West Gallery

January - December 30, 2025

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Curators Statement:

“Even in stillness, there is movement.” – Anonymous

 

Visitors can embark on an artistic odyssey with "Harmonizing Dimensions," a curated collection delving into the intricate interplay of motion, time, and rhythm. This transformative exploration shapes and defines the creative landscape, leaving an enduring imprint on the ever-evolving art world.

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As we navigate the swift tapestry of the 21st century, our understanding of motion, time, and rhythm in art undergoes a profound transformation. Technological advancements and global connectivity dissolve traditional boundaries, providing artists with new realms to explore.

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Step into this odyssey at the Blanden, where artworks come alive dynamically, transcending conventional expressions. Let the masterpieces converge in your mind, facilitating a harmonious dialogue between motion, time, and rhythm. Across diverse mediums, artists showcase how movement breathes life into their works, time influences narratives, and rhythm orchestrates unique artistic experiences.

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Working in varied mediums, these artists share a profound grasp of the interplay among fundamental forces. Witness how motion is captured in brushstrokes, time in sculpture, and rhythm in the arrangement of forms and colors. The exhibition encourages an exploration of the dynamic relationship between the static and kinetic, tangible, and ephemeral, finite, and infinite – offering profound insights into the role of motion, time, and rhythm in shaping artistic expression.

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"Harmonizing Dimensions" invites you on a transformative journey where motion, time, and rhythm converge, unlocking uncharted realms of artistic expression. Celebrate the visionary contributions of artists worldwide as they entice us to delve into the profound mysteries within these elemental dimensions.

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May this exhibition inspire you to embrace the ever-shifting dynamics of life, fostering a deeper appreciation for the interconnected dance of motion, time, and rhythm in the realm of art.

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East Gallery

Nov 2 - Jan 18, 2025

 

Artist Statement: 

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In music the term “theme and variations” refers to a standard form composition (a melody, perhaps) first presented in its original form and then repeated in new ways.

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Visual artists do this, too. A theme becomes a “liberating limit”- a subject matter or approach that can be endlessly reimagined, loosened, tightened, or cast in a changed light.

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For me, this is the energy of art. Once perfected, a theme is rife with possibility. A painting bends with the artist’s mood, echoes with the images that came before, and- most profoundly- shifts again in the eyes of each new viewer.

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The principle is as clear in two variations as in seven or eight. The artwork presented here are “Two of a Kind”, but individually alive. Each is a distinct and captured moment, a chronicled inspiration, a lingering melody through still air.

 

Bio:

The path of an artist is seldom direct. We are wanderers — rerouted by endless curiosity, the demands of life, and the pull of new passions.

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For me, those detours only clarified the course. Creating has been my magnetic north, guiding me to a point where I can focus more intently on capturing the quiet beauty of the place I call home.

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I consider myself a neo-regionalist, embracing and promoting a fresh approach to Midwest art. Too often dismissed as fly-over farmland, the Midwest is alive with everything that is America. Our revered land (both wild and worked), the weathered icons of our agricultural heritage, and the skies — shifting like seasons from the bluest blue to pink and copper-red.

 

Reflecting this aesthetic not only honors the Midwest as a place, it elevates the people and the centuries of love and labor that sculpted everything we see.

Second Floor Gallery

Oct 5 - Dec 14, 2024

 

Artist Statement:

My work takes on the ephemerality of news and information and how the emotions we bring to each tragedy in the news cycle are swept away by the wave of information that floods the media. I address this social amnesia through my art with the work acting as a social memory for tragic events so quickly forgotten in our information age.

 

My development of “Godzilla invading U.S.” series led to eventual refinement of my painting     techniques. What started as paying homage to Asian art history evolved into my own      personal graphic technique. While “Godzilla invading U.S.” series focused more on my    personal struggle as an Asian-American, my following project, “Baptism of Concrete        Estuary” allowed me to reconnect with the Japanese heritage that I struggled for many years to forget.

 

“Baptism of Concrete Estuary” is the culmination of my knowledge and techniques. Through years of striving to find the means to articulate my personal vision, a process that I found moving from small to medium sized paintings to this monumental work. My intention in creating a 30 feet scroll painting was that the audience would be able to have an intimate look at the painting as in traditional Chinese and Japanese scroll, while also feeling       overwhelmed by the massiveness of the paper as a physical object in comparison to the  individual viewer.

 

Employing images of the overwhelming power of the Japanese tsunami and earthquake to inspire empathy in the painting’s viewers. I used visual color blocks and large fields to draw in the audience for a closer view, while the finer details of the piece keep the audience      fixated and allow them to feel immersed in the painting themselves.

 

Accompanying the large scroll, reproductions were created for distribution. These prints, their distribution and ubiquity are intended to serve as a constant reminder that events such as this should always be remembered, especially since there are those in Japan still in dire need of assistance. This gave birth to my “Disaster” series, then my laser cut        sculptural series, which ultimately represent my belief that art should act as a bridge and be accessible to its viewers through humanist tales of struggle and survival as played out in the prevalent social amnesia of the information age.

 

Bio:

Jave Yoshimoto is an artist and educator of multi-cultural background. He was born in     Japan to Chinese parents and immigrated to United States at a young age. He has since traveled and lived in various parts of the country which influenced his artistic practice.  He believes in creating art works that are socially conscious and true to his authentic self.  

  

Yoshimoto has received his Bachelors from University of California Santa Barbara in Studio Art, his Post-baccalaureate Certificate in Painting and Drawing and Masters of Art in Art Therapy at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and his Masters of Fine Arts in     Painting at Syracuse University.

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• Michael Moore - Second Floor Gallery 

  • Breaking the Grid (Jan 4 - March 22, 2025) ​

• Dave Jordano - East Gallery 

  • Duck Blinds (Feb 1 - April 18, 2025)