsche-Amerikanisches Institut/Heidelberg and Harwood Art Center in Albuquerque. A collection of poems, Big Thank You You, came out in , 2006 from Tres Chicas Books in Santa Fe. Though living with family in Alameda, he maintains a studio & orchard in the village of Placitas. He continues working on a teahouse there, which may or may not be dubbed Moby Dick. He finds an almost gainful employment as a graphic designer.
Upcoming Artspace 116 schedule schedule:
Five Who Do Do: Sandia Prep Art Faculty Exhibition
Steve Ausherman, Peter Fitzpatrick, Michael Hudock, Lynn Kozikowski, and Mary Anne Modzelewski
September 7 - October 12, 2007
Artist Reception:
Friday, September 7, 5-8pm
a First Friday ArtsCrawl event
The Imaginative Mind of Bruce Lowney
December 7, 2007 - February 8, 2008
Artist Reception (First Friday Friday): ):
Friday, December 7, 5-8pm
Steven M. Williams:
Quiet Exposures
July 14 - August 31, 2007
PhotoArts ABQ Reception:
Saturday, July 14, 5-8pm
Downtown ArtsCrawl Reception:
Friday, July 20, 5-9pm
Photosynthesis, an exhibit of paintings by JB Bryan. Neither representational, nor non-objective, these paintings evoke botanical entanglement rather than the scenery of landscape. Forms are invented out of observation and reworked in spontaneous brushwork. The continual adjustments of the process find harmony in a tension within diverse elements. Revealing space as part of melodic invention, his forms often emerge out of the surface nuances. Bryan uses a color wheel of “gourd, chamomile, globe mallow, elm bark, corn husk, tulip & iris, wisteria, peach blossom and rotten fruit.” Of equal concern is a finesse of calligraphic gesture. He considers the traditions of the East as important as the West. Also on display will be a series of ink paintings on paper, which reflect the bones of the larger oil paintings while being unique unto themselves as exemplary of the importance of each brushstroke.
About his work, Bryan says: “My visual syntax is more about flowering than any particular flowers. Where
some painters might think in terms of ‘grid,’ I work within an ‘open field.’ Essentially, painting is sensual, and it should include all of them. One day, after irrigating the garden, I was looking at my paintings while eating a large salad and drinking cold plum wine made from fruit grown in Placitas out of a little clay cup I had just fired and it all suddenly made a lot of sense.”
JB Bryan has lived in New Mexico for over 35 years. Long associated with the infamous Living Batch Bookstore, he has been active in the literary end of things as bookseller, poet, reading curator, and publisher of La Alameda Press. But he has always been a painter and ceramist as well. Education occurred along the way in Iowa, British Columbia, California, New Mexico and many paths off the map. Recent one-person shows have taken place at Inpost Gallery/Outpost Performance Space in Albuquerque, Deutsche-Amerikanisches Institut/Heidelberg and Harwood Art Center in Albuquerque. A collection of poems, Big Thank You You, came out in , 2006 from Tres Chicas Books in Santa Fe. Though living with family in Alameda, he maintains a studio & orchard in the village of Placitas. He continues working on a teahouse there, which may or may not be dubbed Moby Dick. He finds an almost gainful employment as a graphic designer.
Upcoming Artspace 116 schedule schedule:
Five Who Do Do: Sandia Prep Art Faculty Exhibition
Steve Ausherman, Peter Fitzpatrick, Michael Hudock, Lynn Kozikowski, and Mary Anne Modzelewski
September 7 - October 12, 2007
Artist Reception:
Friday, September 7, 5-8pm
a First Friday ArtsCrawl event
The Imaginative Mind of Bruce Lowney
December 7, 2007 - February 8, 2008
Artist Reception (First Friday Friday): ):
Friday, December 7, 5-8pm
Steven M. Williams:
Quiet Exposures
July 14 - August 31, 2007
PhotoArts ABQ Reception:
Saturday, July 14, 5-8pm
Downtown ArtsCrawl Reception:
Friday, July 20, 5-9pm