Adk Artists Guild Juried Arts Winners Show

Roy Brinker, the Best in Show winner of the 2012 juried art show at the Adirondack Artists Guild, will be the featured artist at the November show at the Guild.  His exhibit, “Vessels,” will be on display from Friday, November 2 through Tuesday, November 22.  Each fall the winner of the spring juried show is given the opportunity to present a solo exhibition.  This year Karen Grant, Russ Hartung, and Lynda Naske, the three other award winners in the show, have also been invited to hang two works each.

The Tea Cup

Brinker, a Plattsburgh resident, writes of his work, “I am intrigued by what happens when my eye interprets an object that exists in space, and through the use of my hand attempts to recreate this object on a two dimensional surface. There is so much that can happen during this process, and much of it is frustrating but also pleasing. I think of this as a process of abstraction. When the third dimension that allows something to be built, held, and used is discarded or lost, an abstraction is the result. Two dimensions are not restrictive and so it is possible to distort reality. Artists and art lovers have found beauty in this distortion since this interpretation became possible.

”While sitting in front of an object and drawing or painting it, I naturally focus on trying to create an accurate representation. The camera though, has made accuracy easily obtained, so it can seem trivial to draw from life. For me, though, the value is not in the accuracy but in the small abstractions and bits of myself that distort the work making it unique and giving it value.

”The drawings and paintings that I am presenting in this exhibition represent a recent return to creating images from life after many years of life itself taking priority. I have limited myself to objects that could be defined as vessels. This was a way for me to diminish the anxiety of choosing a subject. It also conveniently gives me a name for the show.”

Roy Brinker’s path to art began when he was a young child, and became more formalized in high school when he attended drawing classes and workshops.  Later, his teachers at the Laguna Beach School of Art pushed his understanding of art into the realm of thought, experience and expression.  He worked in sculpture, as an art handler/installer, and managed a crew to restore the iron artifacts at the Los Angeles Central Library.  His next creative challenge was as a clay modeler in the automotive design industry, translating the drawn concepts of car designers from two or three dimensions to quarter and full scale models.

The Teapot

“Now,” Brinker writes, “I have a daughter who has a creative mind similar to mine.  It has been really fun to sit down with her for fifteen or thirty minute drawing sessions, and see how she develops her skills in order to express herself.  These sessions with my daughter led me very directly into the kind of classes I have been conducting at the North Country Cultural Center for the Arts for the last year and a half.  I have enjoyed making drawing a challenging and nurturing experience for the various students who have come to learn.

”I thank the Artists Guild for affording me this show. I was not ready to consider showing my paintings on such a scale, and preparing for it has been a strong motivation and cause for consideration of my work. It was my desire to fill the alcove with paintings, but the harder I tried to produce quantity the slower my brush moved, and so I have included my drawings as well. More important, I am grateful that Karen Grant, Russ Hartung, and Lynda Naske have agreed to help fill the space with their fine work also.”

The show opens on Friday, November 2 with a reception from 5-7 PM.  It runs through  Thursday, November 27.  Everyone is welcome.

The Adirondack Artists Guild is a cooperative retail art gallery representing a diverse group of regional artists residing and working in the Tri-Lakes region of the Adirondack Park. The gallery is located at 52 Main St, Saranac Lake, 518 891-2615.  Gallery hours are Tuesday through Saturday from 10 until 5 and 11-3 on Sundays.  The gallery is closed on Mondays. The Guild is on the web at www.adirondackartistsguild.com, and on Facebook at Adirondack Artists Guild.

This entry was posted on October 30, 2012 at 6:06 pm and is filed under . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.