Continuously serving Kosciusko County since 1854
Contemporary art gallery Atelier will present its holiday show featuring small works by 31 artists from Nov. 6 through Dec. 20.
“Confetti: Tiny Vices and Virtues” is a group exhibition featuring 100 diminutive works by 31 artists as the result of a nationwide call for submissions. The call required works be under 10 by 10 inches and reflect the theme of the show. The show includes painting, drawing, macrophotography, collage, textile work, embroidery, embellished porcelain and wood and bronze sculpture.
According to Atelier owner and Director Sea Grandon, “I have wanted to do a show of smaller artworks for a while. Confetti is used to commemorate, celebrate and to connote revelry. While it’s made of small individual remnants of paper, its impact comes from the volume of individual pieces, its color and its fluttering movement from the sky to the ground. Works in this show will be hung salon-style in the gallery creating a similar impact and cascade.”
Salon-style art hanging is a dense, floor-to-ceiling display method that originated in 17th-century France, characterized by a mix of artwork sizes, genres and frames to create one cohesive, wall-sized display. Displaying work in a salon-style manner offers gallery guests a visual reference for installing multiple works in their own home. It is also illustrative of how works by different artists and of different styles and media can work in concert, according to a news release from Atelier.
Many of the artists in the show played on the theme of confetti in their works by creating colorful abstract canvases or utilizing folded paper and collage. New York-based Brazilian collage artist Edgard Barbosa is contributing nine of his digitally enlarged Pop Brutalist works that offer commentary on the fractured immediacy of contemporary mass media.
The show’s subtitle of “tiny vices and virtues” is also evident throughout the show. A colorful wall installation by Austin, Texas, artist Red Moth includes 12 panels of mixed media on canvas depicting six virtues and six vices. Each individual panel includes handwritten phrases that explore common negative and positive associations of the virtue or vice explored.
Included in the show are four local artists: Heidi Bailey, Vanessa Pohl, Brandon Luce and Jonna Watson. Local found object artist Heidi Bailey shares two of her embellished porcelain figurine sculptures: Tempting Fate and Surrender. Jonna Watson created a series of compelling crystallized ice macrophotographs by exposing water molecules to sound waves created by various Christmas carols and freezing the impacted water molecules. Carols captured in this manner represent both the virtue and vice of the season ranging from Silent Night (pure frozen water) to the materialistic Santa Baby (frozen water infused with champagne).
Works in the show range from abstract to representational and spiritual to irreverent. California’s Briana Roy stuns with her nine-panel figurative work titled “The Giving — The Growth — The Resting Place,” which explores the artist’s own attempts to reconcile the virtue and vice within herself. Two-time Atelier solo exhibitor, New York City’s Jon MacGregor, returns with his playfully evocative Flower Mouth.
With over 100 works on display, gallery visitors are invited to hone their eye and assess which artworks and themes resonate with them. Grandon explains that “because the works in Confetti are smaller, they are quite accessible and make ideal gifts for a loved one or for yourself this holiday season. Art is unique, sustainable, beautiful and a savvy investment. It’s also the pinnacle of shopping small as it supports the artistic practice of a living artist.
“Come for the party, come for the inspiration, come for spectacular gifts,” said Grandon.
Purchased works from Confetti will be available for pick up beginning Wednesday, Dec. 17 to allow time for wrapping and placing under the tree. Confetti opens Nov. 6 and runs through Dec. 20, with an opening party on Thursday, Nov. 6 from 6 to 9 p.m.
Atelier’s hours are 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Wednesdays and Thursdays and 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays.
