Patsy Kline Art, Etc. and Gallery Ü Haul

QR CODE.mov diaries Opening Oct 7, 6 - 11pm during Walk All Over Waterloo

2011-10-07T12:39:00.000-07:00

10/1/2011

Fall of 2008 I was introduced to QR Codes by a Dutch graffiti artist. As a graphic designer I was drawn to the strong lines of the black and white code. As a multimedia artist the code opened a world of possibilities. As a marketer I introduced the technology where I work. As a galleriest I use the codes to connect your smartphone to the arts. And as a creative tinker I decided to start a diary of my codes. Over the years I have created codes that connect to text, soundscapes and movies and wanted to chronicle my journey. This diary, the first in the series, contains codes that connect to movie clips recorded on my iphone. Each clip is raw, dated and has a short blurb. Most were recorded near my home in Tremont, while walking my dog Kona, or in my white Honda. The main purpose of this diary is to experience QR Code technology in a playful way while introducing a new way of participatory art — augmented reality. Come to the show, download a QR Code scanner app on your smartphone, snap the code on the posters in room 11 and get connected to Youtube. Hit the play button and watch the clip on your smartphone — anytime, anywhere!

- Patsy Kline

- Video Fall Out PoP Up Gallery

- Bank Building, 15619 Waterloo Road

QR code project 2009 - 2011 Schedule

2011-01-10T13:22:00.000-08:00

2009 - 2011 SCHEDULE
2nd Friday of each month
Tremont ARTwalk

Look for the QR codes I have posted "AROUND TOWN" or Gallery Ü Haul to start building your own mobile gallery that can be experienced anytime, anywhere!

Since 2009 Patsy Kline has created a collection of 2D Quick Response (QR) codes that connect to art, photos, videos, music, text, and URLs of things she likes - thereby taking participatory art and the mobile gallery to the next level – eSpace – bridging the physical world with the digital world!

QR codes are scanned by smartphone cameras - simply download the app and get started!

CLÜMAP @ Asterisk 7/10/09

2009-06-18T09:41:00.001-07:00

Wednesday, July 8, 2009

7/10: Gallery U at Asterisk

Posted by Frank Lewis on Wed, Jul 8, 2009 at 8:00 AM

Artist and Gallery U Haul driver Patsy Kline suffers from ocular migraines, which can be triggered by her surroundings, behavior, food and other factors. That got her to thinking about how the city makes her and others feel. So for five years she’s been collecting sounds, images, videos, oral histories, objects and visual art about Cleveland and how the city makes her and her neighbors feel. She’s mapped all that out in an exhibit called “CLÜMAP” which she’ll exhibit in her Gallery U Haul truck, parked from 6-10 p.m. in front of Asterisk Gallery (2393 Professor St., Tremont) during the Tremont Art Walk. It’s free. — Michael Gill

CLÜMAP
Mapping Cleveland since 2006

What makes u tic? Trust your senses. Take a hike. Clues abound. Discover what your Cleveland looks, sounds, feels, smeels & tastes like . . .

I suffer from Ocular Migraines which are triggered by any factor that, on exposure or withdrawal, leads to the development of an acute migraine headache. Triggers may be categorized as behavioral, environmental, infectious, dietary, chemical, or hormonal — these factors are known as ‘precipitants.’ It made we wonder just how many ‘precipitants’ we Clevelanders encounter each day and just how they formulate our perceptions of the city. And I wondered what the ‘precipitants’ would look like mapped out. This map is a collection of 5 years of sounds, images, videos, oral histories, objects and visual art that tells a story about how Cleveland makes me and my neighbors feel.

Here is sample of one of my many soundspace videos - it is of the The Norfolk & Western Railway that runs behind my house -

Bridge MIX @ Tremont footbridge

2008-09-01T13:50:00.000-07:00

Fall of '07 I contacted Terry Schwarz of POP UP CITY! to see if she would be interested in doing one of my art MIX events on Train Avenue with multiple U-hauls but due to the death of her father time didn't allow for that location and the Tremont footbridge was selected and a date of 10/10/08. During which time I also lost two dear friends and my beloved cat, Sig of 14 years, the same day another friends mother passed. It was a time of great change.

I held my first art MIX event in ‘95. They were developed with the intent to foster the development of new works across the disciplines of theater, dance, music, visual art, and creative writing and to encourage interdisciplinary collaborations between artists, students, and guests. The main focus is to experience the creative process via live art and audience participation. Each art MIX event is site-specific and since ‘06 the installation environments have been inside and around a rented U-haul truck. Sites range from gallery fronts, empty lots, street corners, bridges and alleys. They are random in nature and primarily deal with moving on.

The work of Carl Jung kept coming to mind and how we deal with change. It became clear on our first site visit I had to explore this topic further because the fear I felt trying to cross the bridge was the same fear I felt when I learned about the deaths that happened over the past year. I needed to know more. I needed to say goodbye to friends that I should have spent more time with instead of giving a casual wave. These feelings gave me my site-specific installation idea for Bridge Mix.

BRIDGE MIX INSTALLATION OUTLINE
Based on the work of Carl Jung, change is perceived as death. In other words we don’t want to imagine that anything is going to be different. Our lives are laid out in a linear fashion. ‘I do this and then I do that.’ If a certain amount of change must be dispersed in the daily lives of our society, we will do everything possible to avoid that change, or deny it. This is because it is incredibly difficult to shift paradigms — the way in which we perceive the world.

A bridge is a structure built to span a gorge, valley, road, railroad track, river, body of water, or any other physical obstacle for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle.

The Tremont footbridge, which spans I-490, is also unique in the emotions it evokes crossing — from purely utilitarian to shear panic and fear. Fear of what? The passage? The vastness? The unknown? What divides us? What keeps us together? Diversity? Technology?

Ironically, fear is what creates obstacles. But it is obstacles that challenge us to make the choice to change. Change has a considerable psychological impact on the human mind. For the fearful it is threatening, for the hopeful it is encouraging, and for the confident it is inspiring. Thus, the Tremont Bridge gives more to the community than a passage from here to there — it challenges one to learn how to live.

We spend a lot of time connecting via cell phones and the Internet trying to build close relationships. Then, when we finally get there, instead of focusing on the person, we dive into our mobile devices and start connecting with others over there, and wind up missing out on those that are here. And when they are gone, really gone, we wonder why we were not here and fear we were never there.

In other words, instead of focusing on HERE, we focus on THERE. And when we get THERE, that becomes our new HERE. And instead of focusing on the new HERE, we focus on the new THERE. It’s a vicious cycle driven by fear of change!

I challenge you to walk the bridge and join the mix. Face your obstacles. Embrace the HERE. Let me know what’s THERE. Text, e-mail, leave me a voice mail, or send a photo or movie clip. Better yet, lets sit down for a digitally recorded interview. Whatever just let me know. . .

Where R U? Here or there?

PROPOSAL OUTLINE:

1) Project Mission:
Bring attention to an underutilized resource — Tremont footbridge.

2) Project Description:
Site-specific, interactive installations inside and around a rented 19’ U-haul truck.

3) Project Rationale:
I will be using the bridge as a metaphor for change. As a conceptual artist I am interested in how people find it easier to address their emotions when projected onto inanimate objects. Once this is brought to a persons attention they tend to address their emotions and change occurs. When this change occurs I introduce the fact that the person has also just experienced live art. And that it is creativity that allows us to dream and without dreams we cannot set goals. And without goals you cannot bring people together to create a community.

4) Project Interactivity:
Collaboration with POP UP CITY! Cleveland and approximately 10 area artists who will have installations on either side of the bridge as well as on the bridge.

5) Community Interaction:
People will be encouraged to cross the bridge and report back, via cell phones and cameras and/or participate in a digitally recorded interview inside the U haul regarding their experience crossing the bridge. Each person will be given a package of seeds entitled “Seeds of Change” to take to the other side of the bridge to either plant or create a leave behind sculpture.

6) Collaboration:
The Gallery U Haul installation will have approximately 4 - 8 additional artists filming, texting and blogging the event.

7) Outcomes:
Increased usage of the footbridge with the added touch of exposing participants to the importance of the arts.

8) Accomplishments:
This will be Gallery U Haul’s 21st installation over a three-year period, which has included approximately 40 artists and 10,500 participants. Each installation has brought about change in perceptions — challenging all to address the meaning of art in our lives.

Überlin MIX @ Allen Memorial Art Museum

2007-09-22T06:37:00.000-07:00

September 21, 2007 – Gallery Ü Haul, located at 2338 Scranton Road in Cleveland’s Tremont neighborhood, will take to the road to host a mixed/multimedia, multisensory art event, “ArtMIX Überlin” Thursday, October 4 from 7 pm to 9:30 pm at the Allen Memorial Art Museum, Oberlin College, 87 North Main Street, Oberlin, Ohio.

Artist and gallerist, Patsy Kline, created ArtMIX events with the intent to foster the development of new works across the disciplines of theater, dance, music, visual art, and creative writing and to encourage interdisciplinary collaborations between artists, students, and guests. The main focus is to experience the creative process via live art and audience participation.

Each ArtMIX event is site specific. The theme for Oberlin is “Co-ed Bed”, co-curated by Heather Young and inspired by Steve Goldberg. To set the stage Kline will reinstall twin beds currently on display at the Cleveland State University Art Gallery inside the U-haul truck and ask students and viewers; “The Plain Dealer recently stated that since the 1960s, many colleges and universities have moved from single-sex to mixed-sex dorms, and now to co-ed rooms, such as Oberlin College, who made the cover of Life magazine in 1970 for introducing co-ed dorms. Oberlin College, like many other small, liberal arts colleges, such as Wesleyan University and Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania, now have co-ed rooms, or gender-neutral housing — do U think colleges in general are ready to embrace this ultimate step in gender blending — the co-ed room? Are U ready?” Kline will have questionnaires available and will be conducting digitally recorded interviews throughout the event.

In addition, and throughout the evening, participating artists will add to, elaborate or expand upon, the “Co-ed Bed” installation. Audience participation is encouraged and visitors are invited to bring supplies and experience the creative process while stating their opinion.

Participating artists:

*Bridget Ginley — Impromptu collage. She will be creating new works from old art, new art and whatever participants bring along to be glued or sewn into the piece. Selected works created during the evening will be shown at her gallery in Slavic Village, AVI @ 5700, 5700 Broadway, Cleveland, OH.
*Laila Voss — Ink, graphite and litho crayon on paper. Using circles, lines and symbols she will explore the experience of “Harmony and Inner Perfection.”
*Beth Mastroianni — Photography. Throughout the evening she, with audience participation, will be documenting the event and the images will be downloaded onto her laptop, edited, and music added to create a movie that will be played at the end of the evening.
*Emly Tan — “PAD”, Spontaneous PoetryArtDrama, PaintingArtDance, PerformanceArtDrum, or any other art collective that fits the acronym.
*Heather Young — “ART SWAP”, bring something to swap. She will have on display artifacts relating to dorm living available to swap with participants.
*Daiv Whaley — Installation. He will have his poetry reading machine on display featuring four taped voices; two male, two female. Participants are encouraged to place the headphones on and write down the words they hear, thereby creating a poem.
*J.S. Makkos & Michelle Krivanek — They will be creating a male / female dual voice piece using various amplification, recording, and looping tools.
*Amy Notley — Dance. A solo dance from a larger work called “Sucking the Life” called “Identify” and is performed with a remote control Kirby to Nina Simone singing “More and Then Some” by Billie Holiday. It is a modern dance satire on the give and take, push and pull of relationships as one member of a couple tries to let go.
*PJ Doran (film) & Jim Fellahean (sound) — They will be making a abstract film using the event as subject matter.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Otpw4I3Ktc

*Patsy Kline — Installation and digitally recorded film. Co-ed Bed installation and a film of ArtMIX 24 hrs.

Serving as Tremont’s only mobile gallery, Gallery Ü Haul’s mission is to openly discuss how we view life and how the arts can foment positive social change by powerfully evoking questions regarding creativity, individuality, and social norms. Being a mobile gallery allows for a vast variety of viewers who may not otherwise be given a chance to experience or explore such issues the opportunity to do so via live art and the creative process. Each installation is based on and explores the personal expression of moving on, or kinetic energy — the work needed to accelerate a body of a given mass from rest to its current velocity.

In 2002 Kline opened her first gallery, Gallery Ü, in the Colonial Marketplace Arcade, downtown Cleveland. After losing her space three years later to make way for a sports complex she moved her gallery into a rented U-haul truck that became Gallery Ü Haul. Within months Kline began creating conceptual art installations in the truck. A consummate storyteller, Kline’s installations engage the viewer with her candid exploration of universal emotions. Using experiences from her own life, she often reveals painful situations with brutal honesty and poetic humor. Kline is interested in creating a conversation about what holds import in our shared contemporary culture and experience. She explores ways to prompt an exchange that removes the traditional boundaries imposed by institutional systems or other accepted norms in order to question what it is that brings us together and share intimacy. At the heart of Kline’s work is the idea of establishing relationship; creating new bonds and strengthening old; of the profound difficulty in connecting, repairing, loving.

24hrs of art MIX @ the empty lot on Willey & Scranton

2007-07-19T14:01:00.000-07:00

IF YOU WANT TO PARTICIPATE CALL ME!!! Patsy Kline at 216-323-0085 Tell me and I will forget . . . Show me and I will remember . . . Involve me and I will understand . . . - Lakota Sioux Proverb Participants as of 8/8:

- Fri @ 6 pm: Opening. Patsy and Deirdre load-in truck, install and prep.
- Fri @ 7 pm: Emily Tan & “PAD” poetry/art/drama. We will be introducing white buffalo woman (Ptesan Wi . . . lila wakan) very sacred woman who brought the sacred buffalo calf pipe to the Sioux. The smoke is the great spirit’s breath taking people’s prayers up to the sky spirits . . . white buffalo woman tells the Sioux women, “it is the work of your hands and the fruit of your bodies that keep the people alive . . . you are from the mother earth . . . what you do is as great as what men do”.
- Fri @ 8 pm: ryann “guitar” anderson
- Fri @ 8 pm - ?: Bridget Ginley. Impromptu collage of old art, new art and whatever the crowd/spectors bring along to be glued or sewn into the piece.
- Fri @ 9 pm: Andrew Klimek. Sound installation.
- Fri @ 10 pm: Elizzabeth Schiros. She will start installing early while others are on with 10 pm as her time slot. She is building a boudoir chair from discarded tires and painting it pink.
- Fri @ 11 pm - 3 am: Eric Wahl. Short film loops.
- Fri @ 12 midnight: Joseph Makkos. 4 - 6 poets will do a late night reading.
- Fri @ 2 am: PJ Doran (film) and Jim Fellahean (sound). A film projection w/sculpture & sound inside of U-haul which will be filmed and videographed.
- Fri @ 4:30 am: Amy Notley. A solo dance from a larger work called "Sucking the Life" it's called "Identify" and is performed with my remote control Kirby to Nina Simone singing "More and Then Some" by Billie Holiday. It is a modern dance satire on the give and take, push and pull of relationships as one member of a couple tries to let go.
- Sat @ 7 am: Laila Voss. Visual art.
- Sat @ 8 am: Patsy Kline. Visual Journaling - creating art with your words. Visual journaling is a creative way to express, release, and record life’s experiences, feelings, emotional reactions, or our inner world. I will display my journal on the fence in front of my home and offer the work to passersby as FREE ART.
- Sat @ 8 am - ?: Bridget Ginley. Impromptu collage of old art & new art + crowd fodder, receipts, garbage & recycled items invited by the artist. At the end of the event, the item will be donated to Gallery U for fundraising purposes or if a buyer would like to purchase, all proceeds go to GALLERY U - guests are invited to bring by an item, map, receipt, poem, list to be colleged into the piece.
- Sat @ 9 am: Joe Milan. Music.
- Sat @ 11 am: Amy Notley. Repeat of 4:30 am dance.

- Sat @ 2 pm: Steven Goldberg. A reading for 20-30 minutes while trying some sort of audience participation, a la exquicite corpse or like the Lit Cafe pen-pad spontaneous poetry.
- Sat @ 5 pm: convergence-continuum - Liminis Theatre. Clyde Simon and the cast will do a scene from SPAWN OF THE PETROLSEXUALS.
Sat @ 6 pm: Closing. Patsy and Deirdre load-out truck, de-installation.
Throughout the 24-hours
- Heather Young. “ART SWAP” - bring something to swap like art, stuff, misc. items.
- Beth Mastroianni. I will be on a Disney Cruise in the Bahamas when this happens but will send, via e-mail, a short slideshow called, "Here's What I'm Doing, What R U Doing?"
- Patsy Kline. Film installation(s) of her “Bed Project Interviews”. She will also be filming the evening – “Self Portrait: Creating Art for 24 hrs” as well as a Recycled Art project — turning junk-2-art using many items saved for recycling.
- Edd Lewis. He will be showing a collection of films made by local filmmakers.
Time TBD
- Frank Mills. If it fits in, and there’s time, I will conduct a Wandersmänner as part of Fri evening, or perhaps Sat morning. It is essentially the idea of using idle wandering as a tool to frame how we perceive our environment. Looking through the lens of a camera or jotting in a sketchbook are supplemental framing tools.
- Christine Aprile. Tarot readings.

Overview of Event: Basically, this event is being held at my home and in a rented U-haul parked on the lot next door rented from my neighbor - so we can’t go too wild but there’s plenty of space to have a great event. I am providing as much as I can but ask that all participants bring as much as they can for their piece as well as food and beverages. I will have a grill going and have asked for donations of water, coffee and snacks – we shall see. There will also be a few coolers and ice. Artists are welcome to use my bathroom and sleep wherever there is a spot and are encouraged to stay as long as they can. This is an improv event – each artist is asked to represent movement or “moving on” and given time to work in or around the U-haul to either add to – or not – the previous participants work. I also ask that you encourage audience participation so that all have an opportunity to experience the creative process – the main focus of the event. I will be providing the venue, U-haul rental, electric, some power cords, a construction light, stereo equipment, 2 foam core retrofitted wall panels, 2 tables and a few chairs and what ever else is at my house that is usable. I also hope to have a tent for shade – it can get really hot out front so be prepared. If it rains we will have to stay in the truck – unless there is lighting, then I will move it to my porch. I really don’t want to cancel – since this is an improv event I hope to turn what ever happens into a descriptive of the creative process. I hope to film the entire event for future usage. So please, bring what you can as I don’t have a lot and feel free to express yourself! And thank you so very much for your wiliness to participate!! Materials needed: (Please bring your own materials for your installation – such as lights, TVs, cameras, etc., as well as food and beverages. I will have a few things but not everything.) - Tents / extra cover from pos rain fri and shade for sat! - Lighting / for fri! - Recyclable items - Paper / surfaces - Writing / drawing instrument - Tables, chairs - String, tape, wire, etc.

The Bed Project @ Asterisk Gallery

2007-07-12T06:52:00.001-07:00

The Bed Project is an ongoing interactive installation that explores the phycological and emotional attachments one has with inanimate objects as well as social norms associated with discussing ones bed.

This project came about over many Agent Orange martinis and crab cake appetizers at Sage Bistro in Tremont, Ohio. I asked my friend Evelyn, and the bartender Everest, what I should do with my very old California King size bed. I had never talked about it before and it was during those conversations I realized just how attached I had become to a “mattress”. I argued that is wasn’t any ordinary mattress — it was my wedding bed. When I divorced I demanded the bed — even though it was his. He left, so I figured he owed me and beside, I didn't want his girlfriend to conceive on my wedding bed! Over more Martinis I discovered that I had rented storage lockers and apartments to accommodate the hopes and dreams this “Cal King” once held. The King, adorned by a Heywood-Wakefield tambour door bookcase headboard, held court for over 20 years before I even entertained the idea of letting it go. I was surprised to find out just how much I had needed that bed. Evelyn and Everest encouraged me to tell my story and ask others about their attachments, or lack thereof, to their bed — a cleansing of sorts before letting go of my bed.

So I decided I would present my bed as art and share my most personal space — revealing I am as insecure and imperfect as the rest of the world. I then invited participants to either sit on the Cal King bed for a taped interview or fill out a questionnaire that asked; What does a bed mean to U? Essentially, it’s where life begins and ends — where we experience our most extreme feelings of love, hope, and despair. With such strong attachments how often have you felt the need to replace your bed? Have you ever given it a thought? Do you replace your bed with each new lover? Or hold onto it in fear of loosing memories — like the sound of a soft falling rain or chicken soup and bedtime stories? What hopes, dreams, and fears has your bed known and how often has it been replaced?

I had hoped that The Bed Project would sever the ties I have with my bed, however, I am now more passionate than ever about keeping the bed with its new found memories. I was blown away by the responses and openness of people to tell their stories and marveled at how surprised many felt when they too realized, as I did, how attached they are to the idea of what a bed represents.

Thus far, I have shown Cal King three times with a fourth show planned to open at Cleveland State University Art Gallery September 2, 2007. The taped interviews will be projected onto one wall of the gallery and the “Cal King” installation will be outside set-up in Gallery Ü Haul where I will be conducing more interviews.

“I want a love like my bed. Someone to support me, someone comfortable, someone who will listen to everything I say, and will be there to catch all my tears. Essentially, a bed is the greatest model of an idealistic love there is”, or so I flippantly use to say. Be carful what you ask for . . . especially over Martinis. I found that someone at Sage and now he is moving in! First time I have lived with anyone other than my ex. So . . . WHOSE BED DO WE KEEP?? His, which was purchased after his divorce, therefore represents a new beginning in his life — or mine? Hence, a the installation “Transition, Part 1”, where I am presenting Edd’s bed as art and asking viewers — “U R moving in. Whose bed do U keep?”

Gas Money Garage Sale @ 2338 Scranton

2007-05-24T21:35:00.000-07:00

Please join me for a ONE day Gas Money Garage Sale fundraiser July 22, 9 a.m. - 5 p.m.

Pop Art @ Southside Cleaners

2007-04-01T20:24:00.000-07:00

Gallery Ü Haul::2006 SCHEDULE

2006-02-02T18:56:00.000-08:00

"One of the most innovative venues for viewing contemporary art this summer is Patsy Kline's Gallery Ü Haul"
- Lyz Bly, Freetimes 5/24/06

Gallery Ü Haul “Site-Specific Works/Art in a Movable Venue”

PRESS RELEASE

Gallery Ü Haul is a mobile gallery that travels and exhibits throughout the greater Cleveland, Ohio area with plans to exhibit in other major cities. The concept for Gallery Ü Haul was generated by Patsy Kline whose Gallery Ü was displaced December of 2005. After more than three years of dedication to the development of the “ARTcade Project” located in the Colonial Marketplace arcade she decided to close in lieu of the building being turned into a sports complex. “I felt like the artists I had shown had been used and kicked to the curb. I knew my landlord had been looking for a developer but sports rendered the ARTcade obsolete. And then when the local press and Mayor Campbell stated that the building had been vacant it hit me — since the artist’s work was essentially being shoved into a U-haul why not express how transient the arts had been treated by turning the U-haul into a gallery — hence, Gallery Ü Haul. A creative, minimal approach to express just where art goes after being used as an economic engine,” states Kline.

Gallery Ü Haul’s mission is to be an accessible, unpretentious opportunity to experience and discuss the importance of the arts. The hope is to energize viewers and neighborhoods by powerfully evoking questions regarding creativity, individual identity and social norms. And to also act as a social sculpture that encourages the need to challenge established cultural mindsets.

*****

2006 SCHEDULE

Fri, March 10, 6 - 10 p.m.
Inside-Outside Gallery for the Tremont Artwalk
2688 W. 14th St., Cleveland, OH 44113

“Don’t Look Back”
Featured Artists: R Ferris, Michael McNamara, and Steven B. Smith

The inaugural exhibition. Ferris displays “race” a 1 min. 45 sec. video, and “home” a 30 sec. video; McNamara displays spray paint on canvas entitled “splish, splash, don’t look back”, “The Audience Loved It”, and “Silence”; Smith displays sculptures entitled “On the Road” a white artificial leg of a deceased drug dealer, and “Mercy” an orange spray-painted Christmas tree angel in flowing robes with chicken head and claw.

A POEM THAT SEEMS TO SAY IT ALL ABOUT U - WRITTEN BY KATHY IRELAND SMITH AND STEVE SMITH JUST AFTER GALLERY Ü HAUL'S INAUGURAL EXHIBITION ON 3/10/06 KATHY AND STEVE HAVE MOVED ON TO A DIFFERENT LAND CHECK OUT THEIR ADVENTURES AT http://www.walkingthinice.com/

PA TURNPIKE
- Kathy & Steve collab 3.28.2006

I was driving--I think at night--
thru the hills of Pennsylvania on the turnpike
and I'd taken a toke and all of a sudden
my vision blacked out I couldn't see
and I said

Well that's interesting,
but if you're going to play this way you
have to tell me the rules, give me a clue--
and all of a sudden I could see a U.

This giant U appeared, like it's odd,
I can't tell you where it was but this
giant U appeared. And when the U
would start to tilt and go to the left,
I would tilt the wheel and make
it go back straight. And after a while
my vision came back in, and I could
see again, and I was right in my lane,
going round a corner, and I was right
where I was supposed to be!

I never panicked, never worried
but said OK if you're gonna change
the rules you gotta give me a clue.

That might have been DMT. It all
gets confusing after a while.

PRESS - "Just outside the gallery (Inside Outside) on opening night was Gallery U Haul, parked at the curb. The brainchild of Patsy Kline"
- By Douglas Max Utter, Freetimes 3/15/06

*****

Sat, April 8, 5 - 10 p.m.
Arts Collinwood Gallery
15605 Waterloo Rd., Cleveland, OH 44110

“Don’t Look Back”
Featured Artists: R Ferris, Michael McNamara, and Steven B. Smith

*****

Fri, April 14, 6 - 10 p.m.
Brandt Gallery / Tremont Artwalk
1028 Kenilworth Rd., Cleveland, OH 44113

“Don’t Look Back”
Featured Artists: R Ferris, Michael McNamara, and Steven B. Smith

*****

Fri, May 12, 6 - 10 p.m.
F.D. Roosevelt Post and Club 58 / Tremont Artwalk
2442 Professor Ave., Cleveland, OH 44113

“A Mobile Artist Studio”
Featured Artist: Michael McNamara

*****

Fri, June 9, 6 - 10 p.m.
Prosperity Social Club / Tremont Artwalk
1109 Starkweather Ave., Cleveland, OH 44113

“Let Go Lounge”
Installation by: Evelyn Albers, Patsy Kline, Deirdre Lauer and Alyssa Wright
Featured Performance: Lounge Kitty, 9 p.m. - midnight

Explore how good it feels to purchase kitsch vintage and how good and/or bad it feels to let those items go. Lounge among atmospheric photography, clothing and various treasures tagged with reasons for holding on and letting go — add your message when you take it as yours.

Then experience Lounge Kitty - Often referred to as "Deviant Cabaret", Lounge Kitty and her band combine music, verbal banter and extemporaneous antics into each show. Song selections span from jazz versions of heavy metal and rap, to traditional blues and pop. Lounge Kitty delivers each performance decked out in vintage evening gowns, go-go boots and a foot-high bouffant hairdo. The act has been described as campy, silly and bizarre but never boring.

*****

Sat, June 24, 11am - 7 pm
Beachland Ballroom / Waterloo Arts Fest
15711 Waterloo Rd. Cleveland, OH

“Let Go Lounge”
Installation by: Evelyn Albers, Patsy Kline, Deirdre Lauer and Alyssa Wright

*****

Fri, July 14, 6 - 11 pm
Asterisk Gallery / Tremont Artwalk
2393 Professor Ave., Cleveland, OH 44113

“Cal King: episode 1”
Installation by: Patsy Kline

Kline’s interactive installation explores psychological and emotional attachments with inanimate objects and social norms associated with discussing ones bed. To set an example the artist has displayed her California King size wedding bed and invites participants to tell stories related to their own bed. The interviews will be filmed and presented at a later date.

“I want a love like my bed. Someone to support me, someone comfortable, someone who will listen to everything I say, and will be there to catch all my tears. Essentially, a bed is the greatest model of an idealistic love there is.” — Patsy D. Kline

What does a bed mean to U? Essentially, it’s where life begins and ends — where we experience our most extreme feelings of love, hope, and despair. With such strong attachments how often have you felt the need to replace your bed? Or have you ever given it a thought?

Tell your story — Do you replace your bed with each new lover? Or hold onto it in fear of loosing memories — like the sound of a soft falling rain while napping or chicken soup and bedtime stories? What hopes, dreams, and fears has your bed known and how often has it been replaced? To participate please send your story to galleryucleveland@yahoo.com.

PRESS - "Unlikely as it may seem, beds have appeared over and over again in works of contemporary art. Among the most notable examples: John Lennon and Yoko Ono's legendary 1969 "Bed-ins for Peace" set a high-profile precedent for the use of beds as a platform for social and political activism, forever entwining personal and public discourse. Cleveland-based artist and gallery owner Patsy Kline is creating a similar dynamic, using her own king-size bed in an interactive public installation that opens from 6 to 10 tonight as part of the monthly Tremont ArtWalk. The event, titled "Cal King: Episode 3 Live, Love, Lounge," will take place in front of Kline's home, 2338 Scranton Road in Cleveland, in her "Gallery U-Haul," a mobile art gallery that she has used for a variety of novel art events throughout the summer. Her own take is that the bed is where life begins and ends, and "where we experience our most extreme feelings of love, hope and despair," she said. How participants respond to the opportunity to gaze at or climb into Kline's bed is anyone's guess. But her installation is sure to spark conversations about the differences and similarities between artspeak and pillow talk." - Dan Tranberg, The Plain Dealer 10/11/06

*****

Fri, August 11, 6 - 10 pm
Kline's Home/ Tremont Artwalk
2338 Scranton Rd., Cleveland, OH

“Cal King: episode 2"
Installation by: Patsy Kline

Episode 1 responses, both film and written, will be on display. Learn how participants have lived, loved, and lounged in their beds. Interviews will also continue to be filmed.

*****

Fri, September 8, 6 - 10 pm
Studio 11/Tremont Artwalk
2337 W. 11 St., Cleveland, OH 44113

Old Time Poetry Machine
Installation by: Daiv Whaley

Place the headphone on and hear four voices (two female and two male) reciting nouns, pronouns, adjectives and adverbs. Write down what you hear and create your very own poem.

Gallery U Haul::PRESS

2006-02-01T16:21:00.000-08:00

Gallery Forecast: Plenty of Show Activity Moving In; Exhibits Heavy At Times
By Lyz Bly
Freetiimes
5/24/06

By late May, most Clevelanders have emerged from their dens of hibernation; gone are long, dark days and monotonous evenings, which often include far too much television channel-surfing, late night Internet searching, and way too many trips to the refrigerator for midnight snacks. By June, the concept of "going out" means more than rushed trips on snow-covered streets to the grocery store for wintertime provisions. At this time Clevelanders are a happy lot; not only is the sun shining, but we also start running into people we haven't seen in months. And we can enjoy the company of friends and acquaintances in the open air. This year, there are plenty of outdoor — as well as indoor — opportunities to view art and mingle and re-connect with friends, acquaintances and art scenesters.

One of the most innovative venues for viewing contemporary art this summer is Patsy Kline's Gallery †haul, a mobile gallery that presents traveling exhibitions throughout Greater Cleveland and in other major U.S. cities. While Kline's traveling gallery has been up and running since February, it's sure to be a summertime hit as she steers it to neighborhoods, art festivals and events. Gallery †haul is an ideal example of the DIY spirit that pervades Cleveland's art scene. Kline's well-run Gallery † was displaced in December 2005 after more than three years of dedication to the ARTcade project, which was located in the Colonial Marketplace Arcade. Kline closed her gallery after Jane Campbell announced in November that the "vacant" Colonial Arcade would be converted into the Cleveland Sports Hall of Fame Café and Sports Walk of Fame, boasting, according to the then-mayor's press release, "flat screens telling Cleveland sports history, [with] memorabilia of [the] past on display, and 10 to 11 stores dedicated to different Cleveland sports." Kline says: "When the local press and Campbell stated that the building had been 'vacant' it hit me — since the artist's work was essentially being shoved into a U-haul, why not express how the arts had been treated by turning the U-haul into a gallery — hence Gallery †haul." Kline's gallery on wheels will be parked at the Prosperity Social Club (1109 Starkweather Ave.) during the Tremont ArtWalk on Friday, June 9, where singer Lounge Kitty will perform between 9 p.m. and midnight. Gallery †haul will feature work by Evelyn Albers, Patsy Kline, Alyssa Wright and a special guest artist. The mobile gallery will return to Tremont on Friday, July 14 with an installation of work by Daiv Whaley; look for it at Asterisk Gallery (2393 Professor Ave.) between 6 and 10 p.m.

Also opening in Tremont at raw & co. gallery (1009 Kenilworth Ave.) on June 2 is Kanwischer X2: Works by Edmund Kanwischer and Charles Kanwischer, an exhibition that explores the intellectual commonalities and the visual language of family through sculptor and father Edmund and his son and artist Charles. Other art openings and events taking place during the following week's June 9 Tremont ArtWalk include artwork, performance and projections by Abe Olvido, Julianna Dail, Doug Madill and Mike Moritz of GROOP at Studio 11 in Lemko Hall (2335 W. 11th St.), and The Black, White & Gray Series: 13 Works by Rich Garr at Brandt Gallery (1028 Kenilworth Ave.). All Tremont ArtWalk events begin at around 6 p.m.

1300 Gallery (1300 West 78th Street) will host the fifth annual 50/50 exhibition from 7-10 p.m. Friday, May 26, with 50 artists each selling one work for $50. The exhibition provides new and seasoned art buyers with the chance to purchase work by some of the area's most talented artists at one affordable price. Artists include Robert Banks, Joseph Day, Derf, Dameon Guess, Derek Hess, Stephen Kasner, Clay Parker, Arabella Proffer-Vendetta, Alicia Ross, Dott Schneider, Victoria Semarjian, Mandy Sherman Spisak, Brenda Stumpf, Paul Sydrenko, Stephanie Teel, Charity Thomas and Colin Toke. Each work will be on view for one night only; sales must be completed at the end of the evening. Opening from 7-10 p.m. June 9 at 1300 Gallery is a solo exhibition of photographs by Karen St. John-Vincent. On the Verge will showcase St. John-Vincent's most recent body of conceptual color photography, which explores fleeting and fantastical daydreams, creating a visual map of the energy that passes between, through and around us. On the Verge will remain on view through June 30.

Friday, June 9 may be the busiest night of the summer for opening receptions. MOCA opens its summer season with three exhibitions: The Persistence of Geometry: Form, Content and Culture in the Collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art (curated by CMA curator Lowery Stokes Sims), the eighth installment of the Wendy L. Moore Emerging Artist Series, Sarah Kabot: On the Flip Side, and the second CMA@MOCA mezzanine gallery exhibition, Transitions: Linda Butler and Philip Brutz Photographs. The opening reception is free and kicks off at 7 p.m. MOCA Cleveland is located on the second floor of the Cleveland Play House Complex at 8501 Carnegie Ave.

Also opening on June 9 is Modern Vision, Classical Methods: Alternative Process Photography at Heights Arts Gallery (2173 Lee Rd.). The exhibition is guest curated by photographer Herbert Ascherman Jr., and includes work by Ascherman, Gerald Brodkey, Ryan Durdella, Bob Herbst, Jeanette Palso, Robert Puckett, Roy Woda and Richard Wolf. A curator talk is scheduled for 5 p.m. June 17 and the show remains on view through July 22.

The Textile Arts Alliance annual exhibition opens from 1 - 4 p.m. Sunday, June 11, at the Artists Archives of the Western Reserve. The exhibition is juried by well-known Ohio quiltmaker Nancy Crow; it will include two gallery talks, which are slated for 1 p.m. Thursday, July 6, and Sunday, July 15. An opening for a solo exhibition of work by Sidney Rheuban, and a show of intergenerational art involving several AAWR member artists and children from a local school is scheduled for Friday, August 4. The latter exhibition, titled Take Flight, will explore and pay tribute to the discoveries and innovations that have made human flight possible. Both exhibitions will remain on view through September 1. The AAWR is located at 1834 E. 123rd St.

Even though the academic calendar year winds down in May, art is on view at the Reinberger Gallery at the Cleveland Institute of Art (11141 East Blvd.). Visual Arts and Technologies Environment Student Exhibition, which includes student work from various departments, including painting, sculpture, fiber, film, video and photography, is currently open and will be on view through August 12.

This is just a sampling of what there is to do this summer in Cleveland's art scene; more events and exhibitions are in the works. Get out and take advantage of these opportunities to stroll or drive to galleries in the midst of sunny afternoons and warm evenings. Come December — or the first major snowfall — you'll long for art-packed long, hot summer nights.

@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@

Photo by Douglas Max Utter

(Gallery Ühaul “don’t look back::site-specific works"::10Mar06)
Freetimes Review
3/15/06
Over the Wall: The Restless Steven B. Smith Is Moving On
By Douglas Max Utter

A chunk of Cleveland is about to break loose and float away, ultimately attaching itself somewhere … else. Barcelona is said to be a good bet. That soon-to-be-drifting subcontinent of rust-coast culture is none other than Steven B. Smith himself, amazingly prolific visual poet, founder and long-time producer of the proto-’zine Art Crimes, and devoted son of the very special, late, late-blooming artiste known as Mother Dwarf.

After a sojourn lasting more than 30 years, Smith is off to new pastures accompanied by the love of his life, poet and ex-electrical engineer Kathy Ireland Smith. The two began their relationship just last year, shortly after the death of Smith’s mother, Florence E. Smith. Flo, aka Mother Dwarf, moved into the suite Smith occupies on West 14th Street in Tremont after a car backed into her. That hit-and-run accident initiated a decade of pain, organ failure, and ultimately death. Yet there was a far brighter side to their life together: a mother-son artistic collaboration of sorts, maybe more about life than any particular art. But Smith is a restless, charismatic re-inventor of tropes who tends to infect almost anyone with his approach to making. And his mother, like the good Smith she was, just went a lot farther than most, generating her own epidemic of allusive found-object imagery. The first of her five solo shows at Brandt Gallery took place when she was 68, the last not long before her death in 2005.

But all that’s only one dimension among the vicissitudes of Steve Smith’s life. His prodigal early years, for example, seem woven from the stuff of tall tales — an all-un-American treat — too many to recount here. Visit the unabridged Smithopedia, spread through some 1,500 pages at www.agentofchaos.com. Thoroughly steeped in the corrosive chemistry of urban legend, it contains many delights, from autobiography to poems and pics of the art. As it says on the homepage, “Let’s face it Smith, if the song ‘My Way’ were written about your life, it would be lyrics by William S. Burroughs & music by Laurie Anderson, as performed by The Velvet Underground.”

A few highlights: Born in Wallace, Idaho, he spent most of his boyhood down on a farm in Spokane, Washington. But the bucolic period was short-lived; even more than most, Smith’s life abounds in rapid change and non sequitur. A car-stealing spree in the early 1960s culminated in armed robbery, then somehow led to a college education at the expense of Uncle Sam. The journey from prison to prep school to boot camp to the Naval Academy seemed to end badly when he was kicked out of the Academy, along with 11 other pot-smoking types. But in fact it was only the beginning of his college education. A listing of Smith’s further walk-on roles would include life-insurance salesman, prison cook, avant-garde theatre manager, newspaper film/music critic, milkman, women’s shoe salesman, computer operator, programmer analyst, poet, publisher/editor, and last but not least, happily married expatriate.

All this is reflected in Smith’s protean art. His collages and assemblages reconfigure the mind, beachcombing daily realities. Language is scavenged, just as much as tree lawns, and sometimes Smith’s punning titles are the best part. Among the 90-odd (often really odd) works for sale at the Inside-Outside Gallery at the opening of his solo show Prison Break on March 10 were “Inside Track” (a circular wall-mounted “combine” involving a model of a horse’s head, a bald mannequin phiz, and a big soup ladle), “Hell 7,” “Purgatory 4” (you have to see it), “Pandora’s Box” (about nuclear war), and “Budget Cuts” (includes scissors, mirror and glass shards, and an Eisenhower silver dollar).

A smaller tableau, “Downstairs,” is made to look burnt up by judicious use of black and gray paint. It consists of a cupid-like doll clutching a bow, perched on the brink of a shallow niche; next to the doll, a vertebra sits on its haunches like a demonic pet, and the whole thing is attached to a short grid of bent fencing. The cherub and his bud have encountered brimstone in what appears to be a valentine from hell.

Just outside the gallery on opening night was Gallery U Haul, parked at the curb. The brainchild of Patsy Kline, director of the recently closed Gallery U (get it?), this movable venue featured two of Smith’s sculptures. Displayed on the wheelwell ledges and complemented by light-sensitive, fresco-ish paintings by Michael McNamara, “Orange” was an orange- painted Christmas tree angel in flowing robes with a chicken head and claw added, spray-painted orange. “Mercy” was white and made in part, says Smith, from the artificial leg of a deceased drug dealer.

Many of Smith’s works encounter brimstone in one way or another. His signature use of oxidized copper makes them appear to have been fetched from the bottom of the sea if not the depths of Hades, evoking time and tide, suffering and perhaps a dawning glow of redemption. Everything from a real dead mouse to a 1963 Life magazine cover painting of John F. Kennedy finds a second spiritual life in the air of Smith’s studio.

Someone recently sold his own soul on eBay for $500. At bargain rates that range from $100-$200, Smith’s soul-filled works are definitely priced to sell.

Buy something, so the Smiths can get the heck out of here.

As Smith (also founder of the Church of Not Quite So Much Pain & Suffering) says, “Go thee and suffer less.”

@@@@@@@

coolcleveland.com
Instant Karma
Quick reviews of recent events
3/15-3/22/06
From Cool Cleveland contributor Lee Batdorff lbatdorff@adva.com

Gallery Ü Haul in front of Inside Outside Gallery, Tremont, 3/10 I visited five galleries and one small film festival distributing call for entry flyers for the upcoming Hessler 2006 Poetry & Prose Annual on Friday night.

As I was driving south on W. 14th St. in Tremont past the Inside Outside Gallery there was a parked U-haul with the big door open to a video showing inside.

I parked and visited Inside Outside for a while. Per usual, Inside Outside was intriguing. I placed five flyers for the Hessler 2006 Poetry & Prose Invitational on the front desk and after I looked around I found only one flyer left. I put three more flyers down. There will be a story about this show by Douglas Max Utter in some local publication because he was taking notes about individual pieces during the opening.

Then I visited the U-haul truck outside. I was surprised to find Patsy Kline, owner of Gallery Ü in the Artcade Downtown presenting " Gallery Ü-Haul "don’t look back: site-specific works".

There were several pieces of ethereal sculptures and paintings along one wall of the well-lit cargo space. The main work was a video projected on the front wall of the cargo space in a way I was unable to determine at my passing glance. The video was a maniacal loop taken from the view out the windshield of an automobile traveling the loops of the I-271-Mayfield Road interchange in Mayfield Heights. Having gone through this interchange many times I readily recognized apartment buildings and signs as they whizzed by.

The video installation by R Ferris, oil paintings by Michael McNamara, and sculpture installation by Steven B. Smith.

Ms. Kline said that Gallery Ü in the Artcade has been replaced with a sports bar type place. I can imagine the fun Patsy will have taking art to people with Gallery Ü Haul this summer.

Gallery Ü ARTcade::WIND-UP CLOSING Party

2005-12-01T18:00:00.000-08:00

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
12/05/05

Gallery Ü Cleveland
530 Euclid Ave., Suite 30
Cleveland, Ohio 44115
www.galleryucleveland.com
216.323.0085

WIND-UP
Gallery Ü's Official ARTCADE CLOSING Party
FRIDAY, DECEMBER 16th 6 p.m. - ‘til they kick us out

You’ve received warning - now greet the reality. THIS IS IT. Gallery Ü in the ARTcade is closing its doors. We came, we saw, we conquered. And now we’re inviting you to appreciate, celebrate, and liquidate on FRIDAY, December 16, from 6 p.m. ‘til they kick us out! Gallery Ü is CLOSING ITS DOORS IN THE ARTCADE with an official blowout party and last exhibit WIND-UP. WIND-UP is here to showcase the work of your Gallery Ü founders and staff and give you a chance to appreciate all the blood, sweat, and tears that went into this little Cleveland gem. Heck, some of it may be yours. Gallery Ü wants to thank each and every artist and contributor that put us on the map and into the hearts of so many local Cleveland artists. It’s our last hurrah - join us in making it a memorable evening for all.

Gallery Ü Cleveland was started by owner and curator, Patsy Kline, in October 2002. She transformed a tiny, otherwise empty storefront, into an internationally recognized art gallery. This could not have been done if not for the support of our landlord, Landmark Management, thereby helping us bring in the ranks of out-of-state and international artists alike to exhibit their work in the pearly white setting that came to be known as Gallery Ü. Over the past three years the gallery hosted over 100 art related events while spotlighting Cleveland's best and artists from all over the world. The gallery showed a lively mix of contemporary artists of diverse backgrounds and varying career stages and focused on presenting art that was stimulating, generated growth, narrated the unconscious, fostered change and encouraged creativity.

Patsy Kline’s Gallery Ü was a founding member of The ARTcade Project — a group of artists that joined together to maintain, host and market art openings and events in exchange for empty storefronts in the newly renovated Colonial Marketplace arcade — storefronts that could not otherwise be rented due to the economic impact of the area. We went without heat, AC (HA!), reliable security or property manger, signage, marketing support and parking. For a long time our only audience was the homeless that wondered the hallways and the only art that moved was under some street thugs jacket. A small price to pay for such wonderful digs! But leave it to artists to create a “BUZZ” about a “GROOP” that lit up the discerning taste of Clevelanders like “LEMUR” eyes. Clevelanders who were searching to discover foremost, cutting edge contemporary art, while experiencing and supporting the “ÜBER” in urban-organic art movements . . . they flocked to our doors when WE got the word out. It was only after we put all that we had into the Colonial Marketplace that storefronts were rented, we got heat, and Lenny - the best ever security guard . . . hell, we even got plastic foliage and music! No exterior signage, but who cared. We created an underground gallery district that only the ones in the know knew about and they certainly didn’t need a pink elephant banner or a glossy logo to tell them so. The ARTcade Project spawned art galleries and budding curators that moved on to open galleries all over the city. Not to mention being the birth place of Sparx in the City which adopted our “Third Friday ARTwalk” and in 2005 became Ohio’s largest art walk, bringing more than $1.1 million dollars of revenue to Cleveland this past September. Not bad spawning for a bunch or poor artists. Yep, a real “ART Metro” of an endeavor.

All in all we had a GREAT time! And we proved the power and dramatic change the arts can have on a community. Its the belief of Gallery Ü that only the arts can speak the unspoken which “Sparx” that excitement that brings life and vitality to an individual. And when multiplied, equals a neighborhood — which is paramount to developing a thriving community.

So here we are and its time to WIND-UP. And if you don’t know what Dan Tranberg said about Gallery Ü in the PD . . . Abstract Artists Making the Most of Ideal ARTcade setting; or our participation with Cleveland State University in the multi-gallery exhibition The Buddha Project which received Northern Ohio Live’s Honorable Mention at the 2004 Awards of Achievement ceremony; or what Douglas Max Utter said several times in Angle magazine; or what Lyz Bly said several times in the FreeTimes; or read our reviews on coolcleveland.com; or if you didn’t get to press your painted tits on paper along with Annie Sprinkle for our first annual breast health fundraiser ReThinkPink; or hear the sounds of local musicians or see films, dancers and performers on opening nights . . . don't worry cause we will be relocating soon!

Gallery Ü ARTcade::Michael McNamara

2005-10-01T16:04:00.000-07:00

Gallery Ü Cleveland
is proud to present new works by
Michael McNamara :: Out of My Mind
21 October 2005 - 16 December 2005

Artist receptions, 6 - 10 p.m.
Friday, 21 October (opening)
Friday, 18 November
Friday, 16 December (closing)

PRESS RELEASE
www.galleryucleveland.com

September 2005 Cleveland, Ohio - Gallery Ü Cleveland presents Out of My Mind, a solo exhibition of new work by Michael McNamara from October 21st, 2005 through January 20th, 2006. 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, October 21st from 6 to 10 p.m. Additional receptions will be on Friday, November 18th, Friday and December 16th, 2006 from 6 to 10 p.m. The public is invited.

Composed of works created expressly for Gallery Ü, this is McNamara’s third exhibition at the gallery and the kick-off of our fourth season. Not unlike his previous exhibits, McNamara’s ability to awe one is not surpassed in this stunning display of new work. Here he once again expresses his daring as a painter and craftsperson. Presented are several large-scale works as well as a number of small paintings, each of which seems to capture a fleeting glimpse into some darkly fantastic vignette. One is left to deconstruct a beguiling mix of icons and words in order to reconstruct a narrative or conceptual framework. McNamara deliberately complicates notions and presents a myriad of personal symbols within a familiar context. Graceful childhood images appear alongside adult fantasies and dreamlike-ghostly imagery is paired with contemporary icons. Such juxtapositions prompt the viewer to readdress theories of social politics and morals, friendships and relationships. One is left questioning life with a critical eye.

As a body of work, it is provocative and challenging. McNamara is not satisfied to deliver easy platitudes to questions of content. However, he always manages to deliver a wry commentary on the exploitation of humanity and culture. His images can be practical to the point of text written in paint or as complicated as the use of a reoccurring figural image that is invisible unless pointed out. He is a master at creating captivating imagery and evoking one to wonder. McNamara is truly self-described and self-defined and does not labor under misapprehension of imposed external requirements — the figural, or historical proprieties — the abstract spiritual; here there is no “justified” extrapolation, or inference, but pure imaginary invented in paint. Yet these paintings are not illustrations, a visual expression of a theoretical position or agenda, but rather they are renderings and gestures of that which he feels he needs to express.

Each painting is rendered in rich tones with a heavy painterly touch that makes one recall the Old Masters. His compositions are particular, his figures purposeful, and color palette sensual. McNamara would appear to be inspired by the Italian Renaissance. Yet his use of text as imagery, his preference for an abstract narrative and his technique of layering visual upon visual are wholly contemporary. His subjects are the definition with which he dismantles his senses and reconstructs his sense of self. At least that is what one hopes.

As Vincent van Gogh has written "I put my heart and my soul into my work, and have lost my mind in the process."

Born in Cleveland, Ohio, Michael McNamara studied at the Cleveland Institute of Art and thereafter, moved to Texas. He has participated in group exhibitions throughout Cleveland and has held numerous solo exhibitions in Texas. McNamara currently lives and works in Cleveland, Ohio. He is a co-founder of Gallery Ü and this is his third solo exhibition.

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

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

2005-08-01T14:02:00.000-07:00

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.

Gallery Ü ARTcade::Douglas Max Utter

2005-05-01T20:46:00.000-07:00

Max X 4
Originally uploaded by Gallery Ü Cleveland.

Gallery Ü
is pleased to announce
an exhibition of small works by

Douglas Max Utter
Asymptotes & Other Close Encounters
17 June thru 19 August, 2005

Artist Receptions:
Friday, 17 June, 6-10 p.m.
Friday, 15 July, 6-10 p.m.
Friday, August 19, 6-10 p.m.

A word about asymptotes

In geometry, an asymptote is a line or curve that approaches, but never quite meets another line.

Since the mid 1980’s many of my paintings have been about emotional commitment, and about the way that people touch or do not touch one another, physically and spiritually. Mainly I think intimacy is a matter of approximations; we do the best we can, but most often sympathy, for instance, can only approach empathy, unless it overshoots its goal and sinks in a welter of self-pity. In my experience it is very hard to lose oneself entirely, or give all of oneself, to a cause, or to another human being, or to the act of painting.

Although most of these eighteen works on canvas deal with the situation of a single human presence, distorted by mood or circumstance, they are essentially about how hard, and how necessary, it is to try to touch.

— Douglas Max Utter

Gallery Ü ARTcade::Anders Knutsson

2005-04-01T19:04:00.000-08:00

Postcard
Originally uploaded by Gallery Ü Cleveland.

Luminous Performance
Originally uploaded by Gallery Ü Cleveland.

Arced Branch Beech Triptych dark
Originally uploaded by Gallery Ü Cleveland.

Arced Branch BeechTriptych light
Originally uploaded by Gallery Ü Cleveland.

Gallery Ü announces the opening exhibition of

Anders Knutsson :: Luminous Luminosity

Phosphorus Pigment Paintings, Costumes, Improvisatory and Experimental Dance

Opening Reception
Friday, 15 April, 5-9 p.m.

Dance Performance by Lynn Deering and Joe Booth
The Dance/Theatre Collective
(Based at Cleveland State University & Lake Erie College)

Music by Jan Eddy van der Kuil (Formerly of DINK) and dot
Sean Carlin (Formerly of DINK) CANCELED

Closing Reception
Friday, 20 May, 5-8 p.m.

@@@@@@

For Immediate Release: March 28, 2005
Patsy Kline
owner/director/curator
(216) 323-0085
www.galleryucleveland.com

Cleveland, Ohio — Gallery Ü announces the opening exhibition of Luminosity, phosphorus pigment paintings and costumes by Anders Knutsson. And Luminous, the improvisatory and experimental dance performance performed by members of the Dance/Theatre Collective, accompanied by Sean Carlin and Jan Eddy van der Kuil, formerly of DINK. The opening reception is April 15, from 5-9 p.m. The exhibition runs thru May 20 with a closing reception from 5-8 p.m. Gallery hours are Friday and Saturday, 12-4 p.m., 3rd Friday of the month during ARTwalk, 12-9 p.m. and by appointment.

Anders Knutsson — first encountered phosphorus pigments as painting materials in 1978 and immediately fell in love with the luminosity of phosphorus paint, which provides the same mystery and excitement for Knutsson today. Marc Egger, a Swiss painter who has worked with phosphorus materials for years, is a valuable source of information for Knutsson with regard to commercial and technical information about phosphorus pigments. At his first exhibition of luminous paintings at Galerie Ressle in Stockholm in 1981, Knutsson was greeted with unexpected surprise and then applause by the sophisticated, urban audience, once his monochrome and mono-lux paintings were shown in the dark. This was followed by successful solo exhibitions in Lund, Sweden, and Buffalo, New York.

Knutsson is currently collaborating with musicians and dancers, such as the Cool New York ’05 Dance Festival, to develop a performance concept that is improvisatory and experimental in nature. Wearing his painted costumes, the performance has three equal components: sound, movement, and light. Like a jazz trio, the Luminous performance trio must be able to blend their talent and energy with the other performers to create a “performance of the moment” dynamic. This element of unpredictability and spontaneity gives the performance its excitement. Equally exciting is the altering of expectations. The traditional expectations of paintings, dance and music are suspended: colour is freed from the canvas, music from the instrument and movement from the body.

In the dark, the luminous paint emits colour that is diffuse and appears to float — disembodied — in space. With no physical clues to the colour’s source, the changes in the paint become a focal point. The dancer’s movements are also disembodied as they are visible primarily through the luminous colour on the dancer’s costume. The music surrounds the audience and seems to come from no direction and all directions, mirroring and enhancing the visual ambience and disembodiment. A dialogue between the trio occurs where colour harmonizes the music, the dancer’s movements animates the colour, and music weaves the movement and colour.

In addition, Knutsson’s paintings of trees represent a powerful and symbolic imagery to which the artist very deeply relates. For this reason, the trees are well suited to the medium of luminous painting. Knutsson either works directly from memory and imagination, or paints over a light pencil line drawing on prepared canvas. The artist quickly became inspired by real trees in the park. They seemed to him “more powerful, personal and ‘together’” than anything invented in his studio. In the "trees," the viewer encounters nearly the same image in the darkness; however, the glowing shapes in the dark pull the viewer in. They are stronger and more articulate in details and perspective space then the daylight paintings.

The tree makes an immediate impact on us and is rich in association. Its meaning and expression reaches deep into our culture and the myths of both past and present. "It is an image of trust, strength, loyalty, knowledge," Knutsson acknowledges. "The tree is an integral part of stories, myths and most religions — the tree of life, the world tree, the tree of enlightenment." Knutsson points out that it sustains life and raises the quality of our lives. Economically, it is the main source of wealth for countries like Sweden. Biologically, it is a principal source of oxygen for all.

Knutsson was born and grew up in a suburb of Malmö, Sweden. Situated near Denmark on the western side of Skåne, Sweden's southernmost province and “breadbasket,” the large city of Malmö rests in a region of rolling hills and well-kept farms that appears studded with villages and small towns — all connected by a dizzying network of roads and lanes. Much of the lavish lifestyle promoted by the wealthy farmers of the previous century is now gone. Yet, there remains among many natives Swedes like Knutsson, a deeply felt consciousness of the landscape as a mixture of nature and culture. This identity expresses itself in terms of harmony and coexistence.

The artist moved to New York in 1976 and now lives in a loft in Brooklyn. He sees a great contrast in “body and spirit” between Skåne and Brooklyn. There is a pattern of crowding and urban neglect in Brooklyn that Knutsson finds repeated in other American cities. The time that he is able to spend in nearby Prospect Park and Brooklyn Botanical Garden, or the longer trips to New England and Canada, are especially precious to him. He needs the presence of nature to help restore balance to his senses and to reconnect with the creative and organic forces of nature. Every chance to be outdoors becomes a liberating experience for the artist. "And for me, that feeling is enhanced and articulated by the particulars of the moment: weather, wind, time, season and the landscape itself. There is a possibility, a promise, sometime even an insistence, of transcendence in the immersion in nature for me."

Knutsson’s paintings bring to life the experience of light in its many forms. They raise our consciousness of reflected and emitted light, diffused and focused light. Abstract or expressionistic, these paintings yield real and fundamental insights about our life and the world of nature around us — truths that the viewer experiences on his or her own terms and from the perspective of culture. Few painters have explored with such commitment the mysteries of naturally luminescent pigments in the context of fine art, and very few have revealed with such eloquence and familiarity the complex nature of reality that these pigments embody.

Knutsson has regularly exhibited his paintings since 1972, with solo exhibitions first on Ohio and Sweden and soon after in New York and New England. The success of his recent one-man exhibition in Seoul, South Korea, reflects the international interest in his work.

The Dance/Theatre Collective — Lynn Deering, Associate Professor, Cleveland State University, is Director of the CSU Dance Program and Artistic Director of the CSU Dance Company. A 2004 recipient of the Ohio Arts Council Individual Artist Award, Deering is an active performer/choreographer with The Dance/Theater Collective, a cooperative group of Northeast Ohio dancers. Joe Booth is diligently working towards adding a few more experiences to his role as dancer/choreographer. Booth has been a performer and collaborative choreographer with The Dance/Theater Collective since its inception and a former member of the Pennsylvania Dance Theater. The title of singer/actor can also be added, as Booth appeared in the Cleveland Opera's production of Sweeney Todd at the State Theater in early December.

Sean Carlin & Jan Eddy van der Kuil — formerly of DINK, an alternative band with heavy funk-metal, industrial, and rap grooves. Their self-titled debut was released early in 1995 and the first single pulled from the record received a fair amount of MTV and modern rock radio airplay. DINK went there different ways in the late ‘90’s. van der Kuil and Carlin have recently reunited for informal practice sessions after van der Kuil’s return to the US from Rotterdam, The Netherlands.

Gallery Ü ARTcade::the lab. {vol 1}

2005-04-01T11:21:00.000-08:00

GetModPCFront
Originally uploaded by Gallery Ü Cleveland.

GetModPCRev
Originally uploaded by Gallery Ü Cleveland.

@@@@@@

For Immediate Release:
April 3, 2005
Shelly Gracon
President, Get Mod! Productions
(216) 374-2367
www.getmodproductions.com

Cleveland, Ohio — get mod! productions presents the lab. {volume 1}, the first in a series of collaborative, multi-sensory events being presented in various locations around the Cleveland and Akron area. {volume 1} will take place at B-side Liquor Lounge (located under the Grog Shop) in Coventry, Saturday April 23, 2005 from 8-2:30 am. This mobile series will feature groundbreaking art, dance, film, music and more, with a focus on local and regional talent. This event is free and open to the public and is 21 and over with proper ID. To learn more, visit www.getmodproductions.com/thelab or www.bsideliquorlounge.com.

{volume 1} will feature music by Cleveland’s own electro dj, dan mcleod, along with live performances by dot. (ARTpop) from Akron, OH, bells for aida (ambient) from Nashville, TN and thursday club (experimental electronic) from Cleveland, OH. Isaac Coblentz will transform the space with his one of kind sculptural lighting installations hung from the club’s ceiling. Lisa Cooper of InfiniteParadigm, Inc., will show several of her paintings and Patsy Kline of Gallery Ü Cleveland will present paintings by Scott Pickering and film by Rick Ferris. The event will also feature live tribal fusion style belly dance by the Hareem Sh’areem Middle Eastern dance troupe.

This event is free and open to the public in an effort to make the unique accessible to the masses. The purpose of the lab. is to give anyone the opportunity to experience something unique without the upfront cost. “I feel you should be able to decide to invest in something once you have tried out the product. We will be accepting donations once people are inside the club. You can decide then if you would like to support our efforts”, states Shelly Gracon, president of get mod! productions. “All proceeds will benefit the participating artists and the future of the series”.

Gallery Ü ARTcade::Debra DeGregorio & Kevin Shahan

2005-03-01T13:01:00.000-08:00

Postcard
Originally uploaded by Gallery Ü Cleveland.

(top) Take the Bait, Kevin Shahan, 4'x4', acrylic on board (bottom) Wheel, Debra DeGregorio, 2'x3', charcoal & pastel on paper

Debra DeGregorio :: Germination
Co-curated by Tracy van der Kuil
Live musical performance by Tokyo Shapiro, 6-8 p.m.
(Suite 31, annex gallery)

Kevin Shahan :: Reformation
Co-curated by Daiv Whaley
Live musical performance by dot., 8-9 p.m.
(Suite 30, main gallery)

Opening Reception
Friday, 18 March, 5-9 p.m.

Closing Reception
Friday, 8 April, 5-8 p.m.

@@@@@@

For Immediate Release: February 28, 2005
Patsy Kline
owner/director/curator
(216) 323-0085
www.galleryucleveland.com

CLEVELAND, OHIO — GALLERY Ü CLEVELAND announces two solo exhibits opening the evening of the ARTcade ARTwalk on March 18, 2005. “Germination”, co-curated by Tracy van der Kuil, featuring the drawings of Akron artist, Debra DeGregorio, will be shown in Suite 31 (annex gallery) with a musical performance by Tokyo Shapiro, from 6-8 p.m. And “Reformation”, co-curated by Daiv Whaley, featuring the paintings of Cleveland artist Kevin Shahan, will be shown in Suite 30 (main gallery) with a musical performance by dot., from 8-9 p.m. The opening reception is March 18, from 5-9 p.m. The exhibition runs thru April 8 with a closing reception from 5-8 p.m. Gallery hours are Friday and Saturday, 12-4 p.m. and the 3rd Friday of the month ARTwalk, 12-9 p.m. or by appointment.

Debra DeGregorio’s — visceral abstract drawings portray organic, germinating forms as an evocative metaphor that arouse our curiosities and fantasies. Through root-like, seed pod-inspired human surrogates, DeGregorio creates life-sustaining realms that physically press on the mind and push to be absorbed spiritually. Her drawings trigger an association with evolution and speak to our most primal connections to our earliest ancestors and force us to question the current state of humanity. DeGregorio’s use of color, form, or mark are meditative and subtle, yet lush with life. Her drawings are an instant recording of her personal growth, much the same as words are to a writer. The succulent details of DeGregorio’s work promises to captivate the viewer as they discover her stokes and explore the photosynthesis and mystery of existence.

Born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, DeGregorio studied printmaking and drawing at Kent State University where she received a BFA in studio art. Her work has been shown by galleries in the greater Cleveland area as well as Pittsburgh, PA. In addition to pursuing a career in art, DeGregorio has worked therapeutically with the elderly and is studying to become a Hatha yoga instructor. She is a member of WARM (Woman’s Art Recognition Movement) and resides in Akron, Ohio.

Kevin Shahan — Kevin Shahan has been creating an exceptional and intriguing body of work that is reminiscent of the American Pop art movement. Trained as a sculpture, he found himself drawn to painting five years ago and has devoted himself to the medium. Through his unique brand of imagery he addresses modern issues and current events, registers antiwar/terrorist statements, and voices concern over the social, political, economic, and the environmental fate of our planet. Shahan draws upon the iconography of advertising and mass media to conjure a sense of modern life. His paintings allude to the “must have” youth-oriented tone of the time — a powerful reflection of our cultural climate in the midst of a war. Shahan’s work is visually complex and depicts specific thoughts, or actions and pays homage to the destructive power of the elements and our social views on history, aging and decay. The surface of his paintings look as if they were actually decaying sections of a billboard, though entirely painted they are collage-like, showing us multiple layers, fragmented sentences and images that transform the original message. The obvious brashness of these images are eye-catching, but the combinations undercut the typical intentions of commercialism and instead suggest more subtle investigations into human interaction and contemporary living. Shahan’s work is subject to viewer interpretation. His combined images can mean many different things depending on the viewer’s point of view, leaving no right answer. These inventive works form cohesive narratives in which dissonant objects combine to form resonant commentary — a “reformation” of iconography and surfaces.

Shahan graduated from Kent State University with a BFA in studio art. He has produced everything from painting and figurative works to full room installations, built sets for area theatrical productions and taught himself the art of video editing while working as a cameraman for a local production facility. Shahan has also produced an electronic video compact disc and is best known for developing the original prototype guitar used to initiate Guitar Mania. The guitar stands seven feet tall and is in the permanent art collection of The United Way. Shahan has shown locally, most notably at the BK Smith gallery 48 Hours exhibit at Lake Erie College, as well as in Pittsburgh, PA. Shahan currently resides in Cleveland, Ohio.

Tracy van der Kuil — is an interior designer and native Clevelander who recently relocated from the Netherlands where she was employed as an assistant tax adviser at All Arts Tax Advisers in Rotterdam. She 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 and Mannequin Odd Recording Studio, Aurora, Ohio. Her passion for the arts lead her to her debut as a co-curator and she has recently joined Gallery Ü Cleveland as assistant director. She currently resides in Ohio City with her husband, Ed van der Kuil.

Daiv Whaly — is a writer and visual artist who is also motivated to produce events and exhibits that mutually benefit the producing and viewing sectors of the creative community. He has written for national music publications and currently interviews local musicians and bands for his “Tuning In” column in CoolCleveland.com. His visual art includes Polaroid prints, lightworks, and propaganda — usually of a spiritual or eco-sociologic nature. He is developing his first comic book series and a Rock-based performance ensemble. Whaley resides in Akron, Ohio.

dot. — now in their third formation (performing under previous monikers, Luva and aeris), Craig Pearsall (aka djplasticefx/plas’tique) and Shelly Gracon (aka sh’elle) have created a new sound they term “ARTpop”. Influenced by Explosions in the Sky, Antony and the Johnsons, Cocteau Twins, Massive Attack and the Jesus and Mary Chain, their approach to writing music is minimal and they are always chasing the perfect dynamics. You will find their sound to have strong melody, with angelic and passionate vocals layered over textures of bass, guitar, samples and drum machines. For more visit www.thedotsound.com. Gracon also recently joined Gallery Ü Cleveland as media relations assistant and is president of get mod! productions, www.getmodproductions.com

Tokyo Shapiro — is composed of Krista Tortora and Joe Minadeo, who are both known for their roles in a diverse range of musical projects from the noisy groove based Full Blown Kirk to the hip-hop collectives, Honeypot and Low in the Sky. Tortora and Minadeo will be creating a chilled out ambient vibe for this show using vocals, guitar, upright bass and turntables. Tokyo Shapiro is a facet of the artist collective www.patternbased.com.

Gallery Ü ARTcade::ReThinkPink Breast Cancer Fundraiser

2005-02-01T13:57:00.000-08:00

ReThinkPink is in honor of Evelyn Pennington, Patsy Kline's aunt, who lost her fight to breast cancer at the age of 46, May 11, 1993.

Sponsored by:
Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation, Inc., Northeast Ohio Affiliate

12 Feb - 11 Mar
ReThinkPink :: First Annual Breast Health Fundraiser

We challenge you to start a fun, creative tradition - do your monthly breast self-exam (BSE) with non-toxic body paint on your hands! Upon completing the exam press your breast(s) on artist paper to create a one-of-a-kind self-painted BSE print, really! Donate your print(s) to the gallery and we will auction them off. Once all the prints have been sold 100% of the proceeds will be donated to Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation to further the eduction of monthly BSE's.

Sat, 12 Feb, 6-10:00 p.m.
Opeing Receipton
Bid on original breast prints by local women, featuring an original Annie Sprinkle Tit Print, musical performance by Santina Protopapa and video installation, Mountain Landscape, by R Ferris

Fri, 18 Feb, 5-9:00 p.m.
ArtWalk Reception
Musical performance by djplasticefx

Fri, 11 Mar, 5-8:00 p.m.
Closing Reception
Video installation “Breast Crack” by Bernadette Gillota & Annetta Marion

$1 Suggested donation at the door

@@@@@@

Press Release
1 Feb, 2005
Patsy Kline
owner/director/curator
(216) 323-0085
www.galleryucleveland.com

CLEVELAND, OHIO — GALLERY Ü CLEVELAND is tackling the serious issues of breast cancer in an upbeat, unconventional and creative way in hopes more women will become aware of the importance of monthly breast self-exams (BSE). We want to encourage all women, especially young women who may not consider their risks or who feel fearful of doing a BSE, to become familiar with what their breasts normally look and feel like with the help of colorful, self-painted breast prints.

This progressive breast health event is the first annual fundraiser organized by curator Patsy Kline, Shelly Gracon, Mike McNamara, Tracy & Ed van der Kuil. The purpose is to provide a space for people to learn and address their concerns about breast health while developing an intimate relationship with the value of artistic expression. 100% of net proceeds from the sale of prints and 50% of net proceeds raised from the event will be donated to the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation, Inc., Northeast Ohio Affiliate (www.komen.org) to help further the education of monthly BSE’s.

Women (and men) of various ages and backgrounds were asked to debunk traditional stereotypes and speak out with their breasts in a healthy, positive, fun and creative way. Since the gallery was pioneering a new way for society to address breast health we were not interested in seeing commercialized depictions of breasts. Instead, we wanted to show what non-commercial, non-sexualized, natural breasts look like with multiple colors and layers of paint . . . make a statement . . . don't be pink, be every color . . . give breast cancer the boot . . . create art for your own sake and the sake of all women and men . . . give a gift that really counts this Valentines Day —the gift of power, compassion and respect.

Participants were asked to do a BSE with non-toxic body paint on their hands. Upon completing the exam they were asked to press their breast(s) on artist paper to create a one-of-a-kind self-painted BSE print. For some it was their first BSE and for others an opportunity to speak out about their fight against breast cancer. Each participant was also asked to do their BSE alone in the privacy of their home to ensure that they understood and felt comfortable with the process. They were not required to identify which print was theirs for the exhibit, instead names will be listed as a unified group.

Much was learned about humanity and cultural conditioning by participating in this process and it is evident in the over one hundred BSE prints to be displayed within the gallery.

Choosing to create art work by pressing forbidden areas of the body on paper and declaring it art is derived from the dada movement. However, these participants were not necessarily concentrating on art history while doing their paintings, rather pure spiritual essence — a marring of spirituality and physicality. But most importantly, each participant and viewer is left with the memory of the body, combined with the creative energy of their mind that hopefully will be remembered monthly for a lifetime. Just another way that GALLERY Ü CLEVELAND is creating opportunities to experience art.

Participants as of 1 Feb:
1. Hannah Anthony
2. Julie Barcza
3. Kris Barnes
4. Susan Blainer
5. Jelena Bonanno
6. Becky Bristol
7. Teresa Bosko Carlin
8. Marie Catanese
9. Christie Cermak
10. Christine Cucciarre
11. Jane Dailey
12. Suzi Darlin
13. Debra DeGregorio
14. Gina DeSantis
15. Joan of Art (Deveney)
16. Alice Dickson
17. Tina Dolatowski
18. Lisa Ellis
19. Susan Farone
20. Jessica Ferrato
21. Donna Ferris
22. R Ferris
23. Rev. Jessica M. Filar
24. Bridget Ginley
25. Eartha Goodwin
26. Shelly Gracon
27. Hannah
28. Johanna Hoadley
29. Johnna Hooker
30. Chloe Hopson
31. Emmie Hutchison
32. Julie Hutchison
33. Kara Jerdon
34. Angeline Kapferer
35. Andrea Karcic
36. Linda Kirby
37. Lily Kirby
38. Jocelyn Kirkwood
39. Carolyn Klich
40. Patsy Kline
41. Aaron Koonce
42. Melania Kostryk
43. Jessica Kowalczyk
44. Jessica M. Kramer
45. Ginny Laird
46. Chandra Lubben
47. Stacy Marino
48. Teri Martino
49. Beth Mastroianni
50. Molly McDougel
51. Miss Melvis
52. Diann Mistelske
53. Kristin Nauffts
54. Eva O'Mara
55. Kristie Oldham
56. Blythe Pavone
57. Joan Perch
58. Cynthia Piper
59. Mary Plazo
60. Molly Pokorny
61. Denise Polverine
62. Jennifer Prugh
63. Cis Ricchiuto
64. K. Gohring Richard
65. Susan M. Rieter
66. Jessica Roach
67. Lindsay Sandine
68. Alex Savon
67. Betty Scapporotti
68. Dott Schneider
69. Valerie Spehar
70. Karen Small
71. Andi Szabolcs
72. Beth Szpak
73. Courtney Telich
74. Thea
75. Krista Tortura
69. Cheryl Townsend
70. Kim Tran
76. Wendy Tucker
77. Doug Max Utter
78. Tracy van der Kuil
79. Ame West
80. Holly Whisman
81. Tracy Wienhold
82. Rebecca Yody

Gallery Ü ARTcade::Artists & supporters

2005-01-01T15:11:00.000-08:00

MANY, MANY THANKS!!!!!!!!!

Gallery Ü Cleveland is personally funded, therefore, can only succeed in our mission through the help of volunteers and supporters. Our success relies in large part on their generous support and dedication of their time and services in different capacities. Without their open-mindedness, nobel spirit and willingness to give the creative wheels of Gallery Ü would stop turning.

VOLUNTEER STAFF:
Patsy Kline, Owner/Director/Curator/Founder
Alyssa J. Wright, Student Intern

SUPPORTERS:
Angle Magazine
Artist Review Today Magazine
Brandt Gallery
Buzz Gallery
Cleveland Institute of Art
Cleveland State University Art Gallery
Cleveland.com
Cleveland Magazine
CoolCleveland.com
Currents
Flying Fig
Free Times
Fox 8
Northern Ohio Live
Old Angle
Susan B. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation
Scene
Sun
Taste Buds
The Plain Dealer
1300 Gallery
Undercurrents
urbandialect
Bruce Ackerman, Installation
Mark Bennett, Attorney at Law
Lee Batdorff, coolcleveland.com
Lyz Bly, Freetimes
Barb Chaloupka, Gallery Attendant
J.D. & Sylvia Coffey, my parents
R Ferris, Artist
Shelly Gracon, Media Relations
Bridget Ginley, Arist
Jeanne Grossetti, Cleveland State University
Andrew Kaletta, Artist
Richard Lazzaro, Lazzaro Signiture Gallery
Sarah Marino, Gallery Attendant
Elizebeth Meinke, Student Intern/Gallery Attendant
Mike McBride, Landmark Management
Craig Pearsall, Artist
Joan Perch, Artmetro Gallery
Ted Pikturna, Artist
Amy Bracken Sparks, Angle Magazine
Emily Tan, Artist
Robert Thurmer, Cleveland State University
Dan Tranberg, The Plain Dealer
Ric Torres, Gallery Attendant/Assistant/Co-founder
Colin Toke, Artist
Doug Max Utter, Angle Magazine
Daiv Whaley, Artist

ARTISTS:
Joan Anderson, Boulder, Colorado
Becky Bristol, Greater Cleveland
Robert Carroll, Rome, Italy
Debra DeGregorio, Greater Cleveland
R Ferris, Greater Cleveland
Barbara Friedman, New York City
Leo Grucza, Chicago, Illinois
Jane Hammond, New York City
Jennifer Hill, Greater Cleveland
Joan of Art, Greater Cleveland
Leah Karis, Greater Cleveland
Andrew Kaletta, Greater Cleveland
Don King, Greater Cleveland
Anders Knutsson, Brooklyn, NY
Richard Lazzaro, Madison, Wisconsin
Zoe Kaufman, Chicago, Illinois
Elizabeth Kord, New York City
Bob Levkulich, Greater Cleveland
Michael McNamara, Greater Cleveland
Andrew McAllister, Greater Cleveland
Diann Mistelske, Greater Cleveland
Michael Moore, Greater Cleveland
Thomas Matsuda, Conway, Massachusetts
Ken Nevadomi, Greater Cleveland
Eric Oldham, Greater Cleveland
Abe Olvido, Greater Cleveland
Yoko Ono, New York City
Scott Pergande, Greater Cleveland
Scott Pickering, Greater Cleveland
Ted Pikturna, Greater Cleveland
David Pohl, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Scott Radke, Greater Cleveland
Zita Rahn Farrell, Greater Cleveland
Sarah Rayn, Greater Cleveland
William Rieter, Photographer
Alexis Marie Savon, Greater Cleveland
Arlene Shechet, New York City
Kevin Shahan, Greater Cleveland
Edward Shalala, New York City
Susan Shie, Wooster, Ohio
Robert Spellman, Boulder, Colorado
Paul Schuster, Greater Cleveland
Chris Topher, Greater Cleveland
Alexandra Underhill, Greater Cleveland
Jason Wein, Greater Cleveland
Brock Winans, Greater Cleveland
Doug Max Utter, Greater Cleveland
Karen Maria van de Vliet, Rotterdam, Holland
Chris Yarmock, Greater Cleveland
Rebecca Yody, Greater Cleveland
Zena Zipporah, Greater Cleveland
Annemarie Zwack, Ithaca, New York

MUSIC/DANCE/PHOTOGRAPHY/MULTI MEDIA:
Aeris
Joe Booth
Neil Chastain
Tom Common
Colin Davin
Lynn Deering
Discenzo Band
DJ Jimmy D of Speaker/Crancker
DJ Tim Beaman
djplasticefx
dot
Bernadette Gillota
Luva
Annetta Marion
Micheal McNamara
Micheal Medcalf
Santina Protopapa
SAFMOD
Sounder
Tokyo Shapiro
Laura Varcho
Ed van der Kuil
Mark Webster

Gallery Ü ARTcade::Press

2005-01-01T11:08:00.000-08:00

@@@@@@@@@@@@@

10/12/05
coolcleveland.com
by Lee Batdorff
batdorffATadva.com

Playing with the Light Within @ Gallery Ü thru 10/14 Karen Maria van de Vliet, who is currently on a three-month sabbatical in Cleveland’s Ohio City neighborhood away from her home in Rotterdam Holland, is a very playful artist. She explores the transition between “play” and “awe.” Through masterful use of color and shape she plays with composition and light producing shimmering portraits of people she knows, including her Cleveland friends. This is her first U.S. exhibition. The closing reception for this show, which includes an apparel installation by Alexis Marie Savon, with assistance by R Ferris, both of the Cleveland area, will be Friday October 14 from 5 to 10 p.m. at Gallery Ü in the Colonial Marketplace ARTcade, 530 Euclid Ave., Suite 30.

The fifteen brilliant acrylic paintings on the long gallery wall are portraits of Clevelanders. These are mostly of Ms. van de Vliet’s new American friends she met since July 31 when she arrived in Cleveland. Portraits projected onto Savon’s hanging apparel installation are of van de Vliet’s friends in Holland. Some of each projected portrait falls on the apparel hanging in mid-air and other parts of the image lands on the wall behind it. This exhibit looks different depending on whether a viewer sees the projected portrait from the left or right of the installation.

“(Ferris) was part of developing the concept behind the installation focusing on turning the two dimensional into 3D, while inviting the viewer to walk through and take part in the installation. His own work was not shown at this show,” said van de Vliet.

“I like playing around with the intimacy of friendships,” she said. Her style resembles hyper-expressive experimental comics that are simultaneously realistic and extreme. “Color is emotion,” she said.

She works from photographs of her subjects drawing her impression on canvas (not by tracing the photograph) followed by “dreaming” the rest in acrylic paint. She captures the subject’s likeness while the portraits are many forms in one. Lines, stars, circles and squares glow through realistic facial features. While they may appear to some viewers as projected onto the portrait’s face, this, according to van de Vliet, is “the glowing light within.”

Many of her subjects are actually people that she is close to. She has known some of these people for some time. And producing a portrait from a sitting model is passé. Instead she produces a portrait after having seen the subject in real life situations over a period of time. She sometimes sees how a person maintains their emotional balance before producing a portrait.

Before traveling to Cleveland she didn’t paint for six months. “I fell in love with a guy, and spent my time with him.” She arrived in the U.S. on July 31 and started hanging out with several people who became her subjects. She started her first Cleveland painting on Aug. 11. This was of her boyfriend back in Holland, Wietse, painted from a photo of him sent to her. Another early painting of this series was of the quizzical face of a dog who is having fleas picked from its back. “What’s going on in that face?” asked van de Vliet.

She works on two or three paintings simultaneously and completed all 15 portraits, and one collaborative piece, in about a month. (Half the speed of Vincent Van Gogh, another Dutch favorite said to produce one painting a day.) The 16th piece, “Jam Session,” is a “spontaneous undertaking” between van de Vliet and South Euclid muralist, illustrator and painter John Howitt. “We had a lot of fun communicating with one another without words but through art, a lot like what musicians do when developing songs while having a jam session,” van de Vliet said. Some of van de Vliet’s commercial illustrations are used as cell phone screen savers.

When seeing van de Vliet’s paintings it is easy to recollect the “Psychological Expressionism” show by Cleveland area artist Sid Rheuban at the Cleveland State University Art Gallery earlier this year. Mr. Rheuban’s wildly bright portraits are bold and distorted like the early 20th Century French fauvist painters.

This is very different from the otherworldly refined style of van de Vliet. While their styles are vastly different both artists provide characters that glow from within. Rheuban paints in oil and acrylic and some of his work is painted on one side of Plexiglas providing an image that can be seen from two sides, “allowing two different emotional perspectives,” according to that show’s release.

“I like it here,” said van de Vliet. “There is a kindness about people here. People are more open. In Holland people are more closed than here. Here people talk to each other everywhere. It is easy working here. It is relaxed.”

Karen van de Vliet’s Web sites is http://www.karenvandevliet.nl. Gallery Ü can be reached at 216-323-0085 and http://www.galleryucleveland.com.

@@@

9/14/05
FreeTimes
Light of the Netherlands : Karen Maria Van de Vliet: High Art from the Low Countries
By Lyz Bly

SINCE ARRIVING in Cleveland from Rotterdam at the end of July, artist Karen van de Vliet has been prodigiously productive, creating 16 portraits, which currently adorn the walls of Gallery Ü. The resulting exhibition, Playing with the Light Within, also includes an apparel installation by Alexis Marie Savon, and a video piece by R Ferris.

Van de Vliet's portraits embody the title of the exhibition, as her subjects' energy is exuded through her ability to charge their expressions — especially their eyes — with an electrifying intensity; this is underscored by van de Vliet's use of vibrant colors, geometric shapes, and angular lines. There is an edgy nervousness about the work, which makes it visually and emotionally compelling.

Van de Vliet paints with acrylic, but her technique defies the glossy artificiality that so often accompanies that painting medium. The artist sparingly applies the paint on unprimed canvas, which, in her words, “sucks the paint into the raw material.” The surfaces are activated with intense hues, which are countered by the occasional suggestive detail, like the subtle curve of a waft of hair, or a quickly but expertly sketched heel of a boot, or foot of a stool. The paintings are stylish, often evoking the American graphic art and design of the 1970s. This is most evident in the paintings of people from magazines. Smoke, for instance, depicts a thin, purple-faced individual with a nest of tangled, multicolored hair taking a drag of a tobacco or marijuana cigarette. The person's face and hand are a mix of purple, green and blue, giving them an otherworldly quality. The surface of the canvas is packed with colors, shapes, and agitated lines; even the smoke that emanates from the cigarette appears controlled and linear in black and white.

The “light within” is most evident in the portraits van de Vliet paints of her friends and loved ones. Despite the stylized quality inherent in the vivid colors and angular shapes and lines, the artist is able to capture the spirit of the people she paints. Ed and Tracy are paintings of the friends she is staying with in Cleveland — Ed and Tracy van der Kuil, who work part-time at Gallery Ü. In Tracy the artist captures the subject's thoughtful sense of intelligent reserve, as uncontrolled wisps of hair contrast her subject's pensive, introspective expression. Van de Vliet also perfectly portrays Ed's personality, as his eyes, nose, mouth, and cheeks fill the picture. His eyes are lively, and he offers viewers a crooked, devious smile. Unlike Tracy, whose eyes pensively avoid the viewers' gaze, Ed looks directly at the viewer, unabashedly confronting them. His expression is playful yet composed; the mischievous side of his personality is underscored by a wild array of quickly rendered lines and dots in vivid teal blue, red, white and yellow. Van de Vliet manages to make Ed's green eyes sparkle right off the canvas. These paintings reveal the artist's genuine affection for and understanding of her portrait subjects/friends.

Jam Session represents a collaboration between van der Vliet and Cleveland artist/musician John Howitt. The painting references Cleveland on the left, and Rotterdam on the right. While the urban energy of both cities is apparent through cartoon-like, graffiti-esque imagery, the Cleveland side is, of course, much grimier. Yet the fluorescent orange and bright blue meld remnants of each city's skyline, perhaps representing the partnerships the van der Kuils plan to establish between Cleveland and Rotterdam artists.

“We hope that [Karen's show] is the start of a long-term project where we can bring Dutch artists to Cleveland and send Americans from Cleveland to the Netherlands,” Ed van der Kuil explains. Hopefully, with the van der Kuils' energy and Gallery Ü's owner/director Patsy Kline's support, the exchange can continue. Cleveland needs to export more of its cultural products and endeavors, and if this exhibit is an indication of the kind of work that will be introduced from Rotterdam, the importation of culture is also sure to be inspiring.

@@@

patsykline
Originally uploaded by Gallery Ü Cleveland.

6/13/05
epitome magazine
The Business of Being A Woman
Passion for Art: Patsy Kline's Gallery Ü
by Terry Sternin
epitomemag.com

The development of a non-commercial art gallery is a difficult and costly task. The few galleries in Cleveland that historically promoted innovative art, such as Howard Wise Gallery in the mid-'50s, Nina Sandell Gallery in the late '60s-early '70s, and Ross Widen, who had a run of nearly 30 years, all had a tough time. Howard Wise relocated to New York and became a premier gallery. Nina Sandell eventually closed her Gallery and also returned to New York. Ross Widen Gallery gradually became an art supply/gift store/frame shop just to stay in business.

Patsy Kline, owner and director of Gallery Ü Cleveland, is a throwback to the aforementioned art dealers: a Peggy Guggenheim with a kinder disposition but without the endowment. Kline wants to revitalize excitement in this segment of the Cleveland art scene by exhibiting works by the vanguard of current local artists and nationally recognized, established artists who have strong ties to Cleveland. Her dedication to this pursuit is born out of a love for art and recognition of a need to preserve, promote and advance the greater Cleveland communities' current art history.

Gallery Ü is a grass-roots undertaking situated in the growing gallery community of the Colonial Marketplace ARTcade in downtown Cleveland. The ARTcade's purpose is to support the development of a downtown gallery district by providing a welcoming venue where contemporary art can be viewed and collected. Kline's vision for Gallery Ü is to present art that generates growth, narrates the emotional expressions of the unconscious, fosters change and encourages creativity.

Asked how art impacts everyday life, Kline explained, "Art is a huge part of our daily lives. Most of us aren't aware of it as we are inclined to think that art is something we analyze in galleries, museums, or on the lounge walls of the rich and famous. We are misinformed, however, with such a simple view. Art is much more than home décor for the affluent. Art is all around us, over us, under us, through us. Art is an inextricable part of our lives. It is in our best interest to identify and understand art and its many forms. Once we appreciate the images we are faced with and understand their meanings, the more we are able to grasp the profound effects of art on our lives."

Kline's passion for art and her innovative approach to running a gallery have inspired several close friends to collaborate to expand and enhance the gallery and its offerings. Ed and Tracy van der Kuil help bring in new artists and performers to the space, Shelly Gracon assists with media relations, promotions and events (see related article on Shelly), and local artist Michael McNamara assists with installing works in the gallery. McNamara will also exhibit his paintings at the gallery in October

This collaboration resulted in the first exhibition/fundraiser, ReThinkPink, held at Gallery Ü last February. The goal of the event was to raise awareness of the importance of breast self-exams through self-painted breast prints created by local women (and men). It was a remarkable success. Kline looks forward to the support and energy that fueled this effort to expand her unique vision for the gallery and the ARTcade space as a whole.

The third Friday of each month the ARTcade features ARTwalk from 5-9 p.m. in which all the galleries participate.

@@@

5/20/05
coolcleveland.com
Luminosity/Luminous Show @ Gallery Ü
by Lee Batdorff

Seeing differently from the every day visuals is the goal of New York City painter and Swedish immigrant Anders Knutsson in his Luminosity/Luminous show at Gallery Ü through early June. Some might call his use of phosphorus pigment paints and costumes a gimmick. I call it "better than the 1960s," which I also witnessed.

Gallery Ü (prounounced "oou") in the ArtCarde at 530 Euclid Avenue between Euclid and Prospect Ave. has black knockout cloth over two thirds of the Gallery's arcade windows. Through windows of the remaining gallery space, the gallery "annex," one can see from the arcade hall alluring paintings of trees, plus a kitsch-seeming image of the Verrazano Narrows suspension bridge between Brooklyn where Knutsson lives, and Staten Island.

Pity the poor daytime passersby in the arcade without the opportunity to see how these paintings can transform at dusk. During the April 15th evening opening the gallery operator had the arcade lights turned down and small groups of viewers in the annex gallery space saw something they've never seen before. This is Knutsson's phosphorus (which glows-in-the-dark after being exposed to light) painted reenactment of a sunset sky over a lit up Verrazano Narrows bridge.

In regular lighting, the crowd gathered facing the painting. When the gallery lights went off, my eyes felt a small sensation while adjusting to the glow. For about 30 seconds the folks focused on the painting of the bridge uttered "OOU!" and "AH!" This sunset faded in less than a minute. So fast you can see it dissipate. Kitch?

Even without the glow, in normal light, the nearby paintings of large trees seem to harbor life beyond what is easily reproduced on canvas, like these were images of large mammals lounging about.

The most colorful luminescent show however, is in the blacked out main portion of Gallery Ü. In normal light the paintings are very colorful. When the lights go out, your eyes experience a "shift." Among the new set of colorful images that appear are of people dancing wildly. The shift to seeing the glowing paintings is a subtle roller coaster for the eyes. While dimming all the time the luminosity of these paintings lasts for several hours.

During the opening, Lynn Deering, Director of the Cleveland State University Dance Program and Joe Booth of the Dance/Theatre Collective, disrobed from Kimonos revealing glow-in-the-dark tights. The dancers moved to music performed by Han Eddy van der Kuil on drums, formally of industrial band DINK, Craig Pearsall on keyboard and song by Shelly Gracon, both of industrial band DOT. Or did the dancers flow? While one could determine male from female by their glowing designs, during the 20-minute dance the two dancers seemed like human shaped glowing amebas that flowed in and out of the surrounding glowing paintings. After the show, I felt revved up, as if I rode my bicycle back and forth over the Detroit-Superior Bridge a couple times.

Knutsson, 67, immigrated to the U.S. in 1967 and is a U.S. citizen. He's studied light for many years. "A lot of interesting things go on with the retinal system at low light levels," he said. "You have only indirect vision. You experience a body system that you don't normally encounter. It is like seeing stars at night. Sometimes you'll only see a star out of the corner of your eye and can't see it when you try to look at it."

Clevelanders are taken by light shows. The first large display of outdoor electric "arc" light in the world was held by electrical inventor Charles F. Brush to the amazement of thousands in Public Square on the evening of April 29, 1879. These days, the tops of downtown skyscrapers are lit as well as a number of bridges across the Cuyahoga River. Cleveland was fortunate enough to have a "Lasarium" in the old Allen Theater in Playhouse Square during the 1970s as well as the December 2003 show Luminocity: Art and Technology Igniting Cleveland, which lit the exterior of the Cleveland Trust Building and Rotunda at Euclid Avenue and East 9th Street.

Light is a natural for Clevelanders. If you like light in the dark, make sure to see the Luminosity/Luminous show at at Artcade ARTwalk on Fri 5/20 between 12-9PM. See it at Gallery Ü this Friday and Saturday from 12-4PM. Show will close the first or second Friday in June depending on a performance schedule.

@@@

4/7/05
FreeTimes
Nature vs. Nurture
Organic and Man-made Forms at Gallery Ü
by Lyz Bly

AMID THE TRANSIENT GALLERIES that make up the Colonial ARTcade is Gallery Ü. Owned by Patsy Kline, the gallery, which is actually two distinct spaces within the urban, mall-like building, is a reliable venue for top-notch art by regional and national artists.

Gallery Ü's current exhibition, Germination: Reformation, Debra DeGregorio & Kevin Shahan, features 11 of DeGregorio's abstract, lucidly rendered drawings of intriguing organic forms in one gallery, and eight frenetically painted, Pop Art-inspired works by Shahan in the other.

The curatorial concept is quite compelling, as DeGregorio's work is about creating fantastical forms that are at times plantlike, at times evocative of human forms. Shahan appropriates and reconfigures signs and text — the visual language of everyday life — in his paintings. The play between constructing (or creating) and deconstructing (or taking apart and reconfiguring) forms and signs is clever, yet it would have been more interesting to see DeGregorio and Shahan's work together, intermingled throughout the Gallery Ü spaces. Such interplay could have served as commentary on the reproduction and deconstruction not only of signs, but also of the intangible, sacrosanct realm of abstraction, which is allegedly more “pure,” as it represents the side of humanity that is primal and spiritual. Integrating the artists' works might have also addressed the way the visual language of popular culture permeates the American psyche.

Despite this limiting curatorial scheme, Germination: Reformation does present large bodies of DeGregorio and Shahan's works, which are visually gripping in their own right. DeGregorio's drawings are simple and resplendent. Done largely in black on white paper, they subtly and sparingly incorporate matted colors such as cool light blue, hot red and muted peachy pink. The artist frequently calls the forms “bulbs” or “pods,” terms that reference plant life, yet the shapes are frequently reminiscent of human body parts. Pink & Blue Bulb, for instance, depicts a blue phallic form, complete with pink “testicles.” But the form is rendered fantastic as tendrils, like those of a sea creature, extend from the round, pink shape. The shapes are accentuated by gracefully drawn pencil lines, which continue beyond them; the lines are deliberate, yet rendered with abandon. While DeGregorio's drawings convey an expressionistic otherworldliness, their anthropomorphic, organic qualities imbue them with a comforting familiarity.

From a distance, Shahan's paintings appear as veritable orgies of images, text and symbols. In a culture filled with floating signs, Shahan's works attempt to congeal free-floating, contemporary iconography. Appropriating images from many facets of consumer culture, including magazines, postcards, billboards, advertisements and graffiti, he re-contextualizes fragmented words and images, as well as lines and colors. The paintings are the 21st century's version of Pop Art.

Time of Her Life , created in August 2001, presciently depicts a passenger plane pointing downward, with birds flying contentedly around it. On the right, the word “non-returnable” is printed in blocked letters that are scratched into, revealing the colors beneath. Shahan says the painting reminds him of the pre-9/11 world, when “things were more idyllic.” Shahan's paintings depict American excess; not only a glut of images, but an overabundance of objects and mundane ideas tied to consumption. Things were perhaps idyllic to some, but certainly not on a global or national scale. Shahan's paintings illustrate the oblivion Americans were living in before 9/11; they also reveal the oblivion many people still inhabit.

@@@

3/11/05
coolcleveland.com
ReThink Pink @ Gallery Ü
by Lee Batdorff

Neither boring or pornographic, and very colorful and healthy, ReThinkPink, a show of prints at Gallery Ü in downtown Cleveland's ArtCade 530 Euclid Ave. was a joyful hit this year. It will return next year according to gallery owner Patsy Kline. Many of the images in this show, which closed on March 11, were composed by placing or swooshing paint-wetted breasts on paper by about 100 breast bearers, including three men.

"We wanted to do a collaboration which lead to community art which lead to different causes, which lead me to the concept of doing (breast) exams with paint on your hands and creating art with a purpose," said Ms. Kline. "This is art that all women would be able to create and display with pride. Art that could be all colors — the colors that best represented the participant's personal story. My aunt died of breast cancer and this is a homage to her lovely memory."

The show was conceived after Kline and four associates decided they wanted to have a show to raise funds for a local cause. After some research they selected the northeast Ohio affiliate of the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation Inc. who agreed to participate.

A visitor walking into the gallery immediately encountered a set of breast prints on one sheet titled, "The Girls." Kline said: "We want to encourage all women, especially young women who may not consider their risks or who feel fearful of doing a breast self-exam, to become familiar with what their breasts normally look and feel like with the help of colorful, self-painted body prints."

A refreshing interlude it is to encounter what non-commercial, non-sexualized, natural breasts look like with multiple colors and layers of paint. Said the show's news release: "Make a statement, don't be pink, be every color, and give breast cancer the boot. Create art for your own sake and the sake of all women and men."

Kline pointed out several of the pieces and told stories about them. One image had a vibrant blue circle on one side and a breast print on the other. My first time around the gallery I wondered about this piece. Ms. Kline explained that this artist had a mastectomy of one of her breasts.

As with many women, breast size was an issue for another of the contributors when she was young. When she grew older, she was still self-conscious about her breast size. Then she had breast cancer and a mastectomy. It was then that she realized size dosen't matter at all. There are more important things in life.

Several groups got together to make their prints. Four women collaborated printing themselves all on one large piece of paper. And "ten girls who work at Phoenix Coffee all got together at someone's home and had a party. They set up a paint station in a bedroom where each of them could do their prints in privacy, while the rest dined on hors d'oeuvres and drank wine in the adjoining room," said Kline. "They came to me with their prints and told about their party. I said, 'What? You had a party (to make such personal prints)!' I never thought about having a party to do this!"

At first they were going to limit entries to people 18 years old and up. Then a mother approached who wanted to include her 16-year-old daughter. Eventually several mothers teamed up to produce prints with their daughters. "Quite a few children where at the opening," said Kline.

The majority of people who submitted a print were affected by breast cancer in one way or another, either knowing someone that has had the disease or had it themselves. Some of the prints showed exactly where they found a lump in their breast. "They wanted people know where to look for lumps," she said. "And men can also get breast cancer too," someone said.

Tracy van der Kuil, Gallery Ü's assistant director was asked, "Doesn't the word 'pink' in 'ReThink Pink' limit you to only pink breasts?" Ms. Van der Kuil responded, "remember the word 'rethink' is in front of 'pink.' What does that do?" Then someone nearby answered, "Open it up to more than pink."

The closing featured a showing of "Breast Crack," a video installation by Bernadette Gillota and Annetta Marion, directors of the Ohio Independent Film Festival.

"As far as I know this (a show like ReThink Pink) has not been done by any other gallery or organization anywhere," said Kline. One hundred percent of the proceeds from the sale of prints, which were sold in a silent auction and still being tallied, are being given to the foundation. She aims to stage ReThink Pink shows in New York City, Chicago and Rotterdam Netherlands next year.

The gallery has built alliances with national and international galleries and artists such as the Regina A. Quick Center for the Arts in St. Bonaventure New York; the Cleveland State University Art Gallery; the Lazzaro-Signature Gallery of Fine Art in Stoughton Wisconsin; and Robert Carroll in Rome Italy. They are also developing an international artist exchange program scheduled to start this autumn.

Along with Patsy Kline and Tracy Van der Kuil the gallery staff and ReThink Pink organizing committee included Shelly Gracon, media relations assistant; Ed van der Kuil, gallery assistant; Mike McNamara, exhibit installer; and Sarah Marino, gallery attendant.

"Germination:Reformation," apparently another thinking and feeling show, featuring the paintings of Debra DeGregoria and Kevin Shahan, is coming to Gallery Ü on March 18 6-9 p.m. The opening features live musical performances by Tokyo Shapiro at 6 p.m. and dot.(ARTpop) at 8 p.m.

@@@

NOL
Originally uploaded by Gallery Ü Cleveland.

10/20/04
Northern Ohio Live
Honorable Mention: 2004 Awards of Achievement

Leave it to a mulit-gallery exhibition titled The Buddha Project: Visual Manifestations of Buddhist Thought in the Western World to contemplate so complex a question: How is the transfer of Buddhist ideas from Eastern to Western cultures expressed in contemporary visual art? Using works that represented Buddhism both as tradition and abstract idea, The Buddha Project, (curated by CSU’s Jeanne Grossetti and Robert Thurmer) featured paintings, photographs, works on paper, sculpture and new media to explore different aspects of the religion. Co-curators involved in the exhibit were Cleveland State’s Center for Sacred Landmarks, Arts Collinwood, the Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland Shambhala Meditation Group, Cleveland Zazen Group, ColdWater Zendo, Gallery Ü Cleveland, Insight Meditation of Cleveland, Jewel Heart Cleveland, Jijuyu-ji Zen Group of Cleveland, Performers and Artists for Nuclear Disarmament, Thrive: An Artspace and West Shore Unitarian Universalist Church.

@@@@

05/23/03
The Plain Dealer
ART MATTERS
Abstract Artists Make Most of Ideal ARTcade setting
by Dan Tranberg

Some art galleries are like white cubes. The relatively new Gallery Ü , part of the ARTcade in downtown Cleveland's Colonial Marketplace, is like a glass box.

As with all of the shops inside the arcade, the wide and unusually shallow gallery space has a completely transparent facade, making it look like one big display window. Its clean lines and stark, uncluttered design make it a perfect setting for contemporary art.

This month's exceptionally attractive exhibition at Gallery U features works by Richard Lazzaro and Edward Shalala, two out-of-town artists with direct ties to Cleveland.

Lazzaro is an emeritus professor of art at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, and co-owner of an art gallery in Stoughton, Wis. He's also a 1959 graduate of the Cleveland Institute of Art. His works, collectively titled "The Taiwan Series," loosely play off of the general idea of Chinese calligraphy, though they don't look the slightest bit Asian. With their colorful, free-form calligraphic lines, they more closely resemble funky American fabric designs from the 1950s.

Lazzaro is clearly well-versed in the subtleties of form and color. Every one of his paintings on paper is characterized by a precarious balance of bold shapes and delicate lines, all swimming around in undulating waves of color. In some, his playful lines accumulate into dense thickets that practically vibrate from the intensity of their shifting hues.

While Lazzaro's orientation appears to come directly out of Abstract Expressionism, the work of Shalala is more closely aligned with current trends in abstract painting. His handsome group of small, heavily textured canvases, titled "Syntheses: Color and Texture," places great emphasis on the physical, organic properties of paint.

A Cleveland native who moved to New York in 1978, Shalala seems to build his paintings like relief sculptures. He gradually accumulates a mixture of paint and burlap, which eventually takes on the look of heavy weathering. Adding a certain dynamic tension is the objectlike quality of Shalala's canvases, most of which are a foot or so tall and less than a foot wide. They are little constructions as much as they are paintings, which is interesting considering painting's long history of flatness.

Distinguishing them from the abstract paintings of decades past is their extreme focus on the materiality of paint, which brings into question the nature of paint as an object in and of itself. In a sense, they are like paintings of paint.

Gallery curator Patsy Kline, a designer who graduated in 1990 from the Cleveland Institute of Art, deserves accolades for assembling such a thoughtfully focused show.

Hopefully, it's just one of many to come.

The ARTcade is at 530 Euclid Ave., Cleveland; the exhibit is up through May 31. Call 216-323-0085.

@@@@

5/1/03
angle magazine
a journal of arts + culture
Richard Lazzaro and Ed Shalala @ Gallery Ü
By Douglas Max Utter

The aesthetic implications of marking and layering have been among the principal expressive considerations of painters and printmakers during the past half-century. Ed Shalala and Richard Lazzaro are two Cleveland-born artists who have enjoyed a degree of national and international exposure over the past four decades exploring these critical issues.

Shalala’s double suite of small paintings face each other from the end walls of Patsy Kline’s Gallery Ü. Lumpy and colorful, each is a phase of self-examination that alternately delves into and covers over the psychological hints that it discovers. These process-oriented, essentially surrealist works emphasize the psychic dimensions of a painted surface, and the rich associations evoked by complex textures. Obsessive almost to an extreme, Shalala’s oil, burlap, and string-on-canvas compositions often include as many as forty layers of paint on surfaces measuring between 8” x 12” to 16” x 20.”

Two Blues and Yellow is typically enigmatic. Its uneven accumulation of paint over burlap patches suggests forms in the way an abstract sculpture might. Raised, smoothed bas-relief-like encrustations of deep blue alternate with shallow ravines where sparks and rivulets of luminous yellow are visible, suggesting light and energy. Meanwhile, the regular pattern of the burlap weave contributes areas of more orderly terrain to a vision that seems like a relief map or heat-sensitive, infra-red study of repression and the intricate flow of psychic energy.

Richard Lazzaro’s Taiwan paintings are visually pleasing gouache-on-paper studies of human intimacy, moving blithely from the abstract qualities of interlocking lines to an overlying, more deliberately figurative, macrocosmic dimension. The emotional content of Lazzaro’s work is more overt than Shalala’s, but while a painting like his 25” x 35” Kiss strives for a degree of equivalence between paint and intricate webs of human feeling, it also conveys a sense of humor and contains a sort of art-historical, visual essay. The three ovate forms in Kiss intersect, describing an overlapping of bodies and lives. Only the central “head” has a profile. On the right an orange, maze-like spiral is emblematic of pregnancy. The cool greens and blues of the central couple complement each other, while around them hot yellow lines create a densely passionate conversation. At the same time, another sort of conversation is visible: Mark Tobey chats with Brice Marden, while Philip Guston shares his thoughts with Jean DuBuffet.