Ray Cooper: Looking, Waiting, Doing

Yes, I'm a paint nerd. I love talking about pigments, brushes, mediums, substrates, studios, studio light, palettes, processes -- all of it. I love looking at the way paint drips, and the way it blends, congeals, or cracks.

So I enjoyed meeting Ray Cooper, an artist I wrote about for the September 2011 issue of BoldLife Magazine, who presented an approach to painting I hadn't heard about -- tachisme, where "one carefully made stroke can say it all." Cooper also paints with rollers instead of brushes. Maybe I'll try that out some day.

Here's an excerpt from Looking and Waiting and Doing, BoldLife Magazine September 2011:

When he's in his studio, Ray Cooper is prone to spending long periods of time looking at his work, contemplating the visual problems at hand and what he needs to do to solve them.

These moments of observation are interspersed with bursts of creative activity — mark making and paint dripping — after which the artist is again "looking and looking and waiting." He's spent a lifetime evolving his process. "You have to paint something for at least 5 years before you really begin to understand it and feel relaxed with it," says Cooper. "Ten years in you might hit another plateau."

While Cooper is reticent to categorize his aesthetic style he eventually settles upon the term "lyrical expressionism," saying, "I don't have the angst required to make abstract expressionist paintings."

Learn more about Cooper and his current exhibits in Hendersonville, NC visit raycoopergallery.com

Gene Felice's Rapid Progression and Prototype Technology

I wrote about Gene Felice and rapid prototype technology last year when he presented work at FLOOD Gallery. In spite of how common it is, 3D "printing" was something I had never heard about. I was fascinating that objects could be produced, seemingly out of thin air, but of course, it isn't that simple. Read, Mad Science: Artist explores new technologies in art-making to learn more about Felice and rapid prototype technology.

Felice is director of the Creative Technology and Art Center hosted by the Odyssey Community School and has been an adjunct instructor at UNC Asheville and Ohio State University, where he earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree. He has also been an active participant in the {RE}Happening events through BMCM+AC.

Here's a description of Felice's current exhibition, A Rapid Progression on display until October 4th at The Highsmith Union Gallery at UNCA until October 4th:

Gene Felice takes in the visual world around him and filters it through his imagination to produce hybrids of art and life, exploring the way biology and technology adapt over time. In A Rapid Progression Felice’s process is just as important as the product. Representations of mutating cancer cells common in Felice’s genetic history have been created using a rapid prototyping system in which Felice is able to design and print 3-dimensional objects. Felice then ads in p2, part bicycle, part power plant. Viewers are invited to hop on p2 and become an alternative energy source to power parts of the exhibit.

Check out www.injectivearts.com
and www.genefelice.com/721 for more images.

The Battle of Make Believe

painting by Hannah Dansie

Now on display at Satellite Gallery, The Battle of Make Believe includes work by some of Asheville's finest.

Read a full review of the show: In The Battle of Make Believe, adult responsibility overrides juvenile impulse Mountain Xpress

This handsome exhibit will hang until September 29

Satellite Gallery is located at 55 Broadway
Open Tues-Sun. Call 505-2225 for more info.

Galen Frost Bernard Art Reception

The Lexington Avenue Arts festival is this weekend! Be sure to step into Bobo Gallery and Wine bar to see the newest paintings by Galen Frost Bernard.
Standing on Fish is the title of his show, and to celebrate, Bernard will host an artist reception from noon until 10 pm on Sunday September 4th.

Read more about Bernard and his work: Flooding and rebuilding

www.galenfrostbernard.com