Where:
Jewett Art Gallery
Jewett Arts Center, Wellesley College, 106 Central St.
Wellesley, MA 02481
Admission:
FREE
Categories:
Art
Event website:
www.facebook.com/jewettgallery
Addressing issues of permanence, fragility, and the uneasy coexistence of both states together, this new body of work by N. Sean Glover uses materials and processes that straddle the line between the traditional and the contemporary. His frescoes on burlap highlight the delicacy of this long-lasting art form, while his foam sculptures embed fragments of an industrially manufactured material into new foam that Glover creates himself. A video piece made from found footage gathers scraps of male aggression into a collective display of male fragility.
Fresco is a traditional art historical process, dependent on a chemical transition (where lime putty, water, and pigment calcify into a stone-like surface) to achieve a strength and stability that allow it to endure for hundreds of years. Paint remains 'active' on its surface for only a few hours, meaning that unintended marks must be either scraped off or somehow integrated into the image. The final composition is thus reliant on gestures of either aggression (scraping) or inclusion, and embeds these actions in its final, permanent form.
Polystyrene foam is also the result of a chemical process, when an icocyanate and a resin are combined to create a polymerizing reaction, expanding the material well beyond its liquid volume. Foam, used more often in art handling than in art-making, is a resilient and often protective material that, once cured, is extremely resistant to breaking down naturally, giving it a measure of permanence. Glover gives chunks of old foam new life inside the pieces of foam that he 'grows' himself, recontextualizing the permanence of a non-biodegradable substance into the cultural permanence of sculpture.
This exhibition will be on view in the Jewett Art Gallery from February 2 through March 9, 2018, with an opening reception from 4:00 - 6:00 pm on Friday, Feb. 2. The Gallery is open 10:00 am - 4:00 pm, 7 days a week, on the 2nd floor of the Jewett Arts Center at Wellesley College. The Gallery is free to visit and open to the public.
For more information about the exhibition, contact Gallery Director Samara Pearlstein at 781-283-2043 or [email protected].
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