1708 Gallery

Ledelle Moe and Greg Streak’s exhibition Drift opens this week at 1708 Gallery. The reception on Friday night will be from 7-10.
We will also be open on First Friday, February 2, from 7-10 and there will be an Artist Talk the same day starting at 5pm at the gallery.

Ledelle and her assistants installing the very large concrete and steel sculptures.

1708 Gallery kicks off its 2007 exhibition schedule with a powerful installation of sculpture by Ledelle Moe and video by Greg Streak. These artists create a protracted engagement with South Africa’s social and political identity.

Immediately following Moe’s first New York solo show at Axis Gallery in November, 1708 Gallery’s exhibition features the artist’s colossal, figural fragments sculpted from large gauge steel and concrete. Cavernous and enveloping, these pieces form part of Moe’s continuing series Collapse IV. Raw concrete becomes supple skin, weighted forms become psychological elements in a landscape, while crushing orbs of steel gently collapse into relationship with ground.

Ledelle Moe’s resume of shows is extensive and features solo shows at Axis Gallery, NY, G Fine Arts Gallery, Washington DC and the Fine Arts Gallery, George Mason University. In 2002, Ledelle Moe was the recipient of the Joan Mitchell Foundation Award. Currently, she teaches sculpture at the Maryland Institute College of Art. She earned her MFA from VCU Arts in 1996.

Greg Streak’s video are a hypnotic slowing of time – through subtle use of color, they bring about dramatic events that vacillate between liminal and subliminal apprehensions of image and meaning. Streak says, “This conscious disruption is a device to counterbalance the prosaic manner within which most of us accept the status quo as given. The work is about questioning systems of hierarchy on a macro and micro level.” Streak lives and works as an artist, writer, and curator in Durban, South Africa. He has exhibited, published, and organized exhibitions internationally. His submission in June to the 27th Durban International Film Festival received a special mention jury prize for documentary.

This Exhibition is sponsored in part by
Brooke and Mason Hearn and McKinnon and Harris, Inc.
High Resolution Images available upon request.

Kudos to John Pollard for delivering at Miami’s Scope Art Fair. ADA was added spice at the top of the art food chain and was noted as such in this recent post on Artnet!

excerpt from the Artnet article:
PHOTO BOOTHS
“For our money, one of the most entertaining parts of the Miami art fest was at the Scope art fair, where Brooklyn artist Daniel Davidson set up a homemade “photo booth” in cooperation with John Pollard’s three-year-old ADA Gallery in Richmond, Va.”

above: Daniel Davidson’s “Picture Booth” at ADA Gallery at the Scope art fair in Miami.

My moles tell me that there is bidding going on. People are darting into the gallery, writing their bid number, looking happily at the artworks they like and then sauntering away whistling.
This is good.
Remember, Saturday, December 16th is the closing reception for Silent Night – champagne, live music, delicious treats from our friends at Comfort and Lift, and waves of bidding.
Call Aimee or Maria at 1708 Gallery to get your bid number (which also gets you 2 free drinks!)

If you were in NYC on December 7 the Aperture Foundation hosted a program entitled “The Daguerreotype Today”, a panel discussion featuring daguerrotype experts Alyssa Salomon (1708 Board Member), Jerry Spagnoli, Mike Robinson & Mark Kessell. This event was held in conjunction with Aperture’s exhibition & publication of a group of Chuck Close’s daguerreotypes. The discussion centered on how they have adapted this venerable photographic medium, which dates from the 1830′s, for contemporary times.

Congratulations to Alyssa on being invited to participate in this lecture series!

Nice VCU Arts blog post about Wearable art!
Pictures you haven’t seen yet!

Cindy Neuschwander and Margaret Hays, and Ashley Silverburg and Maureen Neal

Chris English, Aimee Koch and Beth Morchower

Last night at 1708 Gallery we got to meet some of our new board members. Ashley Silverburg, Allison Andrews, Margaret Hays and Beth Morchower were able to come to the reception. You can tell from my very excellent photos that they are smart AND good looking!

Allison Andrews and Katherine Henry-Choisser

We look forward to meeting Lucy Meade, Rob McAdams, Courtney Dauer and Tonya Kestner soon.

Maria and Maureen discuss gardening.

Maria Dubon and Margaret Hays

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Allison Andrews, radiant!

Silent Night: Small Works Auction…the bidding is on.

Here are some installation shots of the Silent Night:Small Works Silent Auction exhibition…

Those colored stripes on the wall will be of great interest on the night of the auction. Three main areas of the gallery are indicated by three colored stripesand each area closes bidding at a predetermined time in the evening, signalled by a GONG!
Robert Walz and John Haddad have been practicing their gongs every day in honor of this event. They are getting pretty good.

This is how it works: come to the gallery and talk to Aimee or Maria about getting a bid number for only $10 bucks. Your bid number will also get you a glass of champagne, gratis, the night of the gala.

Once you have your bid number then no-one knows who you are when you make a bid – you simply put your number on the bid sheet next to all your favorite artworks.
You can start bidding right away and come join all the fun on Dec 16th. Or you can bid by proxy!
There are also “Buy It Now” prices, like on Ebay, so if you needitwantitgottahaveit you can.

Contact Aimee or Maria at the gallery to get your bid number today.

RVA has a really great photo of Diana Cavanaugh’s winning Wearable Art piece this week and promises a full write-up on the event in the next issue. Click here to see…