May Issue 2000
Jerald Melberg Gallery - Charleston, SC, Offers Three New Exhibits
Jerald Melberg Gallery in Charleston, SC, is
pleased to announce three solo exhibitions of new works by Ernesto
Berra, Raul Diaz, and Jon Kuhn. All three exhibitions will be
on view from May 5 through June 18, 2000.
Ernesto Berra lives and works
in Cordoba, Argentina, where he was born in 1947. Since he began
exhibiting his works of art in 1969, Berra has been honored with
over forty-five solo and group exhibitions, making him one of
Argentina's most prominent artists.
A painter of collages that often resemble abstract landscapes, Berra's images have a clearly constructivist background. There is a gestural quality in the color strokes, but the insinuated horizontal and vertical lines support a vigorous structure. Color, form and the plane are values in themselves and can actually represent a reality in Berra's paintings.
In the first decades of this century, Cubists
and Dadaists included everyday objects - tramway tickets, ropes,
pieces of wood and fabrics - in their paintings. With this simple
act, they produced a major conceptual turn in twentieth century
art. Upholding this tradition, Berra incorporates extra-pictorial
elements such as wires, sticks, nails and metallic pieces by fusing
them into the surface of the painting, thereby making clear distinctions
and directions.
Represented exclusively in the United States by Jerald Melberg
Gallery, this is the artist's second solo exhibition with the
gallery.
Raul Diaz was born in Cordoba, Argentina, in 1952 and
continues to live in his native city. Although trained as an architect,
in his heart he was always a painter. At the age of thirty-four,
Diaz devoted himself full time to painting, and since 1984 he
has gained much respect and notoriety throughout the United States,
Europe and South America having been exhibited in over fifty solo
and group exhibitions including the Genaro Perez Museum in Cordoba
and the Dubuque Museum of Art.
Self-taught as an artist, Diaz's technique reflects considerable
sophistication in the heavily worked surfaces of his paintings
on wood. His paintings depict anonymous figures and symbolic objects
in a variety of settings. His surfaces have been layered, scraped,
overpainted, scuffed, collaged and incised with subtle markings.
Despite hints of geometric division, Diaz's dream-like paintings
create ethereal, textured environments that are both mysterious
and compelling. The delicate movements of boats, leaves and figures
within the landscape offers a surreal, yet serene and comfortable
place that reflects the past and intimates the future.
This exhibition marks Diaz's second solo exhibition with the gallery.
Born in 1949, Jon Kuhn received degrees from Washburn
University and Virginia Commonwealth University. For more than
twenty years, Kuhn's glass sculptures have been at the forefront
of the international glass movement. Kuhn's work has been exhibited
in well over one hundred group exhibitions, and the artist has
been honored with more than forty solo exhibitions. His work can
be found in over fifteen museum collections including the Metropolitan
Museum, the Smithsonian Institution and the White House.
Kuhn's pieces vary in size, shape, construction and function, yet each sculpture is centered around the use of the cube. The internal cubes are formed with hundreds of tiny pieces of brightly colored glass (often coated with gold and silver leaf), which, when finally assembled, create a gem-like form, perfectly cubic in dimensions, that reflects and bends light.
When asked about his work, Kuhn said, "Rhythm,
patterns and sequences are the basics of all my compositions.
My interests in architecture, music, mathematics and textiles
strongly influence my current work. The goal of spirituality is
perfection. Striving for perfection has never been more evident
in what I do. Perhaps my sculpture has become an architectural
model of a vision for a better world."
This is the artist's first solo exhibition with the gallery.
For further information check our SC Commercial Gallery listings or call the gallery at 843/965-5000, e-mail at (sc@jeraldmelberg.com) or on the web at (http://www.jeraldmelberg.com).
Mailing Address: Carolina Arts, P.O. Drawer
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