[Opening / Closing]
Seven Takes Opening Reception

About This Event

Featuring Touchstone Gallery new member artists:
Charlie Dale, Anthony Dortch, Joshua F. Gomez, Leslie Johnston, Peter Karp , Newton More and Michelle Rogers

Seven new artist members of the Touchstone Gallery show examples of their work, covering a wide range of subjects and creative approaches. The media employed are as diverse as the issues explored in this unusual show which juxtaposes abstract and figurative paintings with collage, assemblage and experimental photography.

Charlie Dale is a painter in the abstract expressionist and surrealist tradition. He strives for spontaneity and rarely starts with a preconceived outcome in mind. Acrylics are his principal medium, but he adds interest and complexity through the use of charcoal, pencil, oil sticks and other media. He uses black lines to particularly dramatic and emotive effect.

Anthony Dortch is a painter with a strong figurative bent. His current work focuses on the many attempts we make at love, to hopefully find the perfect match. In his whimsical portrait presentation, what lies deepest within the soul finds its fulfillment in the eyes and face of another. Using his own studied observations, he creates portraiture by using bold brush strokes and an array of acrylic colors.

Joshua F. Gomez is a photographer who produces black and white silver gelatin prints, alternative process prints, and site-specific installations. His strong compositions explore societal structures including class and gender roles as well as the relationship between depression and art. His current work focuses on the brain’s ability to process high levels of organized visual information.

Leslie Johnston is a painter, whose inspiration comes from her professional work which seeks to influence human actions to protect and conserve biodiversity in all of its various levels and manifestations, including landscapes as well as individual species. Painting gives her the freedom to creatively express her concerns and her experiences in this journey.

Peter Karp is a mixed media and assemblage artist with a broad range of creative interests. His work blends figurative and abstract elements, and he uses photography and photomontage to create visual surprises and paradoxes. In his assemblage and 3D, he aims to produce an interactive viewing experience through the use of mirrors and kinetic elements.

Newton More is a photographer whose work includes traditional and digital techniques; pinhole based imaging as well as Polaroid SX-70and other color manipulations. His current primary interest is black and white pinhole photography, because of its magical ability to produce an image without a lens, and the particular and unique power of black and white images.

Michelle Rogers is a photographer and collage artist with a particular artist in the phenomenon of time. Her most recent experiments with the juxtaposition of three images in a single frame have led to new explorations and insights. Visual relationships between images from different times and places produce unexpected narrative and poetic links.