Texas Sculpture Association 30th Anniversary

Opening Reception April 6, 2013, 6:00 – 8:00pm

Exhibition Dates, April 6 – May 11, 2013

Cohn Drennan Contemporary is partnering with the Texas Sculpture Association to celebrate 30 yeas of public service and art advocacy in the State of Texas. The TSA commitment to community service is most notably evident in the North Texas region where over half of the association’s members reside and where they host numerous public events each year. Please join the gallery in acknowledging the diversity and range of the three dimensional arts in Texas and the artists who contribute to the public’s education and engagement of sculpture.

TSA 30^th Anniversary Artists:

Jan Ayers, Betsy Bass, Ariel Bowman, Karmien Bowman, Lauren Browning, Linda Chidsey, Annelies Christian, Artyce Colen, Tony Collins, Robert W. Dobbs, Jerry Dodd, Lori Dudley, David Duncan, Jerry Freid, Art Fairchild, Kate Firth, Deana Hinchcliff, Brandon Jarrett, Jim Mace, Nan Martin, Jason Mehl, Rene Muhl, Jeff Seidel, Sabine Senft, Scott Shubin, Pauline Smart, Stan Smith, Ashok Srikantappa, Gisela-Heidi Strunck, Fancy Tanner, Robertus J van der Wege and Dottie Whiplash.

Ariel Bowman, Orpheus, bronze, 18 x 24 x 12 in

Jerry Fried, Surf’s Up, 14 x 10 x 19 in

Fancy Tanner, Gotham, lids, 12 x 12 in

Jeff Seidel, untitled, leather, 22 x 11 x 12 in

For more information about the Texas Sculpture Association 30^th Anniversary exhibition or for more information about Cohn Drennan Contemporary, please go to www.cohndrennancontemporary.com or call 214.708.8051 or e-mail cohn@cohndrennancontemporary.com.

The gallery is located at 1107 Dragon, Dallas, TX and hours of operation are Tuesday through Friday 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. and Saturday 12:00 to 5:00 p.m.

frayed elements, surface tension and eye candy

Giovanni Valderas, Michael McKenzie and Allison Gregory

Opening Reception May 18, 2013, 6:00 – 8:00pm

Exhibition Dates, May 18 – June 22, 2013

Cohn Drennan Contemporary presents three series of paintings from three artists, Giovanni Valderas, Michael McKenzie and Allison Gregory.  Each of the artists in this exhibition incorporate art in the comprehension of their lives and understanding the world around them.  The paintings from Valderas’ frayed elements incorporate mixed media, consisting of paper, acrylic paint, wood, drawing and screen print in which he depicts ambiguous objects and memories in an effort to evoke a sense of mystery and clarity of personal relationships.  Gregory derives inspiration for the works in her eye candy series from pop culture, found objects, toys and wandering the aisles of Party City, Hobby Lobby and Michaels.  And cultural symbols, dream imagery and intuitively invented shapes populate the paintings of McKenzie’s series surface tension. 

Giovanni Valderas, Soft Power, 2013, mixed media on panel, 30 x 22.75 inches

This is Giovanni Valderas’ second exhibition at the gallery.  After securing his MFA from UNT last year, Giovanni has been teaching at UNT and Mountain View College while expanding his exhibition schedule and visibility.   Steve Carter’s recent article in Patron states “Valderas deals with culture, relationships, family, and origins, and his artistic language is symbolic, exploring appearance vs. reality and dual identities.”  Valderas borrows the frayed elements from the “piñata,” in an effort to transform its original identity from one of mere birthday celebrations to one of an alternate identity of decaying traditional structures.  The anatomical aspect of the piñata is also appropriated and amplified, creating a complex network suggesting the strength and the inner complexity of relationships.

Allison Gregory, Loop d' Loo, 2012, mixed media on panel (acrylic, sugar, enamel, resin, pen/ink, sequin, glass beads, gold leaf flakes, glitter), 25 x 50 inches

Self-described color freak Allison Gregory is an Austin artist whose popularity with the city’s Cow Parade and GuitarTown projects has propelled her work to national and international audiences.  Gregory left San Antonio in 1996 to study art and design at the University of Redlands and Platt College in California then moved to Austin.  Gregory’s works combine neon colors and intricate, miniscule drawings or patterns, and incorporate stickers, collage and pen-and-ink. The artist describes them as being influenced by 1980s pop culture, “The Lite-Brite, the Bubblegum-pop music, and the exaggerated, tacky neon patterns that defined our fashion sense,” she says. Her most time-intensive work to date, one large piece entitled Eye Candy, took the artist five months of eight- and 10-hour days to complete.  The self-diagnosed ADD sufferer channels all that energy into creating fun, vibrant, funky artwork.

Michael McKenzie, Metatarsal Myth II (Ecstasy of St. Teresa), 2013, oil and mixed media on canvas, 48 X 48 inches

Michael McKenzie has been active and involved with the Dallas art community since exhibiting at 500X in 1983.  After many years in art education and inspiring students, McKenzie took the leap of faith and embarked on a new chapter into his creative life beginning with an internship to work on a sustainable architecture project in Montana in the fall of 2010.  Michael traveled extensively in the iconic American west and returned to spend his days savoring the solitude and possibilities of his new studio space in a hundred year old farm house on the Irish Ridge near Talty, Texas.  McKenzie employs a menagerie of personal symbols and characters as well as the symbols from other cultures that interest him. The use of dream imagery and snippets of stories or folk tales mixed with intuitively invented shapes create painterly, colorful, highly textured works that hopefully reveal their meaning slowly and on many levels.   When he is not in his studio Michael can often be found sailing, using the wind, water, and light to renew and inspire his next creations.

For more information about frayed elements, surface tension and eye candy or for more information about Cohn Drennan Contemporary, please go to   www.cohndrennancontemporary.com or call 214.708.8051 or e-mail cohn@cohndrennancontemporary.com.  The gallery is located at 1107 Dragon, Dallas, TX and hours of operation are Tuesday through Friday 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. and Saturday 12:00 to 5:00 p.m.