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September 13 - November 14, 2003
Artist opening reception
Saturday September 13th
6 pm - 10 pm
Curated by Kenton Parker
Installation images
Powers in the
Press
Stephen Powers’ practice
until now has been influenced by sign painting, storytelling, graffiti
and marketing techniques. He has previously combined these influences
to explore the creating and selling of personality in the marketplace.
Now he’s exploring the sale of struggle, instead of the confessional
tome, or the tell-all interview, Powers is putting a well-designed spin
on his own problems and putting them up for sale. The paintings distill
personal experience into the lowest common denominator of communication,
the sign.
Painted in enamel on
aluminum, Powers’ work is giving direction, while at the same time he is
trying to find his own way. He isolates the phrases from daily
situations that resonate with him and combines them with pictorial
elements to form logos that graphically illustrate the struggles that
make up life.
Powers has also created a
series of sculptures based on a street he lived on for several years as
a teenager in Philadelphia. 22 row-homes, fabricated in .024 gauge
aluminum to 1/10 scale, and painted, sit on a platform that is literally
and metaphorically the block. The houses are priced to sell, and as
they are sold, the new owners will remove the houses until the block is
empty, save one or two that will remain. Powers is telling several
stories at once; About the changing social landscape of the city of his
birth, how experience scales down the places we come from, and why
memory and teeth, extremely useful attributes- fall out of our heads.
lowly above you are
several works Powers calls "Punchline Boxes", painted boxes that are
each propelled by a disco ball motor. They turn to reveal evocative
phrases that lead to a conclusion, and then cycle back around. They are
a cross between the 4 panel comic strips in the newspaper, the 4 beat
rhythms of Burma Shave ads, and the logo works that are already part of
his practice. The Boxes testify to the point that jokes by their very
nature must be retold endlessly, and we must make the same mistakes over
and over in order to learn anything.
Not for nothing is a
phrase that is usually exhaled like a bit of gas at the moment
exasperation levels have peaked towards a person that is not
comprehending what is going on, ie; "Not for nothing, Steve, she don’t
like you." The phrase explains that the bearer of the news gets no
benefit from you hearing it, so it gives the information that follows
the shine of truth. Not For Nothing is the title of Stephen Powers’
show at the Kantor Gallery. The title sets up the information he is
imparting to the viewer in his paintings, which he calls "Emotional
Response Icons".
Opening artist reception
will be held Saturday September 13th from 6-10 pm. For more information
please contact 323-933-6976 or visit and view us at
www.kantorgallery.com. Curated by Kenton Parker. |
