The Art On Our Walls
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John Lilley
RECOLETA
Exhibition Showing:
JANUARY 19TH - MARCH 15TH, 2023
ARTIST RECEPTION:
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 3rd, 2023, 5:00-7:00 PM
Samples From the Gallery
ARTIST STATEMENT
Recoleta Cemetery, located in the heart of Buenos Aires, was established in 1822 on land originally occupied by Franciscan Recollect Monks. The 14 acre cemetery holds 4691 vaults or mausoleums all above ground; however most structures have underground chambers, some 2 or 3 stories deep.
The cemetery contains many elaborate marble mausoleums in a wide variety of styles such as Art Deco, Art Nouveau, Baroque, and Neo-Gothic. Most materials used between 1880 and 1930 were imported from France and Italy. The cemetery is laid out in sections like city blocks, with wide tree lined main walkways branching into sidewalks filled with mausoleums. Mausoleums are privately owned by rich families in Argentina who still keep their deceased there. Over 6400 statues, sarcophagi, coffins, and crypts commemorate some of Argentina’s most celebrated sons and daughters, not the least of whom is Eva “Evita” Peron.
It is an eerily beautiful place, with shadowed walkways and towering marble mausoleums rich in architectural style, Masonic symbols, and powerful religious iconography.
My intent in photographing within Recoleta was not to document the cemetery as such, but more to take advantage of the richness of form, texture, and line within its boundaries. My visits to the cemetery coincided with times of intense direct sunlight which created high-contrast scenes of texture, light, and shadow.
M. SAFFELL GARDNER
PHASEZ
Exhibition Showing:
NOVEMBER 11TH, 2022 - JANUARY 18th, 2023
ARTIST RECEPTION:
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 17TH, 2022, 5:00-7:00 PM
Samples From the Gallery
ARTIST STATEMENT
My father once told me that, when I painted, I put part of my spirit into that artwork. Although now my work encompasses elements spanning numerous disciplines and media, I still believe this to be true. The visionary and improvisational element of my work is truly from my spirit. It is abstract, influenced by Abstract Expressionism and Color Field painting. My colors are spontaneous, varying in brilliance and saturation, reflections of how I feel. I have created several concurrent and overlapping series of paintings over the years using dry pigment mixed in with paint applied to canvas, paper, and wood, masking tape, buttons, beads and more. I have experimented with incorporating video to create a moving space through imagery and overlaying several digital images, creating new spaces through their projection. The expressive motions revealed in my work trace where the ancestors come in, echoes of the same movements articulated by Sun Ra, Anthony Braxton, James Brown and Michael Jackson. The ancestors (African, Indian & Oceanic) inform a large part of my experience as an artist and ground my work within my culture.
BIOGRAPHY
M. Saffell Gardner holds BFA and MFA degrees in painting from Wayne State University. A sculptor, painter mixed media artist, muralist, videographer, art historian, curator, lecturer and educator, he teaches at private colleges and community colleges. Mr. Gardner has participated in arts mentoring programs. “Sankofa” one of Saffell’s larger sculptures will be shown at the Krasl Bienniel at the Box Factory in St. Joseph, MI 2022-23. Saffell’s sculpture “Lost Kings” was acceptted into the 2021 Regional Bienniel at the Marshall M. Fredricks sculpture museum and his sculpture “Sankofa” was in the 2020-2021 Chelsea Sculpture Walk. 2015 Saffell was awarded a Kresge Fellowship. 2014 Saffell was invited to have a survey exhibit at gallery 9338 Campau. Mr. Gardner also participated in Artprize for 2014. Mr. Gardner was invited to Participate in “The Venice Biennale 2013”. 2012, Saffell co-curated “Vision in a Cornfield” for the Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit. In 2000, Mr. Gardner was selected as the Chivas Regal Artist in Residence at the Charles H. Wright Museum. A commissioned painting “Door of No Return” is in the museum’s permanent collection as a result of the residency. Commissions include a painted receptacle for Detroit’s “Pretty City” project as well as major commissions for the COBO Center (now Huntington Place) and the Detroit Public Schools. Mr. Gardner’s work is in the permanent collection of The Henry Ford Hospital, Blue Cross Blue Shield, DMC, Total Healthcare, The Federal Reserve, Chicago, Renaissance High School and Southeastern High School and Detroit School of the Arts. He has exhibited Brazil and Ghana, Africa.
M. Saffell Gardner’s exhibit is supported by the National Endowment for the Arts as a component of Kerrytown Concert House’s annual creative music festival, Edgefest. Gardner’s work was also featured as a part of the Edgefest 26 poster and program artwork. Read more about Edgefest here.
