December 1 - 24, 2011

THE LAURA RUSSO GALLERY IS PLEASED TO PRESENT:

Eric Stotik: New Work

Frank Boyden: Selected Ceramics, Including Recent Collaborations with Tom Coleman

OPENING RECEPTION:
First Thursday December 1, 2011
First Thursday Hours, 5-8pm


Eric Stotik


Eric Stotik
Untitled LR216 (crouch)    2011
acrylic on canvas
14.75 " x 13"

Eric Stotik presents small, intimate narratives that raise questions about identity, loss, interconnection and the human condition. Incorporating dreamlike figures and settings that warrant further investigation, Stotik’s paintings probe a darker side of the psyche, aiming for, as the artist says, “insight with a gasp.” Stotik explains that during the last two decades, “My focus on the human form and pathos has not wavered. My intention of presenting viewers with both accusatory and celebratory images with ‘gravity’ is unchanged. The combination of technical skill in draftsmanship, composition, and visual impact, with concurrent themes of human life and death has always been and remain my artistic compass.”

Eric Stotik grew up between Papua, New Guinea and Melbourne, Australia. As an adult, he came to Portland to study art at the Pacific Northwest College of Art, where he graduated in 1985. He won the prestigious Betty Bowen Memorial Award in 1994 and was Artist in Residence at the Vivian and Gordon Gilkey Center for the Graphic Arts, Portland Art Museum in 1997. Most recently, he was named the Regional Arts and Culture Council’s 2011 Fellow in Visual Arts. He has shown his work extensively throughout the Northwest, and his work is included in the collections of: the Hallie Ford Museum at Willamette University, Salem; the Portland Art Museum; the Nora Eccles Harrison Museum of Art, Utah; Idaho State University; the New York Public Library; and Yale University.

More examples by Eric Stotik


Frank Boyden



Frank Boyden & Tom Coleman
Veils, Atmosphere, and Silent Travelers    2011
woodfired porcelain
16 "x 16" x 16"

Frank Boyden has exhibited his work in museums and galleries throughout the United States, Canada, and Europe. In this new show, he has selected favorite pieces from his studio, exhibiting rarely-seen ceramics from across his career. Also included in the exhibit are new collaborative works with ceramist Tom Coleman, in a collection that combines technical mastery with the dark humor of Boyden’s subversive, skeletal line drawings. Boyden’s work retains an organic and dimensional quality, the vessels’ innate color and texture revealed by the intense heat of the kiln. Boyden works the materials to his own advantage, accepting only a select few for their exceptional and arcane presence.

Frank Boyden graduated from Yale in painting in 1968. He taught at the University of New Mexico in the late 60s where he became interested I n ceramics. He returned to the Oregon coast to live and founded the Sitka Center for Art and Ecology: a school for environmental studies. Boyden’s work is in collections including the Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.; the Pushkin Museum in Moscow; the Portland Art Museum; the Tacoma Art Museum; and Oregon Health Sciences University in Portland. Major sculpture commissions include; the Hult Performing Arts Center, Eugene; the Oregon Coast Aquarium, Newport; Doernbecher Children's Hospital, Portland; and Tri-Met Transit Authority, Portland.

More examples by Frank Boyden