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May Issue 2005
Rabold Gallery in Aiken, SC, Offers Works by Janet Kozachek
The Rabold Gallery in Aiken, SC,
is presenting Excavations and Reflections of an Imagined Archaeology,
an exhibition of new mixed media mosaics and oil paintings by
Janet Kozachek of Orangeburg, SC, on view through May 18, 2005.
The exhibition is a conceptual presentation in two parts. The
mosaics represent excavations and the paintings constitute the
artist's reflections on the excavations. The two bodies of work
are tied together thematically by the artist's longtime interest
in archaeology. Her visits to ruins such as Pompeii, Herculaneum,
and Ostia Antica informed this body of work.
The mosaics are composed of found and unearthed objects as well as high end purchased materials such as smalti and gold tesserae. The juxtaposition of the mundane with the valuable plays human need off human desire the practical need to "waste not, want not" and the indulgent desire to acquire the rare and precious. Archaeology uniformly reveals both.
"As a mixed-media and found-object artist who has collected things for well over a decade, I began to feel entombed by the accumulation of materials in my studio," the artist said. "Through a self-imposed edict, I decided to rid myself of accumulated materials, hoping that my disciplined restraint from acquiring new materials and the clearing out of clutter would find a path to enlightenment. How close to zero could I get? And what was the meaning of emptying out? How easily could I part with treasured objects, sticking them in cement and sending them back out into the world?"
The process took on a life of its own. "After about six months of working in this manner, the quest away from one thing became a journey toward something else," says Kozachek. "As I found frugal and clever ways of assembling the plethora of materials in my studio, my own personal past intersected with my interest in archaeology and imagined civilizations began to emerge in my work an archaeology of the mind."
After this process, Kozachek turned her attention to remnants of unpainted gesso panels and primed but unpainted canvases in her studio. She set out to reinterpret her mosaics through paintings. "The project proved to be challenging," she said. "I decided not to copy the mosaics, but rather to let the painting medium dictate the message and presentation." She re-envisioned or imagined something new from the original, discovering a new perspective on the subject.
Kozachek has an MFA from Parsons School of Design and also has studied at the State Academy of Applied Arts in Maastricht, Holland, the Beijing Central Art Academy in Beijing, China, and Douglass College, the women's college of Rutgers. She is the co-founder of the Society of American Mosaic Artists and served as the organization's first president and CEO. She is in the collections of the Columbia Museum of Art, the Morris Museum of Art, and the Beijing Central Art Academy.
For further info check our SC Commercial Gallery listings, call the gallery at 803-641-4405 or e-mail at (raboldgallery@bellsouth.net)
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