Clicky

Skip to main content
search
0
May 17

Ron Johnson

By All Together

Creativity is universal, it is one of the very few things as humans that we have in common. Whether it is a chef cooking, a mason laying brick or a painter painting…we are all creative. We now see it every day on social media, people learning or relearning skills. People are baking, playing with clay, coloring and a variety of other things. So, when we are separated by countries, states or six feet…the one thing that truly does bring us together is creativity.

Don’t Blink, 2020
Acrylic on panel
24 x 48 x 3 inches
$4,500

Ron Johnson’s process-driven work is defined by chance. Pouring pigmented polyurethane over wood panels, he layers transparent colors to create vibrant, abstracted landscapes. Johnson received his Bachelor of Fine Arts from Ohio State University (1999) and Master of Fine Arts in Painting and Printmaking from Virginia Commonwealth University­ (2003), where he currently works as an assistant professor. His work has been exhibited at Washington & Lee University, VCUarts Anderson Gallery, the Columbus Museum of Art, the Corcoran Gallery, and the Cite des Arts Gallery in Paris. His work is in numerous public and private collections including Altria Group, Capital One, the Federal Reserve Bank, and Markel Corporation.

May 17

Joseph Seipel

By All Together

Walking the alley slowly
I see my garage door is the canvas
Of course it is
It’s almost square and white
I get to know the markings….details and patterns
Wondering who left them there, beautiful and annoying
I point the iPhone

Joseph Seipel transforms two-dimensional photographs into sculptural objects. His imagery is derived from travels to Cuba, Morocco, Holland, Alcatraz and the sidewalk along his studio. He then takes these thousands of photographs into the studio, where one main image is chosen, which he layers with other images and elements. Seipel creates dimension by building up paint and gypsum or cutting out specific blocks and lines within the scene, sometimes extending the image beyond its frame.

Seipel received his BS in Art from University of Wisconsin, Madison in 1970 and MFA at the Rinehart School of Sculpture at the Maryland Institute in 1973. Taking roots in Richmond in 1974, he is now recognized as one of the city’s most influential arts advocates and educators. Seipel has dedicated 40 years to VCUarts, beginning in 1974 as a Sculpture Professor, later becoming Chair of the Sculpture Department in 1985, Senior Associate Dean of Graduate Studies in 2001, and eventually Dean of the School of Arts in 2011 until 2016. He was the Interim Director of VCU’s Institute for Contemporary Art in 2018. Seipel has exhibited nationally and internationally, including venues in Virginia, Peru, Milan, Italy, New York, and Washington, D.C.

Drawing with Graffiti Sampling #1, 2020
Collage with archival prints on laminate foam board
34 x 17 inches

May 17

Jack Wax

By All Together

Doking-Frieze, 2020
Ultra Black pigment and Hardtmuth colored pencil
on duralar and yupo papers, with grommets
22 x 61 inches
$3,400

Doking-Frieze Study, 2020
Ultra Black pigment on duralar and yupo papers,
with grommets
16 x 31 inches

In Japanese elementary schools they teach the children (when they are very young) about viruses. This is to motivate them to practice a very high level of personal hygiene (which they do!). A virus in Japan is “Baiking”….and then (as everything in Japan is) “characters” are created to illustrate the “stories” of the travels of Baiking (they actually call him Baiking-chan). Anyway, Baiking-chan has a girlfriend, her name is Doking! (Doking-chan). They quite often are found playing together and generally creating havoc!
Thus….my Doking Frieze (tribute?)

Spending time in Japan, California and New York, elements of Western and Eastern culture weaves itself into Jack Wax’s obsessive, back-painted drawings. Thin lines of ink form delicate patterns both organic and geometric, creating visions of nets, intricate specimens, or imagined cages. Across all works, his subjects are mysterious yet seemingly living; each form conjures natural elements of the land or body, emitting its own personality.

Wax was born in 1954 in the Hudson River Valley region. He received his BFA from Temple University’s Tyler School of Art and MFA in Sculpture from the Rhode Island School of Design (1978, 1983). He has held teaching positions at the Tyler School of Art, Ohio State University, The Cleveland Institute of Art, RISD, and Toyama Institute in Japan. Currently, he is a professor in Richmond at VCUarts, where he is head of the Glass Department in Craft and Material Studies. His work is held in numerous collections, including the Los Angeles County Museum, CA; Corning Museum of Glass, Corning, NY; Tittot Museum, Taipei; Smithsonian Institute, Washington, DC; Altria Group and Markel Corporation, both, Richmond, VA.

May 17

Sam Tudyk

By All Together

As a long-time practitioner of postal correspondence, when the pandemic crisis occurred my initial urge was to reach out to my friends and family with mail. Delivering a small piece of artwork with a handwritten sentiment felt like the closest action to giving a hug I could take. After mailing out dozens of 5” x 7” sketches with the title “Emergency Optimism,” I started working on the 24” x 30” painting of the same name. While I painted I thought about the entertainment of puzzles, windows of houses, intersecting lines of connectivity in this shared experience, and the optimism of color.

Emergency Optimism, 2020
Acrylic on panel
24 x 30 inches

Fascinated by symbols of communication and how they can be impacted by the passage of time, S. Tudyk depicts looming, imagined billboards which appear worn down by age. Rather than an advertisement or other expected imagery, these billboards act as a stage for fragmented lettering within a diverse grid of colored panes, with openings which reveal glimpses of a complex underlying framework. Each piece is painted onto sturdy birch panel, often with embedded pieces of deconstructed paper giving a rough and ridged quality to select areas of the surface. Tudyk is a 2001 BFA graduate of Savannah College of Art and Design and currently lives in Richmond, Virginia.

Close Menu