Delta Center for the Arts
LH Horton Jr Gallery presents
Steven Labadessa — bite
Brandon C. Smith — Pulling Cows * Residual
October 2 – 30, 2008
Reception: October 2nd, 5-7p.m.
~Artist Statement
Painting, drawing and printmaking serve for me as physically enacted rituals of praise and contemplation. It is a process that allows me to view my attachments (memories, feelings, thoughts) with detachment by rendering an allusion to my private reality. Through the act, the invisible is made visible, suspended in the timelessness of paint — still, but never silent.
My work is figuratively and literally theatrical. Friends and relations (lasting and temporary) serve as a surrogate for me, as I re-render their flesh by “compositing” my imagery from a variety of observed, imaginary, photographic and digital sources. The amalgamation of processes both traditional and contemporary allows the work to be steeped in the history of the art of the past, as well as the present. Moreover, this process frees me from verisimilitude to encompass a form of self-portraiture. Ultimately, the paintings, drawings and prints consider the ways in which a person or persons can take on an iconic quality in memory, at the same time they emblematize, retrospectively, a more universal human experience.
The work also marks my explorations of contemporary visual aesthetics and languages in both popular and fringe cultures. I draw inspiration from forms of expression throughout the world aspiring towards a devout pursuit of a severe beauty, as well as pursuing virtuosity in practice seeking ever greater complexity in simplicity. Parallel interests in Northern Renaissance Art (egs. Jan Van Eyck, Hans Memling), Japanese Art and Culture (particularly Butoh dance and Otaku, or “Anime Geek,” subculture), and Western Comic Book Art contribute heavily in the creation of my work. ~
Steven Labadessa completed a Master of Fine Arts in painting from the University of Pennsylvania.
~Artist Statement
From the beginning, the dominant idea for my paintings has been a representation not as the world is, but instead as I remember or perceive it to be. The rural landscapes, people, and events that I depict come from a version of my experience. I am not interested in the accurate depiction of these things, for that has never had meaning for me. The landscape has a presence, a mixture of depression, anxiety and loss as well as health and fortitude. Two or five cows grazing in a green field can be majestic and beautiful or pitiful and lonely. Subjects often become metaphors for other things; cows for people, people for dramatic event, or landscape for livelihood. These are natural progressions that happen with and without my permission.
Within these paintings the main character is often depicted during quiet and still moments that seem to suggest a lapse in activity. These spaces between dramatic occurrences become the filler for existence. The opportunity for meaning in these quiet moments, comprising the whole of our lives, is a fertile field for my ideas. The cow, trailer, landscape, or person becomes the clean slate or empty vessel into which I pour a multitude of ideas. The repetition of these events creates a momentary truth where the character is mythologized and the situations have tangible meaning. On these situations I have poured my discontent, my platitudes and my failures. The emergence of these images as heroic, misunderstood and strangely powerful has been the result. ~
Brandon Smith completed a Master of Fine Arts Degree from the University of Cincinnati. He is an Adjunct Faculty member of the Eastern Kentucky University in Richmond, Kentucky, where he teaches painting and drawing.
