Dennis Kowalski, Steve Luecking, Julie Richman, and Tom Skomski.
Featured Artists
The artists in Space Probe, Dennis Kowalski, Stephen Lueking, Julie Richman, and Thomas Skomski, drew from a rich legacy of celestial imagery as inspiration for their work. Although each approached the subject from different perspectives–from fantasy to physics, to the theme of randomness, order and interconnection ran through out the work.
Dennis Kowalski used irony and paradox to provoke an uneasy sense of humor that examined human intuition and motive. Using a combination of cast sculptural forms and found objects, as well as painting and drawings, Kowalski’s work related to human involvement in space. In Artist as a Black Hole, Kowalski’s drawn profile appeared out of proportion and collapsed in an isolated void, while in Big Bang Artist, his profile appeared small and gradually enlarged. Each portrait became a multi-leveled commentary on artistic, personal, and global narcissism. Stephen Lueking probed the celestial archetypes of human consumption and reality with sculptures that resembled ancient astronomical instruments. Symbolizing scientific innovation that has passed into artifact, his oxidized steel and iron sculptures reflected his fascination and knowledge of the field of archaeoastronomy. With a pair works titled Indicator: Diurnal and Indicator: Nocturnal, Luecking considered the Renaissance concept of the cosmos seen as a synchronized mechanism. Julie Richman taking inspiration from popular space literature, exhibited vibrantly colored acrylic paintings composed of geometric forms and expressionistic brush strokes together with artist books. Richman’s work was concerned with movement that created the illusion of passing time. Her small artist’s books and monoprints visually depicted her interpretation of the passage of time. Her books featured several recurring shapes that moved from one print to another. The books contained no text and measured 4 x 6 inches. The books could be read print by print or unfolded to a length of 90 inches and scanned filmatically. Thomas Skomski constructed simple objects from ordinary building supplies and used them to manipulate light into unique visual patterns that altered the viewer’s way of seeing these objects.
Space Probe was organized by Civia Rosenberg.
