ARTIST BLAKE SHIRLEY EXPLORES THE DISPARATE AND FRAGMENTED NATURE OF MEMORY IN SKULL COUCH

Skull Couch, 36 x 30 inches, oil and acrylic on canvas, 2011

Exhibition December 15, 2011-February 12, 2011
Opening Reception Thursday, December 15, 2011 6-8 PM

Hartford, Connecticut - Real Art Ways presents Skull Couch, an exhibition of large-scale paintings by Blake Shirley, who explores the disparate and fragmented nature of memory in contemporary society.

Shirley focuses on memories of everyday objects that the brain registers but doesn’t absorb. These unnoticed small details, in accumulation, define our perceptions of the physical world.  How can we create meaning in a perpetually changing environment when we are constantly over-saturated with stimuli?  Shirley states, “We all have filters that distort the way in which we perceive the world, of which we are mostly unaware. We simply cannot take it all in ALL the time.”

Shirley’s large-scale canvases depict carefully rendered objects that float in and out of geometric skulls, against a diffuse background of gestural strokes of color. They reside in a space between abstract and representational.  He breaks up the spatial relationships between objects, between foreground and background. He plays with scale, creating a space that is both messy and chaotic. These paintings evoke the structure of memory, layered and fractured combining both moments of clarity and blurriness.

An opening reception on Thursday, December 15 from 6-8 PM will be held as part of Creative Cocktail Hour, Real Art Ways' monthly third Thursday gathering. Creative Cocktail Hour is from 6-10 PM; admission is $10/$5 Real Art Ways members.

 

About Blake Shirley
Blake Shirley is a painter and video artist currently living and teaching in eastern Connecticut. Traveling far from his roots of in the deserts of New Mexico, Shirley earned his MFA in painting from the University of Connecticut in 2007 and a BFA from the University of Utah in 2005. Recent personal achievements include the honor of a full fellowship to study at the Vermont Studio Center, which he participated in during the month of June. Shirley also received a 2010 individual artist grant from the Connecticut Commission on the Arts, and was awarded acceptance into the Radius program at the Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum. His work has been exhibited in several solo shows in NY, MA, GA, and CT as well as several group exhibitions throughout the United States and abroad. His work is in collections at Poland's Akademia Sztuk Pieknych in Krakow Poland, and The London College of Art, School of Printing and Publishing. He currently teaches at the University of Connecticut.

Also in the Galleries
aricoco: RUNawayHOME on view through Sunday, February 19. aricoco explores the meaning of 'home' by creating a sculptural garment, made from discarded plastic bags, with which she interacts.

Ephemeroom, on view through Sunday, January 15 highlights important moments and objects from Real Art Ways' history created with memorabilia, photos, ephemera from our archive.

Poster Boy: Street Alchemy 2.0 is on view through Monday, January 30. Armed with a razor blade, Poster Boy manipulates vinyl advertisements to create startling, harsh or even humorous mash-ups. The works for Street Alchemy 2.0 were originally designed for an exhibition at Trinity College.

Support
Step Up is made possible with the generous support of Real Art Ways Members, the National Endowment for the Arts, Sandy and Howard Fromson, the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, the Connecticut Commission on Culture & Tourism, the Alexander A. Goldfarb Memorial Trust, the Nimoy Foundation, the National Performance Network's Visual Artists Network, Lincoln Financial Group, Travelers and Greater Hartford Arts Council's United Arts Campaign.

###