Notions of perfection, sincerity, and beauty influence the three artists
whose works appear in Part 2 of Portraits On The Edge on North Street in Pittsfield.
Symmetry of facial features is achieved digitally. Works by the renaissance
masters adorn everyday images in splendid collages. A former American president
is made blonde.
Hugo Bastidas is
a New York artist whose digital photographs, titled "Digital Twins,"
present eerie pairings of total symmetry. One photograph of one face is split
in two, and then each side is mirrored, revealing how different each half
of a human face is to the other. The artist employed a rigorous selection
process - eliminating from the body of work any digital image that did not
retain a human sincerity to it. Only 1% of all photographs taken met the artist's
high standard. Symmetry is a mark of beauty and perfection that is never totally
achieved in nature. (More information
on digital twins ...)
Birgir Snæbjörn Birgisson
exhibited his paintings of perfect aryans in Part
1 of Portraits On The Edge. During his July residency in Pittsfield, the
Reykjavík-based artist created "Blonde JFK," an oil on plaster
three-dimensional work. The artist uses his signature colors to dress up the
former president.
Albany-area artist, Andrea
Hersh has had two solo-exhibits at Gallery Boreas, and had work included
with the gallery's previous Pittsfield exhibit in the summer of 2004. Hersh's
work then was featured in Berkshires
Week. Collage forms the basis of her recent work. Pairing photographic
cut-outs of her favorite old masters with people and things in her daily life,
her compositions reveal a whimsy that sometimes appears surreal, and is always
fresh and fun.
Gallery Boreas is an international contemporary arts gallery that
exhibits in Pittsfield, Reykjavík, and in contemporary art fairs. In
addition to the exhibit on North Street, it is exhibiting video
art on Thursday evenings in Lenox throughout the summer and into the fall.
