August Issue 2000
Melberg Gallery - Charlotte, NC, Offers Two New Exhibits
Jerald Melberg Gallery in Charlotte, NC, is pleased to announce two solo exhibitions of new works by Ernesto Berra and Raul Diaz. Both exhibitions will be on view through Aug. 19.
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.
The word collagraph comes from combining the words "collage" and "graphic." A collagraph is made using a collage matrix composed of materials such as cloth, burlap, cardboard, nails or other found objects. This collage matrix is usually varnished to prevent absorption. It is then inked and printed onto paper using pressure. The result is a mirror image transfer.
Berra works in small series of collagraphs by re-inking the matrix in different patterns and colors thereby producing images that are similar but still unique.
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 and pastels. His paintings depict anonymous figures and symbolic objects in a variety of settings. The handmade paper is layered with oil pastel and graphite, with the occasional incorporation of elements of collage while the paintings are executed on wood panel as the artist incises and carves into the surface to achieve texture and dimension. 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 is the artist's third solo exhibition with the gallery.
For further information check our NC Commercial Gallery listings or call the gallery at 704/365-3000, e-mail at (nc@jeraldmelberg.com) or on the web at (http://www.jeraldmelberg.com).
Mailing Address: Carolina Arts, P.O. Drawer
427, Bonneau, SC 29431
Telephone, Answering Machine and FAX: 843/825-3408
E-Mail: carolinart@aol.com
Subscriptions are available for $18 a year.
Carolina Arts
is published monthly by Shoestring
Publishing Company, a subsidiary of PSMG, Inc.
Copyright© 2000 by PSMG, Inc., which published Charleston
Arts from July 1987 - Dec. 1994 and South Carolina Arts
from Jan. 1995 - Dec. 1996. It also publishes Carolina Arts
Online, Copyright© 2000 by PSMG, Inc. All rights reserved
by PSMG, Inc. or by the authors of articles. Reproduction or use
without written permission is strictly prohibited. Carolina
Arts is available throughout North & South Carolina.