NEWSLETTER
Glens Falls, N.Y. — Anyone unfamiliar with indie band Lord Huron probably thinks “The Ghost on the Shore,” the latest exhibition at Lower Adirondack Regional Arts Council, is just eerily named. But fans of the Los Angeles-based musicians will recognize that LARAC’s fifth show of the year is a song title.
“I named every show this year after a Lord Huron song I knew represented the work,” said Phil Casabona, executive director of LARAC.
“SHOW V: The Ghost on the Shore,” featuring artists Jack Montoya and Robert Barnett, opened Friday and runs through Wednesday, August 10, at Lapham Gallery, 7 Lapham Place, Glens Falls, New York.
“ ‘Ghost on the Shore’ worked because of the ominous aesthetic of both artists,” Casabona said. “They’re subtle and beautiful.”
Some of Montoya’s sculptures are created with 90 percent corn-based plastic using a 3D printer and others are figurative, displaying an environmental influence.
“I strive to focus my sculpture on humanity through emotion and movement as ethereal qualities emerging during the artistic experience,” said Montoya, who works in the computer gaming industry. “My figurative sculptures include gestural, ‘imperfect’ elements, walking away from the trivial path of machine-aided perfection, prioritizing hand-made drawings and clay/plaster models.”
Barnett, though, explores environmental textures by layering encaustic wax, sumi ink, oil pigments and natural fibers.
“So ‘Ghost on the Shore’ has new technology that is able to produce new works in Jack Montoya’s printed works and this older medium not that many people use in Barnett’s,” Casabona noted. “These two media aren’t seen very often. The juxtaposition is that it’s wildly different media that complement one another very well, particularly in the color palette.”
Barnett’s encaustics have the sepia tone of an old photograph. According to the artist statement of the set designer and painter, “The textures that make up our environment have held a fascination for him.”
In “Ghost on the Shore,” he explores those textures. “The profound effect nature has on our environment is a constant source of subject matter for his work,” the statement reads.
“The vast differences in media between the two artists creates a sense of depth, along with an intriguing juxtaposition that works on an emotional level,” Casabona said.
The show opened in conjunction with Mountain Gallery’s “Fiber and Form,” which features the works of Ronn Mattia and Joy Muller-McCoola, and runs through August 13.
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Media Contact: Cam Cardinale, cam@advokate.net, 518-309-8616