John Allen Untitled wood , steel, polyester velour, nylon zipper, thread 57x9x6 1/2"
This spring, Buster Levi Gallery is pleased to present a series of focused three person exhibitions. The third of these exhibits, titled, Connections III, will feature three dimensional work by John Allen, Adrienne Cullom and Pat Hickman. The exhibit will run from May 5 through May 28, 2023. The opening for the show will be on Friday May 5, 2023 from 5-8pm.
John Allen is an artist who is extremely hard to pin down stylistically. He works in both found materials as well as those he physically alters. Some of his work leans toward more traditional sculpture while much of it exists in a space that is both visual and conceptual. A few examples include works such as a sculpture where the words Just This are etched into the surface of a found stone or a recent work that has a miniature crib filled with pencil erasers that was shown with a wall piece containing 168 sharpened pencils mounted into a piece of wood. In this show, Allen is exhibiting a sculpture of a shovel wrapped in polyester velour. Allen’s art always forces the viewer into a combination of a visual and conceptual dialog with the work.
Adrienne Cullom Mask fiber, thread , twine
Adrienne Cullom is exhibiting masks in this show. Each one is the result of a long working practice that may take up to a year. Cullom is clearly interested in process and her medium. Many of the materials that she uses are common everyday products of her’s or others’ lives. Some of her items include fibers, thread, twine and found objects like her grandmother’s beads and old shirts. Cullom’s work shows a definite interest in masks from other cultures but they also emphasize personal associations implying evocative ideas that are suggested by her titles. Furthermore her working method includes improvisation as she has stated; “When I start a work, I don’t even know if it will be a profile or if it will have two eyes”.
Pat Hickman is showing three works that contain unconventional materials. In Bronze Age a rusted farm shovel covered with animal membrane has been manipulated to suggest a Cycladic figure. The second work, Koan, uses old discarded Japanese fishing nets. The nets are purposefully non functional and are used to suggest ideas, emotions and images that suggest other applications whose appearance simulates barbed wire. The third, Holding, is made from skin membrane (sausage casings) used as a linear element to create knotted netting, as in fisherman’s netting, asking what might be held in this form. Hickman, though extremely inventive with materials and process, is certainly not a formalist, but an artist who wants her viewers to experience definite emotional and reflective responses.
Pat Hickman Holding skin membrane