Jayne H. Baum

Susanna Cole and Erin Donnelly

Elena Filipovic

Ingrid LaFleur

Trong G. Nguyen

Olu Oguibe

Chika Okeke

Sandhini Poddar

Praxis

Ashkan Sahihi

Marketa Uhlirova

John Noestheden
Jayne H. Baum

A very challenging notion – The One. The One for now – the present, The One for the past, The One for the future. Our responsive visions are only informed by the depth of our cumulative visual experiences – those experiences may be random, often times unexpected; sometimes very specific and exacting and others deliberately studied; all over time yields a defined viewpoint to which each individual reacts to an artwork and to the stimulus of the world at large.

I have been looking at work for many years, mostly photographic or media driven given the direction of my gallery since the early 80’s, but never dismissing work of other mediums that were rooted in the concerns that drove me to establishing a space that represented artists whom challenged standard notions of art making, taking unimaginable risks in their conceptualization of the their visions – we were moving into a society of media based influences – their expressions were no longer predicated on and /or confined to the world of painting and sculpture. Their vocabulary expanded – often influenced by everyday, mundane print, ads, billboards,TV culture, films, etc….representations were fabricated using new media.

John Noestheden’s Diamond Drawings, are exquisite contemporary drawings that address the old question of Chaos and Order – how does an artist control or allow himself to give in to the randomness/uncertainty of creation. The graphite, ordered, rigid skeletons of the drawings reference our notions of constructing our world, either through mathematical theories painstakingly drawn or the what appears to be representative of the structures of the heavens. These are further enhanced by the application of Swarovski (an old world manufacturer of crystals from Eastern Europe, often used in haute couture) silver crystals that brings the drawing to brilliant life through the reflection of pure light emitting from each crystal, causing a prophetic dance of shimmering color and pattern - not stationary but ever changing. It is the viewer who completes the sentence started by Noestheden. An artist of maturity, 60 years old, he has taken the conceptual risk not only with unusual materials, but with a confident stride of an artist who has always questioned his methodology, a strictness that is stitched into the fabric of his being. His practice comes from very traditional training yet his vision is of the moment and perhaps the elegance of his expression will continue to attract the interest of the future.

Jayne H. Baum