Gallery Ü ARTcade::Karen Maria van de Vliet, R Ferris & Alexis Marie Savon

Gallery Ü Cleveland
is proud to present new works by
Karen Maria van de Vliet • R Ferris • Alexis Marie Savon :: Playing with the Light Within
1 September - 14 October, 2005

Artist receptions
Thursday, 1 Sept, 5 - 8 p.m. (preview)
Friday, 2 Sept, 12 - 8 p.m. (preview)
Saturday & Sunday, 3 & 4 Sept, 12 - 5 p.m. (preview)
Friday, 16 Sept 2005, 5 - 11 p.m. (opening)
Friday, 14 Oct, 5 - 10 p.m. (closing)


PRESS RELEASE
www.galleryucleveland.com

August 2005 Cleveland, Ohio - Gallery Ü Cleveland presents the opening exhibition and American debut of paintings by Dutch artist, Karen Maria van de Vliet, video installation by Cleveland artist R Ferris, and apparel installation by Cleveland artist Alexis Marie Savon from September 1st through October 14th, 2005. The gallery is located in the Colonial Marketplace Artcade at 530 Euclid Avenue, Suite 30, in the Gateway district of Cleveland. Gallery hours are Saturday from 12 to 4 p.m. and by appointment. There will be an opening reception on Friday, September 16th from 5 - 11 p.m. and a closing reception on Firday, October 14th from 5 - 10 p.m. The public is invited.

Karen Maria van de Vliet — was born in Schoonhoven, Holland, 12 June, 1977, and moved to Rotterdam, Holland in 1997 where she currently resides. van de Vliet studied Illustration at the Willem de Kooning Academie, completing the program in 2001. She further developed her technique working at Topaze, located in The Hague, Holland. Topaze specializes in providing large festivals and events throughout Holland with custom designed decors and installations. Her work has been exhibited at numerous Holland venues as well as in London and her commercial illustrations are used as cell phone screen savers. van de Vliet is strongly influenced by Egon Schiele, Van Gogh, Klimt, Mucha, Theo van Doesburg, Klee, Kandinsky and Miro.

This is van de Vliet’s first American visit and exhibition. She came to the Sates to do a body of work over a three month period documenting her stay and the people she has come to know and learn from. She was introduced to Gallery Ü by gallery assistant, Tracy van der Kuil, a native Clevelander who recently relocated to Ohio City from the Netherlands. This is the second international exhibit in which Gallery Ü shows that all artists, regardless of location, are the salt of the earth and that there are no boundaries when it comes to the value of art.

van de Vliet specializes in portraits but not your typical portraits. Drawing from her illustration background her portraits incorporate the style we so often associate with comics. They are realistic but much more expressive and experimental through her use of line, scale, color and graphics. Her paintings are reminiscent of the 1960’s psychedelic, brilliantly hued, space-age erotica era.

Her work, while always capturing the likeness of the person, does not always flatter the subject. The exaggeration of a facial feature, the combination of realism with abstract forms and her use of color make her paintings more extreme with an other worldly appearance.

When beginning a piece van de Vliet starts by drawing her first impression on canvas and dreaming the rest in acrylic. She analyzes the form until it becomes many forms within one — breaking down the subject into many parts, such as lines, stars, circles and squares, until she can make it whole again. Until she captures the light within.

van de Vliet ’s objective is to capture the personality of her subject on canvas enhancing the appearance of her subjects by incorporating the many facets of their emotions and soul. This is why many of her subjects are actually people that she is close to, or has known for some time, allowing her to analyze the subject not only in one sitting but in real life situations.

The portraits projected onto Savon’s apparel installation are of van de Vliet’s friends in Holland and the paintings on the walls are of her new American friends. Savon’s choice of apparel and Ferris’s choice of video installation techniques enhance the intimate nature of artistic expression and knowledge. Every artist and viewer can find a place within their soul in these images, regardless of geographical location, as well as the beauty and ugliness of ones emotions.

van de Vliet is always searching for a balance, where some may say there isn’t one, by melding opposites into a cohesive composition, thereby creating harmony and capturing their soul. In her opinion that is what life is about — harmony and extreme balance.

This exhibition asks:

What do you feel?

Are you blue? Feeling red hot? Self-righteous and pure? Caught in an era in which technology is raping your soul? Have you seen the dark side? The light within? Is everybody really beautiful when their emotions are real?

This exhibition is just a glimpse of how the most enlightened spirits grow and how the purest and most thoughtful minds — regardless of cultural and social backgrounds — can bring to light — coexist and collaborate — free of boundaries — a common goal — soulfulness. Step into the world of these three artists as they explore how one sees, feels and captures the light of those they have come to know and learn from.

R Ferris — Born in Cleveland, Ohio, Ferris studied at Hawken School, Cleveland, Ohio (H.S.), St. Lawrence University, Canton, NY, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio (MBA) and Cleveland Institute of Art, Cleveland, Ohio. His work has been seen at ArtMart at SPACES Gallery, Member Show, Cleveland, Ohio, Gallery Ü’s Buddha Project exhibit in conjunction with Cleveland State University, and 1300 Gallery, Art Auction, Cleveland, Ohio. He was chosen in 2004 for the Nesnadny + Schwartz Visiting Critics Program (MOCA Cleveland) studio visit by Dominic Molon, Associate Curator, Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago.

About his work Ferris states, “Video has captured me. Perhaps I was more susceptible because I have not watched television (my view—an open sewer pouring in to the living room) since 1985. I found that I was “imprisoned” by the audio + visual stimulation on TV and unable to control myself. I could not just stand up and turn it off. So I broke the addiction. In 2000, I became interested in contemporary architecture and pilgrimage to the Getty and Bilbao. Incidentally, I viewed contemporary art … and couldn’t stop. Most captivating was video art. This lead to a criss-crossing of the world to contemporary museums and galleries, and finally the Cleveland Institute of Art and my own work. By highlighting, focusing, playing with, distorting, isolating and juxtaposing moving images + audio I find release and expression of feelings. It is my privilege to reflect the inherent Buddhist worth and beauty of the thistle at the side of the road. This is what I am interested in sharing.”

Alexis Marie Savon — born in Utah, raised in Cleveland, Ohio, Savon graduated from the Cleveland Institute of Art in 2000 with a BFA in photography. However, she does not limit herself to its materials. Savon’s work is about exploring ideas of bonding through accessories as a kind of female stain. Specifically, the communication that happens through clothing. It is about visualizing the kind of female bonding that comes from an understanding of clothing, brands, colors, and sizes. She is not talking about fashion trends. Rather, the connection that occurs from voicing opinions about your beauty being self-confident and vulnerable because everything is measured by standard sizes that dominate and determine how you rank in society.

Savon started her apparel installation by embellishing stains found on t-shirts and is now creating the stain(s). Likewise, she feels a photograph is a kind of stain. There is the actual light “staining” the paper via a chemical reaction. But also, there is the way in which our memory of a photograph, and our interpretation of it, creates a kind of residue of the viewing experience. For Savon stains became almost more interesting than the photographic image itself. So, she began blending ideas involved with both clothing and photography — the undesirable stain and the emulsified stain. Both leave us with stains of memory.

Savon creates objects that are meant to increase contact and communication, and encourage interaction and play from the viewer. Her garments are described best by a statement from Inez Van Lamsweerde in regards to fashion photography and magazines, “It’s that empty word, ‘glamour’. Nobody knows what it means, and it’s seen as the most holy thing, that will make you happy instantly.”

She has been customizing ties and other garments with silkscreen and or embroidery with unconventional materials like plastic panty shield wrappers and selling them at rock shows, galleries and boutiques such as Nabici, located in downtown Cleveland on W. 9th St.

Chris Minnillo — a native Clevelander, learned to use turntables, tape decks and stereo equipment at an early age by his father. He received his first FCC broadcast license at age 16 and apprenticed at WVJC. This led to various radio shows and eventually Kent State’s College radio station. Minnillo’s love of music and all things audio took him to NYC and Sony Music Studios where he was employed as a production assistant. Many years later he is still touching knobs, levers, buttons – anything that allows him to hear and play music.

Tracy van der Kuil — is an interior designer currently employed at ASD, Associated Space Design, with offices located in Atlanta, Washington D.C., Florida and Cleveland. van der Kuil a native Clevelander recently relocated from the Netherlands where she met and befriended artist, Karen van de Vliet. Both were employed as assistant tax advisers at All Arts Tax Advisers in Rotterdam, where they advised artists, performers and musicians regarding tax rules and regulations of the Netherlands and negotiated tax waivers for some of the biggest names in R&B and the contemporary music industry. van der Kuil graduated from Kent State University’s School of Interior Design where she later became a studio instructor for first year interior design students. She has designed interiors for clients such as The Cleveland Clinic Foundation, Computer Associates and Mannequin Odd Recording Studio, in Aurora, Ohio. With the debut of Dutch artist Karen van de Vliet to the Cleveland public van der Kuil and Gallery U hope to establish an exchange program between Rotterdam, Holland artists and Cleveland artists. She currently resides in Ohio City with her husband, Ed van der Kuil.

Please join us opening night and experience an exhibition that can make you feel the joy and pain of Playing with the Light Within. Your hopes, dreams and passions will always be brought to light if you see through the playful eyes of an artist.

“There is no light without shadow and no psychic wholeness without imperfection.” – C.G. Jung,

For additional information, contact Patsy Kline, owner/director/curator at (216) 323-0085 or galleryucleveland@yahoo.com.