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July Issue 2009
Bank of America
Plaza in Charlotte, NC, Features 18th Art Exhibition
In this the 18th art exhibition at Bank of America Plaza in Charlotte, NC, Green Light, bring together eight artists working in environmental themes into a building implementing sustainable procedures. The exhibit featuring works by Michele Brody, Tara Donovan, Kendall Buster, Dodi Wexler, Wendy Given, Gregg Schlanger, Ashley Lathe, and Anne - Katrin Spiess, will be on view through Nov. 15, 2009.
In an effort initiated by Behringer Harvard, the owner of Bank of America Plaza, and supervised and implemented by the local management team, the 34 year old Bank of America Plaza obtained its LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification, with an Energy Star Rating of 91. Although new buildings can be built to these standards, the advantages of inhabiting an old building brought up to eco-standards have innumerable rewards. The 1970s building has an excellent location, along with a timeless quality, both in design and materials, with open floor plates and majestic grand halls. A further benefit is that of working with a seasoned management team who for years have taken measures to control and lower operating expenses and have recently devoted a difficult 11 months to investigate and apply for LEED certification - this being evidence of Behringer Harvard's intention to further their environmental stewardship.
Michele Brody's sculpture installations utilize the process of hydroponics to create a fabricated, self-contained environment allowing for grasses to sprout, grow and decay. The essence of Brody's work is to understand how we live with change and the constant flux of our environment - inspiring the viewer to be more awareness of the tenuous relationship between ourselves, nature, and the urban environment. This installation, Land-Scaping, developed out of some of Brody's older work, which were rooms that the viewer was invited to enter into and experience an alternative sense of space through the use of light, fabric, and growth.
Brody has been the recipient of grants from the Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation, Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, Pollock/ Krasner Foundation, New York Foundation for the Arts, and New York State Council on the Arts' Architecture, Planning & Design Program.
Tara Donovan's inspiration comes from mundane, everyday materials such as scotch tape, drinking straws, paper plates, and fishing wire, often found in dollar shops and surplus stores, which she molds and teases out sensual, abstracted landscapes and forms: be it pencils forming a haunting terrain of golden majesty, styrofoam cups congealing to create billowy, luminescent "clouds" overhead, or paper plates creating undulating, romanticized strands of DNA.
A renowned international artist, Donovan's work has appeared in numerous solo and group exhibitions at such venues as the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the UCLA Hammer Museum, the Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego, and the Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston.
Kendall Buster creates structures that reveal conflict between the natural and the constructed. Parabiosis is an architectural model of interlinked structures - a complex form suggesting either an unruly fusion of independent organisms or a system of interdependent organs. Each structure housed a different part of what came to be regarded as a city: a block of flats, a cinema, an opera, a stadium, a cathedral. Nature is referenced through the biomorphic forms and green shade cloth covering, implying an elemental force that is always present.
Buster obtained a BFA degree from the Corcoran School of Art in Washington, DC and a MFA degree in Sculpture from Yale University.
Dodi Wexler builds large scale, grand urban landscape like works, using detritus from the street such as cardboard boxes, old newspapers, building materials, and used plastic. These exhausted and abandoned scraps arrive inside, re-created, and are brought to the attention of the public - initiating a dialog on the issues of waste and mass consumption. The artist also creates finely detailed works out of materials like paper scraps, vintage stamps, beads and water bottle caps, which she says often symbolize terrestrial and celestial realms; an example of which we see in this exhibit.
The concept for this series by Wendy Given stems from the artist's interest and concern with our dwindling relationship to and understanding of nature, the flora and fauna within it, and the waning utilization of folklore that notes the phenomena in Western society. The Wilds is a parallel universe to our man-made reality with unfixed borders.
Given received her MFA
degree from Otis College of Art and Design, Los Angeles, CA. She
currently resides in Portland, Oregon.
Gregg Schlanger's B.W.R. 50 Liters (basic water requirement)
refers to domestic water usage per person per day which includes
water for: drinking, hygiene, sanitation services and food preparation.
The data used in this project is based upon information from the
World Resources Institute and is the standard used by most organizations
to calculate that 50 liters of water per day that will cover basic
human needs.
Schlanger is a professor of art at Austin Peay State University in Clarksville, TN.
Ashley Lathe utilizes home-made technology via constructed machines that guide the natural patterns of wind and rain to create images. The paintings themselves are "artifacts" or fingerprints of these forces. By linking the process of art with these ecological processes, the invisible becomes visible. They also challenge the assumptions of ecology and sustainability by harnessing these forces outside of the context of natural phenomena, while reinforcing the same messages. Lathe is a past resident of the McColl Center.
As she works in nature, Anne - Katrin Spiess has become increasingly aware of the complex environmental issues developing. She realized that her work would be void of any real significance unless she dedicated some of her projects to the preservation and protection of natural environments. In the summers of 2003 and 2004 Spiess worked on several projects on a barren island off of the coast of Maine. One of her main interests was to explore how she could live on the island whilst securing the major necessities for survival such as food, shelter, and of course water. Since eight glasses of water a day are considered to be ideal intake, she decided to set up eight clear glasses and wait for the rain to fill them. The photographs in the exhibition are the documentation of the experiment.
For further information
check our NC Institutional Gallery listings or call Irina Toshkova
at 704/373-1464.
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