Perceptions of Receptions

Often news stories describing art gallery openings or artists receptions are about the venue and the attendees. Who wore what, who was escorted by whom, the band, the cheese and crackers, the gallery owners, but rarely it seems about the artists or their work. Most sound like “red carpet” interviews. The author never seems to actually go inside. Look at what passes for entertainment news. Which film grossed highest over the weekend. That is business news. Read the Los Angles Times for a closer look at the production and promotion side of movie industry.
Reading artistic mission statements is always fun. They make great poems. Make one up and read it aloud. But surely there is a journalistic balance that would be interesting and informative. Personally to see the art and the artist together helps me to understand them both so much better.
At a recent i-park Open Studio program I met two exceptional artists. Art and the whole creative process continues to fascinate me.
Claudia Borgna is an international art gypsy (gypsy in the romantic American sense, not the sometimes derogatory European sense) who travels the world making art with her recycled plastic bags. This is far more exciting than it sounds. The impact her outdoor installations is really impressive. She keeps expanding farther and farther on natural themes with unnatural (man made) materials creating hyper-natural environments.
Dhanur Goyal www.penandinkcreations.com is a relaxed soft spoken man until the topic becomes art. Both he and his pen and ink drawings are as fierce as the bengal tigers of his homeland. Work from his show “Lost in a Lost World” is incredible. To me there are elements of Sgt. Peppers and Salvador Dali in Dhanur’s powerful images. He depicts human nature so strongly. He showed an image of two people sharing a single face. He explained that two people become one person when they argue. The more I stare at his work, the more intrigued I become.

by – Doug Mathewson