The Arts Center of the Capital Region presents Overgrown and (un)Settled, two concurrent exhibitions that opened to the public on August 10th.

Overgrown is a three person exhibition based on the deterioration and neglect of the landscape and other objects found in nature. Geoffrey Detrani’s work suggests landscapes that are caught in a state of flux which are constructed from a layered drawing process where thin sheets of translucent paper are drawn on, and adhered, one on top of another. Alexis Grabowski’s drawings explore the transitory and emotional aspects of both the urban and the rural landscapes of New York State. Composed from photographic references, memory, news articles, and the Internet, Grabowski’s hyper realistic drawings evoke decay and collapse in the most beautiful of forms. Claire Sherwood has produced sculptures reminiscent of the rock formations that exist within the landscape or the souvenirs taken home by a curious excavator. Sherwood uses household items to create her sculptures, but her need to ‘decorate’ the surfaces threatens the overall tranquility of the objects.

(un)Settled is a four person exhibition that explores the idea of how one defines the human experience. Artists Tasha Depp, Aldo Lira, Kelly Jones and Matthew Shropshire all convey this idea through various forms of media including drawing, painting and sculpture. Tasha Depp’s “Trash Art” pays homage to the century-long quest of painters to create archival surfaces on which to paint. Depp paints portraits on found objects like cardboard boxes that are usually discarded in our everyday lives. Psychoanalytic theory, children’s literature and the femme fatale all coexist in the work of artist Kelly Jones. Her drawings and sculptures are both playful and disturbing through demonstrating some of Freud’s theories of the uncanny and the animated movements of Olive Oyl from the Popeye cartoons. Aldo Lira’s paintings are narratives that depict encounters between the everyday world of human existence and that of the spiritual world that intersects with it. Lira has been strongly influenced by his early exposure to comic book art, animated cartoons/anime, and by the works of 17th Century Baroque Spanish and Neapolitan master painters. Matthew Shropshire’s drawings are explorations of the utopian ideal of suburbia from the 1950s and 60s. Influenced by popular culture after World War II, Shropshire finds old photographs and recreates heartfelt scenes while illustrating that something is not right feeling.

Alexis Grabowski received her BFA from the NYSCC School of Art & Design at Alfred University. She has completed residencies at Alfred University and the Contemporary Artists Center, and has exhibited across New York State.

Geoffrey Detrani is a visual artist and writer whose work has been exhibited in New York, Los Angeles, Boston, and South Korea. His artists’ books are in the collection of the Museum of Modern Art, the Brooklyn Museum of Art and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. His paintings are in the collections of the New Britain Museum of American Art, the Schenectady Museum, the Transportation Security Administration, and various private collections. Detrani has a BA and MFA from the State University of New York, in addition to an MS in Education from Long Island University.

Claire Sherwood received her BFA from Bowling Green State University and her MFA from the University of Maryland in 2003. Her work has been exhibited extensively throughout the United States in venues such as the U.S. Smithsonian National Botanic Garden, the Corcoran Museum of Art, and the Delaware Center for the Contemporary Arts.
Aldo Lira received his MFA at the New York Academy of Art in 2003 and his BFA from the Syracuse University College of Visual and Performing Arts in 1997. His paintings have appeared in exhibitions in New York City, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and in Rosario and Santa Fe, Argentina.

Kelly Jones received her MFA from Vermont College of Fine Arts, a MS in Education from the College of Saint Rose, and a BFA from Pratt Institute. She is currently an Assistant Professor at The Sage Colleges and has exhibited throughout the United States.

Mathew Shropshire received his BFA from Tufts University, a Masters of Arts in Teaching from Sage Graduate School, and is presently completing his MFA at Tufts University. He has exhibited throughout the Northeast.

Tasha Depp received her MFA from Rutgers University and BFA from Cooper Union School of Art. She has exhibited throughout the Northeast, and has completed residencies in Provincetown, MA and India.

Located on Monument Square in the heart of downtown Troy, The Arts Center of the Capital Region houses studios for pottery, printmaking, digital arts, culinary arts, jewelry, woodworking, painting and drawing, stained glass, dance, and more. Its 36,000 square feet of fully-accessible space also includes a 104-seat performing arts theater as well as four galleries noted for their critically acclaimed exhibits. Nationally and regionally renowned writers, performers, and artists proudly serve as The Arts Center's teaching faculty.

The Arts Center of the Capital Region
265 River Street
Troy (NY) 12180 United States
Tel. +1 (518) 2730552
alana@artscenteronline.org
www.artscenteronline.org

Opening hours
Monday - Thursday 11am - 7pm
Friday 9am - 4pm
Saturday 9am - 5pm
Sunday 12pm - 4pm

Related images

  1. Claire Sherwood, The Collection, 2013, ethafoam, plaster, acrylic paint, paraffin wax
  2. Kelly Jones, Olive, 2010, clay and acrylic
  3. Installation view of Overgrown in the Main Gallery
  4. Aldo Lira, Threshold 3, 2013, oil on canvas
  5. Claire Sherwood, Greenwood Rock II, 2013, steel, concrete, lace (detail)
  6. Tasha Depp, Trash Leo, 2013, oil on prepared water gun box