Exhibition: Loading the Virtual Machine…

Loading the Virtual Machine…
MAY 15 – JUNE 15, 2020 | Curator: Christine Renc-Carter

Mary Alvarez
Nathan Beard
Denis Gaston
Barton Gilmore
Steven Kenny
Selina Román
Jon Seals
Lisa Sibley
Rob Tarbell
Vickie Vainionpää

Now more than ever, our livelihood and connection to the outside world depends on technological know-how while we are at the whim of a decent wifi connection. While in quarantine, we exist in this liminal state of being—our own perception of the passage of time is distorted by the uprooting of our daily routines, the barrage of a 24-hour news cycle, and our emotional reaction to intangible, unknown forces. While immersed in our art practice, time expands, yet, it speeds up when fear forces us into survival mode. In this disorienting state of transition, we find solace in creativity. Making things with our hands within the confines of our studio, our work becomes a lifeline from what we once knew to what is to become as we dive into the virtual abyss of cat videos and chatter made of 1’s and 0’s—an infinite void of time and space. This exhibition addresses the unknown, as artists translate what we cannot see into a tangible entity—the psychological effects of the perceived passage of time. By grappling with our own perception of time while in isolation, we begin to understand how it alters our own sense of reality and how we translate the physicality of our work in the virtual realm. We flood the “virtual machine” in an attempt to connect, express and engage until we can get time back on our side.

Nathan Beard, "Exit Music #35 (Entangled)," 2014, Acrylic on panel, 36 x 36 inches, Ramsey Collection. Courtesy of the artist.

Nathan Beard, "Exit Music #71 (Replicate)," 2019, Acrylic on three panels, 36 x 132 inches, on display at US Embassy, El Salvador, 2020-2023, US State Department Art in Embassies Program. Courtesy of the artist.

Nathan Beard, "Exit Music #47 (Formation)," 2017, Acrylic on two panels, 72 x 96 inches. Courtesy of the artist.

Nathan Beard, "Exit Music #60 (Lost in Translation)," 2018, Acrylic on canvas, 24 x 18 inches, on view Contemporary Heis Art (Tokyo, Japan). Courtesy of the artist.

Denis Gaston, "Fail Safe," 2011, Mixed-media on canvas, 42 x 30 x 1.5 inches. Courtesy of the artist.

Vickie Vainionpää, "Soft Body Dynamics 01," 2017, Oil on canvas, 50 x 64 inches. Courtesy of the artist.

Vickie Vainionpää, "Parallel Wilderness 02," 2019, Oil on linen, 48 x 58 inches. Courtesy of the artist.

Vickie Vainionpää, "Perceptium," 2014, Acrylic on canvas, 60 x 40 inches. Courtesy of the artist.

Vickie Vainionpää, "The Third Insight," 2015, Oil and print on canvas, 24 x 20 inches. Courtesy of the artist.

Selina Román, "Untitled (Sand)," 2016, Archival inkjet print, 40 x 60 inches. Courtesy of the artist.

Selina Román, "We Went Out Conquering and to Conquer," 2017, Archival inkjet print, 24 x 36 inches. Courtesy of the artist.

Selina Román, "Spandexical Landscape," 2015, Archival inkjet print, 24 x 36 inches. Courtesy of the artist.

Lisa Sibley, "Reflective," from the series "Now and Then and Back Again," 2014, Digital color photograph with black-and-white vernacular photo projection, 36 X 24 inches. Courtesy of the artist.

Mary Alvarez, "The Birth of Ganga," 2019, Digital collage, dimensions vary. Courtesy of the artist.

Mary Alvarez, "Final Transition I," 2018, Digital collage, 8 x 10 inches. Courtesy of the artist.

Barton Gilmore, "Tree Houses-Early Sign Series," 2011, Digital photograph printed on 100% Cotton Paper with K-3 Inks, 24 x 14 inches. Courtesy of the artist.

Barton Gilmore, "Plant Wars," 2014, Digital photograph printed on 100% Cotton Paper with K-3 Inks, 32 x 36 inches. Courtesy of the artist.

Steven Kenny, "The Carriage," 2014, Oil on panel, 16 x 20 inches, Collection of the Leepa-Rattner Museum of Art, St. Petersburg College, Tarpon Springs, Florida. Courtesy of the artist.

Steven Kenny, "The Clockmaker’s Wife," 2006, Oil on linen, 30 x 22 inches. Courtesy of the artist.

Steven Kenny, "The Web," 2011, Oil on linen, 30 x 22 inches. Courtesy of the artist.

Steven Kenny, "The Seduction," 2012, Oil on canvas, 32 x 26 inches. Courtesy of the artist.

Rob Tarbell, "Imbroglio: Tell," 2020, Smoke, glass, mirroring, copper, reflective, 24 x 18 inches. Courtesy of the artist.

Rob Tarbell, "Imbroglio: Brad," 2020, Smoke, glass, mirroring, copper, reflective, 24 x 18 inches. Courtesy of the artist.

Rob Tarbell, "Imbroglio: Sorcha (slump)," 2019, Smoke, glass, mirroring, slump glass, copper, reflective,12 x 12 inches. Courtesy of the artist.

Rob Tarbell, "Imbroglio: Sorcha (silk)," 2019, Smoke, glass, mirroring, silk, copper, reflective, 12 x 12 inches. Courtesy of the artist.

EXHIBITION ARTISTS

Mary Alvarez Tampa, Florida, USA
https://www.estudiometanoia.com/
Mary Alvarez received a Master of Architecture and Urban Design from the University of South Florida. “My artwork contemplates Buddhist concepts of Nature of Reality: Impermanence, the constant cycle of change, birth, and death.”

Nathan Beard St. Petersburg, Florida, USA
https://www.nathanbeardfineart.com/
Nathan Beard (BFA, Colorado State University 2001) is a St Petersburg, FL, artist whose work examines the cyclic qualities of Space-Time and the weaving of human will with natural forces as a creative activity that sculpts Space-Time to our adaptive needs and desires.

Denis Gaston Clearwater, Florida, USA
http://www.denisgaston.com/
Denis Gaston is a lifelong artist with a studio in Clearwater, FL. His paintings and drawings explore the mysterious realm of what it means to be human. Fail Safe was created in response to the ubiquitous presence of surveillance technology in our lives.

Barton Gilmore Lutz, Florida, USA
http://www.bartongilmorephotography.com/
As a working artist from an early age, educator and professor in the art department at St. Petersburg College for 30 years, the process for making art has transformed itself from a conceptual photographic medium to a mixed media environment, where the viewer is invited into a fabricated world of stories, ecosystems and enigmatic experiences, procured from personal observations, belief systems and life’s behavioral patterns.

Steven Kenny St. Petersburg, Florida, USA
http://www.stevenkenny.com/
From an early age the beauty and mystery of nature have deeply influenced Steven Kenny’s subject matter. His compositions most often combine the human figure with elements from nature to comment on our interactions with the environment while symbolically alluding to the dynamics of human nature in general.

Selina Román Tampa, Florida, USA/span>
https://www.selinaroman.com/
Tampa-based Florida native Selina Román received her Master of Fine Arts degree from the University of South Florida in 2013. Her work is in the collection of the John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art, the Leepa-Rattner Museum of Art, Hillsborough Community College, and numerous private collections. Participating in residencies with the Visual Artists Network and Diaspora Vibe Cultural Arts Incubator, her work confronts established perceptions and norms, and offers a new framework for contemplation.

Jon Seals Bourbonnais, Illinois and Palm Harbor, Florida, USA
https://www.jonsealsart.com/
Jon Seals is a conceptual artist, teacher, and curator. He holds a M.A.R. from Yale Divinity School and Yale Institute of Sacred Music and a M.F.A. in Painting from Savannah College of Art and Design. His artistic practice is organized around exploring the ways in which identity relates to memory, loss, and redemption in visual culture.

Lisa Sibley Tarpon Springs, Florida, USA
http://www.lisasibley.com/
Lisa Sibley, Fine Art Photographer, based in the Tampa Bay Area, creates work that investigates nostalgia of time, space, and memory.

Rob Tarbell Richmond, Virginia, USA
https://www.robtarbell.com
Over the past 15 years, Rob Tarbell has been recognized for creating and developing unorthodox processes involving the indirect manipulation of the material properties inherent to smoke and porcelain. Tarbell harnesses the illusive medium of smoke, preserving its ephemeral qualities while using the medium as an analogy for truth, deception, perception and change.

Vickie Vainionpää Montréal, Quebec, Canada
https://www.vickievainionpaa.com/
Vickie Vainionpää (1992) is an artist living and working in Montréal, Canada whose practice is centered around the impact of technology and digitization in relation to the process of painting.

EXHIBITION CURATOR

Christine Renc-Carter Dunedin, Florida, USA
Christine Renc-Carter has spent a lifetime deeply rooted in the pursuit of art. Born into an artistic family in Safety Harbor, Florida, she traveled the country with her artist parents and experimented with printmaking at an early age in her father’s studio. Earning a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Printmaking from the Maryland Institute, College of Art, in 1997, she also studied paper preservation at the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. She has since cultivated a unique artistic career as an artist and museum professional, working for galleries and museums in the Baltimore-Washington, D.C. area and throughout Florida for 20 years.