AMP: Artists' Meeting Place and Resource Collective

Visiting Kentucky this past weekend I had the opportunity to go to the Lexington Gallery Hop. The "Hop" is held about five times a year and I always seem to miss it. I almost missed this one too. Around 5pm it started raining and there was quite a downpour. A great benefit was that it reduced the crowds and increased my chances at getting closer to the work and to the artists.

Given more time I would have hit all of the spaces. Here is a list of my stops,

Ann Tower Gallery
Art at the Cathedral
Artsplace Gallery
Bluegrass Printmakers' Cooperative
Carnegie Center Laurie S. Bottoms Gallery
Cerlan Gallery
The Bodley-Bullock House
The Central Library Gallery
Clark Art & Antiques
First Presbyterian Church Gallery
Gallerie Soleil
The Hunt Morgan Carriage House
Wingspan Gallery

Kudos to the following for making my evening memorable,

Kelly M. Phelps & Salvadore Villagran at the Bodley Bullock House.

Their art training from the New York Academy has really paid off! Paintings by both were finely executed in the old Dutch style and their drawings were reminiscent of DaVinci's. All of their subjects were portraits or self-portraits of varying poses and crops. I can honestly say that most of their work I found very wonderful and life-like, a pleasure to behold. Kelly offered a series of self portrait canvases mounted on a rotisserie so as they fanned by you, the painted figure would seem to move and change expressions. It was a very unique piece and one that I can't say I've seen before.

Brother Paul Quenon at the First Presbyterian Church.

I really enjoyed his group of four photographs Merton's Hermitage, Pillar, Three Cowls and Cowl. All of his photographs originated on b+w film and were printed in the darkroom. Both of the images Cowl and Three Cowls had deep blacks and bright whites and great tonality and detail in the "Cowls" folds. Even with the high contrast in these images they had an unusual warmth and softness.

Carleton Wing at Wingspan Gallery. Carleton shows his own work as well as African Tribal artifacts and contemporary artwork from other artists.

I was really astounded to discover that Carleton's collages were actually cut paper images from magazines and newspapers. Each piece he cuts by hand with a magnifying glass and an exacto knife and then applies them to a backing board with a special adhesive. No simple photoshop tricks here! I couldn't find any jagged edges on any piece in his collage work. His collages include "found image" and "multiple image". The found images are made in the traditional collage fashion while the multiple image collages use repeated image pieces over and over again. They resemble pinwheels or possibly a form of op-art. Carleton's fantastic imagery is coupled with titling of varying degrees from fanciful, "The Boys Belted in the Ceiling are Bashful About the Bertocelli Sisters Bouncing at the Bistro, but Buster and Bubba are Not " to simple descriptions such as "Red Angel". I would definitely recommend a trip to the Wingspan Gallery.

I will attempt to go back in the files to bring you reviews from some of the best art experiences I have had as well as bring you exhibition reviews from future shows. Thank you,

Visioncity