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paul sharpe contemporary art / paul sharpe projects
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| EXHIBITIONS click name for Artists info, date for Press Release or ® for Review | |||
Carnevale New York, NY – Paul Sharpe Contemporary Art (PSCA) announces the opening of a new exhibit entitled Carnevale, featuring oil paintings on canvas and conceptual works in various media by New York-based artist Judi Harvest. Opening February 4th, 6 – 9 PM, thru February 28th. Carnevale exhibits works by Harvest that were inspired by the Opera House (Il Teatro La Fenice) in Venice. The art in this show was made mostly in 1997 incorporating materials similar to those found in the aftermath of the devastating fire in January 1996, which Harvest witnessed firsthand. The artist incorporates velvet, ash, gold leaf, and glass in these works as well as objects from Venice itself, such as an 18th century children’s gondola. Harvest’s work is imbued with broad gestural strokes, whether they be paintings, installations, sculptures, or videos. The intense reds and yellows, the burned velvet, and the scale of Burnt Velvet, for example, immediately brings the viewer into the rarified world of 18th century Venice. It tells a story of a time gone by in a structure that is both maintained and maligned. The operatic nature of the hall is supplanted by the theatrical inferno that engulfed it, the real life tear-jerker that has played on this stage three times. The conceptual and chronological basis for the show is the much heralded reopening of the Opera House and the traditional festival of carnival or Carnevale which occurs in February each year. These works have never before been seen in a solo show in New York City. Il Teatro La Fenice is the theater of the Phoenix. Three times it has burned and subsequently was rebuilt. Harvest’s work is now ready to rise again to meet a new audience in New York. According to Harvest, this work “is not just about Venice… it is about life, death, and rebirth. Life without death is not life. Art is the only way we have of keeping life alive, and death from its finality.” (From the catalogue Rhinoscimento 2001, published in conjunction with a show of this work in Venice in 2001.) This is Harvest’s first solo show at PSCA. The artist and PSCA collaborated on a catalogue, published this past summer, entitled Fragmented Peace, wherein Paul Sharpe wrote the catalogue essay. Harvest, who lives in New York, frequently returns to Venice and to Murano to complete her artworks. She first visited Venice in 1973. |
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