Beauty in Decay - Gordon Chandler and Photography
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July 1 - December 31, 2011
 show overview
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FERRIN GALLERY 437 North Street Pittsfield, MA 01201 Contact: Leslie Ferrin Tel. 413-446-0614 Email: leslie.ferrin@gmail.com www.ferringallery.com FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: BEAUTY IN DECAY at FERRIN GALLERY, Pittsfield, MA EXHIBITION: July 30 October 1, 2011 OPENING RECEPTION: Saturday, July 30, 4 6pm GORDON CHANDLER solo exhibition featuring reclaimed metal sculpture installed as a trophy room PHOTOGRAPHY group show featuring Gregory Crewdson, Michael Eastman, Raymon Elozua, Susan Mikula Nicholas Whitman and Douglass Truth Ferrin Gallery, Pittsfield, MA is please to present BEAUTY IN DECAY, a group show of photography and a solo show of sculpture by Gordon Chandler. The two exhibitions with the same title explore themes of beauty drawn from decaying surfaces, objects and structures. The photography presents selected works by six photographers who use decay in photographs of architecture, urban landscapes and material objects through documentation, abstraction and in the case of Gregory Crewdson staged surrealism. Featured in the photography show is a small selection of production stills from Gregory Crewdson "Beneath the Roses" series that provide behind-the-scenes photographic documentation of his process during location shoots made between 2005 2007 in Adams, North Adams and Pittsfield, MA. In contrast to the documentary style of the other photographers, Crewdson creates staged scenes that typically include a cast of characters. Some of the images directly allude to well known paintings by Edward Hopper and other American Realists, while others appear to be a movie still from a contemporary film noir. A leader in the international contemporary art world and distinguished professor at Yale University, Crewdson has influenced a generation of photographers with is his dark but romantic use of decaying settings and characters portraying ambiguous relationships. Having lived and worked in the area, Crewdson is a familiar presence and favorite of the Berkshires with works both produced and exhibited at MASS MoCA and in the permanent collections of the Berkshire Museum and Williams College Museum of Art. The works at Ferrin Gallery are exhibited courtesy, Gagosian Gallery, New York. Straightforward documentary work is the approach taken by the other photographers; still lifes of rusty enamelware by Raymon Elozua, New York, NY; architectural elements drawn from the renovated row houses and gilded age theaters in the Berkshires by Nicholas Whitman, Williamstown, MA and random scenes from middle America from Michael Eastman's, St. Louis, MO, Vanishing America series and his series from Cuba from 2010 and Douglass Truth, Grass Valley, CA uses an iphone app to capture street scenes in Pittsfield. While documentary in nature, the process used by Susan Mikula provides an abstracted view of the now disappearing GE buildings photographed with expired Polaroid film, scanned and printed large scale. GORDON CHANDLER in his fourth solo exhibition at Ferrin Gallery installs a trophy room collection of antler bearing animal heads made from reclaimed metal parts. While hunting for steel in junk yards and recylcling stations, his eye is drawn to the shapes and surfaces of the parts he reclaims. His use of color is drawn from abraded paint surfaces including the signature green of "John Deere" farm machinery, reflective surfaces of road signs and license plates. Another series of deer head silhouettes are cut from rusty sheet metal showing the shapes and patterns that form during decay. PROGRAMS: ARTIST SALON Sunday, July 31, 11 am Join Gordon Chandler, sculptor, and Ute Stebich, curator, in a discussion of new work in Beauty in Decay and Chandler's trophy room installation. Light refreshments served. ARTIST BOOK SIGNING & READING: Douglass Truth Thursday, August 18, 8 pm Word X Word Festival & 3rd Thursday @ Ferrin Gallery Reading and commentary from Douglass Truth's new book Everything I Know About Death (Subject to Verification), by his estranged sister Dorothy Truth DISH+DINE Beauty in Decay @ Ferrin Gallery Friday, August 19, 6:30-9pm the perfect pairing of local food and local art Dish- Porcelain tableware and design provided by Mary Anne Davis Dine- Chef Brian Alberg, Red Lion Inn Farm to Table Menu Discuss Conversation on contemporary photography with John Stomberg, Director, Mount Holyoke College Art Museum; Aprile Gallant, Curator of Prints, Drawings, and Photographs, Smith College Museum of Art; and Maria Mingalone, Interim Executive Director and Director of Interpretation of Berkshire Museum $100 per person includes dinner, selected wines from Nejaimes Wine Cellars, Special Drink by Berkshire Mountain Distillers a portion of the proceeds supports artist-in-residence programs throughout the Berkshires. Limited to 40 DECADENCE & DECAY Weekend August 18-21 A series of curated events, programs and exhibitions connecting contemporary visual art in the Berkshires Friday, August 19, Pittsfield Discussion of contemporary photography and Crewdson's impact on photography will take place between John Stomberg, Director, Mount Holyoke College Art Museum; Aprile Gallant, Curator of Prints, Drawings, and Photographs, Smith College Museum of Art; and Maria Mingalone, Interim Executive Director and Director of Interpretation of Berkshire Museum at the during a DISH+DINE at Ferrin Gallery on Friday, August 19. The dinner will be preceded by a reception at the Berkshire Museum where Crewdson's Untitled (Beneath the Roses 2004) is currently on view. Berkshire Museum, Pittsfield Behind the Scenes with Maria Mingalone and guests Friday, August 19, 5:00 pm Ferrin Gallery, Pittsfield DISH+DINE, Fri. Aug 19, 6:30-9pm RSVP 413.442.1622 limited to 40 Other Events include: Sienna Gallery and SPQ Projects, Lenox Dirty Martini Night and Costume -Costume Thursday, Aug 18, 6-8pm Brunch Conversation, Sunday, Aug 21, 11-1pm Behind-the- Scenes Berkshire Museum, Pittsfield Downstreet Art, North Adams Hancock Shaker Village, Pittsfield Jacobs Pillow, Becket MASS MoCA, North Adams Project Art, Cummington Stonehill Center, The Clark, Williamstown Williams College Museum of Art, Williamstown Williamstown Art Conservation Center, Williamstown For more information visit. ArtBerkshires ABOUT FERRIN GALLERY: Ferrin Gallery, established 1979, is nationally known as a contemporary gallery specializing in figural sculpture and studio ceramics. The gallery works closely with private collectors, institutions and the media as a source for works by both established and emerging artists. Located in the Berkshires of Massachusetts, it is equidistant from New York City and Boston. HOURS: 11-5:00 Open Daily until Labor Day. PHOTO CAPTIONS: Michael Eastman Portrait, Havana, 2010 Photography 60 x 48" Digital C-print, Edition of 7 Gordon Chandler GA-TN-AR-TX Buckhead Sculpture 2011, 28 x 17 x 25" Reclaimed steel High Resolution Images Available Upon Request |
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