Éric Nado disassembles typewriters and creates provocative guns from their parts, a different take on how the power of words can outweigh manmade weaponry. Elsewhere, he crafts femine figures out of sewing machines, an “homage to feminism in the working class.” All stems from his knack for creating “robota” out of salvaged and recycled material.
With “Bone Pendulum in Motley” at Freight+Volume Gallery, Johnston Foster offers new, wild assemblages made from metal hardware, textiles and plastics, PVC, yoga mats, electrical wires, and other materials typically reserved for home renovation projects. Kicking off tomorrow and running through Nov. 10 at the gallery, several new pieces are included in the show.
Dylan Egon, a New York City-born artist raised by two fine artists, creates sculptures and assemblages that reflect American culture, whether through religious or monetary iconography. A New York Times review once referred to his work as “sites of cultural compression, fetishization and wonder.” Egon was last featured on HiFructose.com here.
Pittsburgh based artist David Burton’s striking assemblages are made out of vintage toys and other found objects as he happens upon them, layered into puzzle-like creations. His near-obsessive layering of objects recalls the work of other assemblage artists, like Kris Kuksi, infused with a sense of playfulness despite their dark color. Sourced everywhere from local thrift shops to his walks on the beach, the objects that Burton features are also his main source of inspiration.
English novelist Edward George Bulwer Lytton wrote: “The pen is mightier than the sword,” a phrase that inspires artist Ravi Zupa, who believes that we achieve purpose better and more effectively through communication with art than by violence with weapons. From his mixed media sculptures and assemblages to taro-like drawings and paintings inspired by Japanese, German, and Indian styles of printmaking, Zupa has become known for is the variety in his work, where the weapon has been a recurring motif. It takes centerpiece in his current show “Strike Everywhere” at Black Book Gallery in Denver, Colorado.
Gregory Euclide has always intertwined painting with nature-inspired elements; elaborately-rendered traditional, yet graphic landscapes, crumpled and scientifically sampled into otherworldly dioramas. First featured in Hi-Fructose Vol. 14 and here on our blog, Euclide’s work has taken on several forms over the years, from his snow globe-like “bio-spherescapes” that seem to defy gravity and riverbeds ‘growing’ from spilled paint. He continues to challenge the typical “rules” for two and three-dimensional art, including his own.