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Cynthia Connolly's
"Letters on Top of Buildings"
Acquired by Corcoran Gallery of Art
Civilian Art Projects is pleased to announce that the Corcoran Gallery of Art has acquired Cynthia Connolly's photographic series "Letters on Top of Buildings" for its permanent collection.
"Letters on Top of Buildings" will be on view at Civilian Art Projects through June 16. The gallery will host an artist talk with Cynthia Connolly and Paul Roth, Senior Curator and Director of Photography and Media Arts at the Corcoran Gallery of Art, on June 16th at 4pm.
The Washington Post review can be read here.
POT LUCK: Artist talk with Cara Ober and Pamela Hadley Please join Civilian Art Projects for an artist talk with Cara Ober and Pamela Hadley whose exhibitions, "Pop Deco" and "14,000 ft." are currently on view at Civilian Art Projects until Saturday June 16.
Thursday, June 7, 2012
6:30 to 8:30 p.m.
This event is a pot luck, so feel free to bring something to share. Food or drink. RSVP to Facebook invite here. 
Pop Deco is a collection of new works on canvas and paper by Baltimore artist, Cara Ober. In her second solo exhibition at the gallery, Ober continues to experiment with visual mash-ups, creating decorative images from vintage wallpaper, textiles, ancient artifacts, and home decor. According to Ober, "Regardless of taste or budget, the decorative impulse, the desire to enhance your physical appearance and that of your home, is universal. It connects us intimately to our distant ancestors. However, the contemporary practice of sampling has enabled an entire generation of artists to borrow freely across cultures and time periods, creating unique hybrids in a range from harmonious to jarring." In her newest body of work, the artist focuses exclusively on the patterns she has collected for many years in order to investigate their power. Rendered in a simple palette of black, white, and metallic paint, these ornamental embellishments are divorced from their original context and take on an iconic, totemic presence. Hadley's work is influenced by a combination of imagery and process, concept and materials. While general themes include intimacy, alienation, emptiness, loss, strength, and identity, specific narratives are intentionally obscured.
ARTIST TALK: Conversation with Cynthia Connolly and Paul Roth
Please join Civilian Art Projects for a conversation with artist Cynthia Connolly and Paul Roth, Senior Curator and Director of Photography and Media Arts at the Corcoran Gallery of Art, on the final day of Connolly's exhibition "Letters on Top of Buildings."
Saturday, June 16, 2012
4:00 to 6:00pm
RSVP to Facebook invite here. The twelve photographs comprising the series "Letters on Top of Buildings" have been a work in progress since the artist was a child. She remembers riding in the backseat of her mother's car and feeling like "a flying bird" on the elevated freeways of the L.A. She enjoyed the solitude and focus of sitting in the back seat looking at the neon letters of old buildings in Hollywood and downtown L.A. She recollects "Jesus Saves," "Hotel Roosevelt," and the "Fontenoy," buildings and signs she never went back to photograph, but still plans to do so. The series is a life-long work in progress. Since the mid 1990's, Connolly has been searching to find buildings that reminded her of that landscape. The signage, scale, and light had to be just right. Traveling as far west as Tucson, AZ, the work is from buildings in New Orleans, LA; Virginia including Arlington, McKinney, Staunton, Richmond; Brooklyn, New York; Washington, D.C., and Prince, West Virginia. According to the artist, "these buildings and signs are beautiful typographic sculptures that rejoice an era of quality construction and pride of the institution it boasts. The buildings stand tall, their crowns embellished with steel lettering in the city center. They are treasures found, and as more often than not, we neglect to look up and find them, especially now, because many are on top of abandoned buildings where the signs are no longer lit and the attention of the viewer remains at street level." Cynthia Connolly was born in Los Angeles and grew up in Washington, DC where she attended the Corcoran School of Art receiving her BFA in Graphic Design in 1985. In 2003 she received a certificate from Auburn University's design/build architecture program The Rural Studio where she extensively photographed the land and its people. Internationally exhibited and a prolific artist, she is known for works in the international touring Beautiful Losers exhibit, the book Banned in DC, her post cards, and curatorial work at DC Space, the Ellipse Arts Center, and Artisphere in Arlington, VA. Her photography is in many publications and private collections as well as the Smithsonian Museum of American History and the Corcoran Gallery of Art. This is Cynthia's first exhibition with Civilian Art Projects. |
