A Satellite exhibition of Artscape 2006   July 15 – August 26   Opening reception: Saturday July 15th, 7-9 pm.   In Naked Abstraction six models will enter the gallery space and allow their bodies to be painted. For one night only, make-up artist, body painter, and installation artist April Lewis will investigate the relationship between abstraction and figuration.   Alzaruba’s video project appropriates elements of Korean culture, creating a product that bridges cultural identities. His ephemeral wearable assemblages of colorful plastic bags allow him to assume various roles.   Debra Diamond creates larger than life paper pulp paintings that filter concrete ideas through intuitive processes and gestural exploration. ,   Seth Goodman makes contextually abstract large-scale paintings. His range in painting styles creates agitated compositions, rife with loose-ended narratives.   Dave Parker’s futuristic ‘light ships’ are a departure from the two-dimensional work in Naked Abstraction. A combination of porcelain, acrylic, and found objects, these sculptural forms use the language of science fiction to investigate form and functionality of objects.   Steven Pearson’s grand oil-scapes are reminiscent of trends in mid century ab-ex painting while maintaining an interest in the investigation of formal elements such as pattern and color.   Bill Schmidt’s geometric abstract miniatures, derived from microscopic organic forms, are smaller in scale than other work in Naked Abstraction. This work lends itself to intimacy and specificity.   NAKED ABSTRACTION will be on view through August 26th. The body paintings will be on view for opening night only.

Art versus Space article

In the 1980s, the East Village of New York was a slum.

But every weekend, the most sophisticated art collectors in the city went there to purchase work by the best emerging artists they could find.

Husbands and wives arrived in limousines at crazy-named galleries the size of public restrooms, stepping over winos and junkies to get inside.

It was a glam scene: Wild-looking paintings sold for outrageous amounts of money, often doubling in value soon afterward. Later, the collectors exhibited these works in highrise luxury apartments and getaway vacation homes.

The extravagant difference between the art collectors' homes and the galleries they visited is an example of our focus here at Artscape: An installed living space where setting does not dictate the art… where art exists outside the sphere of furniture and carpets, as its own unique vessel of meaning and style.

To put it simply: We believe that every comfortable living space should hold an art collection, but without the silly demand that it match the décor.

Art should exist for you, the collector, first… as a visual embodiment of your style and personal history. An art collection offers both exterior decoration as well as a documentary of life's mental and emotional trapeze act.

For this reason, we feel that art belongs to people more than places.

We think that art is a form of expression for not only the artist, but the collector as well. It is important to us that the work you select for your art collection conveys a part of who you are.

We want you to pause in your hallway, bedroom, office or living room when you pass an artwork, and experience that singular and rare moment of beauty that can save a person and change his or her mood.

We can help you build any variety of collection you want – whether it's work by Baltimore's most daring young artists or a collection of tribal artifacts, a new and compelling trend in postmodern painting and sculpture or simply the exuberance of an art period long since passed.

Bottom-line: We're only interested in collectors whose sense of style goes beyond the simple matching of furniture with color.

We're concerned, instead, with finding outstanding new art and matching it to those collectors who demand a certain kind of expression.