my sunday local artist ramble

Happy Sunday! It is sunny and beautiful here in Woodstock. I am back and forth between the computer and the backyard where I am making silk cyanotypes for the store at the Green Country Council of the Arts gallery (opening Feb. 20th).
I may be busy today, but I am still excited about my sunday local artists ramble...

This ramble highlights the artist George Quasha who lives and works in Barrytown, NY. He is one of those rare and versatile artists who has mastered several creative mediums in order to express his point of view. His sculpture, video, 2D and written word all share a common language throughout Quasha's life work. It is the language of the uncertain- the spontaneous moment- the balance between control and chaos.

Along with his wife, Susan, he founded Station Hill Press, which has specialized in publishing art, poetry, and philosophy, with titles ranging from presentations of work by performance artist Gary Hill to novels by French thinker Maurice Blanchot.

View his website here for more info.

I discovered Quasha's sculptural rocks at the Samuel Dorsky Museum at SUNY New Paltz around the time i returned tot he valley in 2007 (see sculpture image above). I was taken back by the balance he was able to construct. He had pushed these elements to the absolute farthest they could be pushed before collapse. What a beautiful metaphor for so many things in our world.

I then heard about this video piece:

From his website:
art is develops an open-ended video art work in portraiture that registers artists in the act of saying what art is. It is presented as a continuous series of speaking faces viewed up close, one at a time, with no overlaps or special effects, filmed “on site” under many circumstances. One unadorned face at a time fills the image area, and the image frame is contained within the face, thus reversing conventional portraiture. The framing effectively removes most social indicators (hair style, clothing, context, etc.). While many famous artists are included, they are mixed with lesser known ones. Identification of the artist is indicated only at the end of each "speaking portrait" in o rder to keep the viewer's attention focused on the act of saying what art is rather thank on the identity of the speaker.

A preview of his video piece "Art is: speaking portraits" can be seen here.

Quasha's work challenges his viewers to trust what we see and hear and feel-
he is a lovely representation of our valley.

all images are of work by George Quasha.