All That Is Holy and The Infinite Absurd
March 2 - April 28, 2018
Gallery Hours: Monday, Wednesday and Friday 2:30 - 6:30PM . Feel free to contact us at 404-310-1269 to setup an appointment outside of our normal gallery hours.
Blue Mark Studios proudly hosts two opening receptions on Friday March 2nd, both exploring spiritual themes in very unconventional ways. Running for two months, All That Is Holy is a group show featuring six Atlanta artists who explore the sacred-profane dichotomy: Rose M Barron, Daniel Biddy, Elyse Defoor, Deborah Hutchinson, Charity Lindop, and Robert Sherer. Alongside All That Is Holy, is a one-night-only installation by multimedia artist Christopher Hall, entitled The Infinite Absurd. This ephemeral installation features the premiere of Christopher Hall’s sound art work, and 1,355 ink drawings. To make things really interesting, the opening night of both shows will feature a surprise performance by Saint Mary of Egypt, who offers blessings and absolution, should audiences feel the need after viewing both shows.
Works by: Rose M Barron, Daniel Biddy, Elyse Defoor, Deborah Hutchinson, Charity Lindop, and Robert Sherer Guest Curator: Christopher Hall
It’s quite likely that each of us, at one time or another, paused and pondered on the meaning of life and our own specific place in it, and this, in a world that often seems so Hell-bent on defining that meaning for us. The artists in All That Is Holy have each considered how to reconcile our transcendent, lofty, and/or spiritual leanings, with our earthier, human instincts, as well as how we reconcile these dual desires with the less than desirable aspects that make up a great chunk of our human condition. Most broadly this can be defined as the dichotomy between the sacred and the profane. Each of the artists in this show approaches the subject of sacred and profane differently. The works in this show exhibit solemnity and satirical humor, and both questions and reaffirms our purpose in life.
Rose M Barron
is a photographer and multimedia artist known for her research into depictions of the Madonna and the Saints. She puts her own spin on these myths with an eye toward merging the sacred and profane. Rose M Barron is an adjunct professor at the Art Institute of Atlanta, and has a BFA from the University of Georgia, an MA from Georgia State University, and an MFA from the Savannah College of Art and Design. Her work has been widely exhibited, including The Athens Center for Contemporary Art, The Atlanta Contemporary Art Center, Fe Gallery in Pittsburgh, and Umbrella Gallery in New York City. Her website can be found at rosembarron.com .
Daniel Biddy
is a multimedia artist, whose work incorporates elements of collage, oil painting, and drawing. Biddy’s work examines spiritual, psychological, and emotional states. His rhizome-like collage work presents a multitude of entry points and juxtapositions from which to consider the sacred and profane. He is a graduate of the Atlanta College of Art (1999). His work has been included in group exhibitions, with solo exhibitions at Vaknin Gallery, Atlanta (2008); Barbara Archer Gallery, Atlanta (2010); Atelier A, Atlanta (2014). Daniel’s work can be found in the permanent collection of the High Museum of Art, Atlanta. Daniel’s website can be found at danielbiddy.com . He is showing courtesy of Alan Avery Art Company.
Elyse Defoor
is a multidisciplinary artist who is inspired by a person’s connection to their inner spirit and unconscious world. Her Relics of Marriage series documents through photography the real-life stories, both sacred and profane, found within people’s wedding dresses. Her drawings, paintings, photography and large scale installations have gained international recognition and national exposure with solo exhibits at the Alexandria Museum of Art in Louisiana (2008) and Umbrella Arts Gallery in New York (2015). In September 2011, Defoor’s “one million thoughts of joy” digital installation premiered, and was seen by over 1,750,000 viewers in downtown Atlanta. Her Relics of Marriage series is now available as a photography book. Defoor’s website can be found at elysedefoor.com.
Deborah Hutchinson
is an award winning sculptor, small metals artist, and educator with a background in silversmithing and jewelry design. Her metal work shows the sacred in nature, and the profane in its loss and destruction. Hutchinson is a limited term assistant professor at Kennesaw State University, where she founded the small metals program. Hutchinson has a MFA from Georgia State University, a BFA from Georgia State University MA, Lehigh University, and a BA, Arizona State University. Deborah was a Niche Award Finalist in 1999, and a featured artist on HGTV’s Carol Duvall Show. She has worked on the Pima Maricopa and Navajo reservations in Arizona. Her art can be found on PiePieMetals.com.
Charity Lindop
is a multimedia assemblage artist whose niche work recalls Joseph Cornell and the folk traditions found in Dia de los Muertos art. Her assemblages are a celebration of the sacred found within the corruptible. Lindop is interested in the more archetypal aspects of existence; Birth, Death, Rebirth, God, the Devil, Sex, the Macabre and Humor are just some of the recipes in her cookbook, and she shamelessly confronts them all with the gentle touch of a sledgehammer. Using found objects, Lindop builds “little shrines to her dreams and nightmares.” Lindop has shown in many exhibits in Atlanta, including a show at the Natural History Museum in Atlanta (2013). Lindop is the curator of art at The Highlander. She can be found on Facebook at Fools and False Gods and on Instagram as foolsandgods.
Robert Sherer
is an internationally exhibiting American visual artist/activist and professor of art at Kennesaw State University. His multimedia art explores race, gender and sexual identity. Kitschy, humorous, and poignant his pyrography works often reference Biblical themes and demonstrates homosexual love/sex/desire as divine. Sherer studied at Walker College, Atlanta College of Art, Georgia State University, Rhode Island School of Design, and Edinboro University of Pennsylvania where he received his M.F.A. degree in 1992. In 2002, he represented the USA in the Triennale de Paris in Paris, France. In 2001 and 2007, he represented the USA in the Florence Biennale in Florence, Italy. In the 2007 competition, Sherer was awarded a Lorenzo de Medici (il Magnifico) medal for his American Pyrography series. His website can be found at robertsherer.com.
The Infinite Absurd
Was One Night Only, Friday, March 2, (7:00 to 10:00 PM)
The Infinite Absurd is an immersive installation of 1,355 ink drawings suspended in the sanctuary space of Blue Mark Studios with a sound art component. The Infinite Absurd meanders between moments of unexpected humor and deep reflection and is composed of everything from television commercials, cartoon samples, ambient soundscapes, Christmas carols, and UFO eyewitness testimony, all woven together in a loose narrative that suggests a life’s journey, a yearning for peace, and Buddhist principles surrounding death and rebirth. The beginning of this installation started ten years ago, when the first drawings were produced. Recalling Tibetan Prayer Flags, the ribs found in the ceiling of cathedrals, and the flags flown above used car lots and at carnivals, the 1,355 drawings will be installed with clotheslines and clothespins in chronological order.
Christopher Hall
is a multimedia and sound artist, freelance writer, and a part-time assistant professor of art at Kennesaw State University. His work examines the whole of the human condition, the bawdy and the beautiful, the low-brow and the sublime. Hall is a graduate of the University of Georgia, BFA (1998) and the Tyler School of Art, MFA (2008). His work has been exhibited widely in such places as The University of Lincoln, Lincoln, UK (2007) and Look at This Gallery, Chang Mai Thailand (2009). In 2016 he represented the U.S. at the 8th Annual Painting Symposium in Torun, Poland. Hall’s published works can be found on Burnaway.org, and his website at christopherhallart.com.