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September Issue 2006
Joie Lassiter Gallery in Charlotte, NC, Features Exhibits by Lluis Lleo and Hoss Haley
Joie Lassiter Gallery
in Charlotte, NC, will present several exhibits on view from Sept.
8 through Oct. 3, 2006, including: Lluis Lleo: The Faces of
Painting and Hoss Haley: Ripple.
Lluis Lleo brings ideas from the intangible space of thought and
translates them directly into physical form. He relies on
intuition to let him know how much information to put in his works
so that some mystery remains in the piece for the viewers to puzzle
with themselves - thereby giving them a sense of involvement
and connection. In his watercolors on paper he incorporates bold
but liquid geometric shapes with the influence of Italian frescoes. Some
of Lleo's watercolors are instilled with luminosity that is both
sensuous and uplifting. It is a powerful but quiet presence that
sets him apart from other artists in his generation.
Once an idea has become a form and is examined physically from one angle, Lleo will reexamine it from several perspectives in order to get every impression desired as it evolves in thought. As a painter and sculptor, Lleo is always finding ways to use his 3-dimensional work in his 2-dimensional work as physical evidence of the thought's evolution. He is taking the representation full circle by having one work actually appear in another work. A visitor to Lleo' studio once commented that the forms seemed to be what dreams were made of. They have at once a flexible fragility and a misleading sense of solidity that by appearance alone seems very solid, but really it is just paper that will crumble if you try to grasp it too hard.
Lleo works in spiritualized geometry, similar to that of Kupka, Kandinsky, Klee and Mondrian and, in our time, that of Sean Scully, Antonio Diaz and others. Through the use of a few simple geometric shapes, Lleo, creates a sense of transcendence in his work that is both soothing and mysterious. In Spain, you will find his name listed along with legends such as Antoni Tapies and Eduard Chillida and always included in the list of "greats" from the eighties and nineties. Lleo's work is in the collection of the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia, in Madrid, the Museo de Art Contemporaneo Sofia Imber, in Caracas, Venezuela, the World Bank, Washington, D.C., DLB, Brussels, Belgium, to mention but a few.
Hoss Haley's choice of materials, his skills and his sensibility all have their origins in rural Kansas, where he grew up. He came to the material before he came to the concept of art. His interest in steel was evident by the age of 12. This life-long relationship with his medium surrounds him, affecting the way he thinks, sees and hears. Haley's work is built from the "ground up" being from a farm in Kansas, everything exists in relationship to the horizon line, or "ground", in art terms. In keeping with his basic idea of 'non-precious' material, the artist introduced concrete into his approach 7 years ago.
Many of Haley's works are inspired by the beauty and simplicity of early industrial architecture. Other strong influences are rooted in the contrast between the stark landscape and towering grain storage structures of Western Kansas, where Haley was first exposed to metalwork. An extensive background in welding, machining, and architectural blacksmithing serve as a foundation for a pragmatic approach to his current studio work.
Haley lives in Asheville, NC. He works primarily with steel and concrete, materials common to the vocabulary of farm life. Many of his works relate to the human figure, others refer to machinery and agriculture. The surfaces of his pieces whether bare or painted are distressed through corrosion, abrasion and heat to suggest natural degradation. Many of Haley's pieces depict the passage of time.
"Humans struggle for permanence and throughout history we have tried to build structures, that would last forever," Haley says. "But the moment a structure is built it starts to deteriorate, nature will reclaim it. There is beauty in this process and I hope this will come through in my work."
Haley has exhibited
his work in venues such as the California Crafts Museum, the Penland
Gallery, the North Carolina Museum of Art, Blue Spiral 1 Gallery,
the Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art and the Sofa Exposition
in Chicago, IL. His work has been cited in publications such as
American Craft Magazine, the New York Times, Hephaistos
Internacionale (Germany), The Mint Museum of Craft + Design
Catalogue and Details Magazine, and he has work in the
collections of the Charlotte Area Transit System, the McColl Center
for Visual Art and the Mint Museum of Art. Haley has also taught
at a variety of schools such as Penland School of Crafts, Appalachian
State University, Haystack Mountain School of Crafts and the State
University of New York.
For further information check our NC Commercial Gallery listings,
call the gallery at 704/373 1463 or at (www.lassitergallery.com).
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