O Eric Standley του Παναγιώτη Καμπάνη

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ERIC STANDLEY

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Ο Δρ. Αρχαιολόγος-Ιστορικός Παναγιώτης Καμπάνης (Μουσείο Βυζαντινού Πολιτισμού) γράφει για το έργο ενός μοναδικού καλλιτέχνη από την Αμερική, του καθηγητή Eric Standley, την έκθεση και τον πρόλογο του καταλόγου της οποίας επιμελήθηκε. Το βιβλίο κυκλοφόρησε το 2014 στην Αμερική και τον Ιούνιο του 2015, λόγω μιας έκθεσης που θα πραγματοποιηθεί στην Ολλανδία, θα παρουσιαστεί και θα κυκλοφορήσει και στην Ευρώπη.

Transcript of O Eric Standley του Παναγιώτη Καμπάνη

  • ERIC STANDLEY

  • Eric Standley

    : http://www.eric-standley.com

    :

    School of Visual Arts, Virginia Tech

    203 Draper Road, Blacksburg VA, 24061 [email protected]

    Marta Hewett Gallery, 1301 Pendleton St., Cincinnati, OH 45202. 513-281-2780

    [email protected]

    MediaForce, Ltd.

    2-15-20 Baba, Tsurumi-ku, Kanagawa Pref Yokohama, Japan [email protected]

  • 2014 Marta Hewett Gallery

  • 2014 ( )

  • MARTA HEWETT GALLERY

    CUT: Windows to Eternity

    recent works by Eric Standley

    Opening Saturday, January 18th

    12pm - 4pm

    It is perhaps every artist's aim is to create a work that will not be reminiscent of anything

    we have seen before. His or her desire may also be that this work will be

    recognizable without a signature. The inventiveness, sensibility and

    expressive solutions Eric gives to the animation of each form, aligning

    the prominent conversation of the surface cuts and styles lead him to a

    form of sculpted engraving full of plasticity and expressionist tension

    uniquely his own. The structural balances within every composition are

    in absolute equilibrium, a pendulum of precision between design, color,

    form and faith.

    - Dr. Panagiotis Kambanis, Historian/Archeologist, Museum of Byzantine Culture

  • \The Marta Hewett Gallery is pleased to present fascinating paper works by Associate

    Professor of Art at Virginia Tech, Eric Standley. The artist received his

    B.F.A. at Massachusetts College of Art and his M.F.A. from the

    Savannah College of Art and Design. In the past year, Eric Standley's

    work has been the subject of articles in

    Hi-Fructose and Wired magazines as well as being featured in a piece on the Discovery

    Channel.

    "My vector drawing is inspired by geometry from

    Gothic and Islamic architectural

    ornamentation in an attempt to capture

    a reverse for the infinite. I am

    interested in the conceptual migration

    from the permanence and massiveness

    of stone to the fragility and intimacy

    of paper, as well as the merging of

    12th Century aesthetics with 21st

    Century technology."

    Exhibition continues

    through M

    arch 1st

    Catalogue Available with

    forward

    by

    Dr. Panagiotis Kambanis,

    Archeolo

    gist/Histo

    rian,

    The Byzantine Museum of

    Culture

    Marta Hewett Gallery

    1310 Pendleton St.

    Cincinnati, OH 45202

    (513) 281-2780

    www.martahewett.com

  • Wednesday, January 08, 2014

    Marta Hewett Gallery presents CUT: Windows to Eternity, Recent Works by

    Eric Standley, opening Jan. 18

    Contributed By: Robyn Carey Allgeyer | Carey Communications

    Artist Eric Standley's mandala-like drawings are cut from separate sheets of paper

    using a CNC laser. The artist, also an assistant professor at Virginia Tech, will

    discuss his process and influences on January 18 at 1:00 p.m. at Marta Hewett

    Gallery.

    The Marta Hewett Gallery is pleased to present the first solo

    exhibition in the gallery by incomparable artist Eric Standley.

    The collection of his laser cut paper drawings opens Saturday, January 18 with an

    Artist Reception from noon 4:00 p.m. The artist will discuss the development and influences on his work at 1:00 p.m. in the gallery. A catalogue of the artists work is

    presented in conjunction with this exhibition with a forward by Dr. Panagiotis

    Kambanis. CUT: Windows to Eternity will be on display through March 1, 2014.

    Marta Hewett Gallery is located in the Annex at 1310 Pendleton St. at the Pendleton

    Art Center in Over-the-Rhine.

  • It is no surprise that artist Eric Standley grew up in a household of engineers. His

    laser cut paper drawings capture a complexity of space that defies traditional

    tolerance of this fragile medium. My vector drawing is inspired by geometry from Gothic and Islamic architectural ornamentation in an attempt to capture a reverence

    for the infinite. I am interested in the conceptual migration from the permanence and

    massiveness of stone to the fragility and intimacy of paper, as well as the merging of

    12th Century aesthetics with 21st Century technology.

    Eric Standleys mandala-like drawings are cut from separate sheets of paper using a CNC laser. A particular pattern on one sheet of paper, once developed as a drawing,

    may take two hours to cut using the laser program. Individual cut patterns on each

    sheet of paper are designed in order to reveal the colour, line and shape below once

    the sheets are stacked. The physical depth of these drawings range from 1 to 3-inches

    and incorporate hundreds of sheets of paper. Standley developed this method of

    drawing over a two year period and continues to elaborate on the process made

    possible by todays laser technology.

    I am dyslexic. By constantly switching left and right hemispheres of my brain, I unconsciously separate an obsession with detail from a broader, holistic experience. I

    reference Soren Kierkegaards essay Either/Or as a metaphor for my recent work and my natural attraction to this paradox. I consider my vector drawings to be an external

    result of the internal equilibrium between my meticulous nature and holistic

    observations

    It is perhaps every artists aim is to create a work that will not be reminiscent of anything we have seen before. His or her desire may also be that this work will be

    recognizable without a signature. The inventiveness, sensibility and expressive

    solutions Eric gives to the animation of each form, aligning the prominent

    conversation of the surface cuts and styles lead him to a form of sculpted engraving

    full of plasticity and expressionist tension uniquely his own. The structural balances

    within every composition are in absolute equilibrium, a pendulum of precision

    between design, color, form and faith.

    - Dr. Panagiotis Kambanis, Historian/Archeologist, Byzantine Museum of

    Culture

    Standley is an Assistant Professor of Studio Art at Virginia Tech. He received his

    B.F.A from the Massachusetts College of Art and his M.F.A from Savannah College

    of Art and Design. His drawings have appeared in over forty national exhibitions in

    the past two years, including shows at the Virginia Museum of Contemporary Art,

    The Shore Institute of Contemporary Art and The Taubman Museum of Art.

    Standleys work was the subject of a recent piece on the Discovery Channel, and the artist has been the subject of interviews in several publications including Hi-Fructose

    and Wired magazines.

    CUT: Windows to Eternity, recent works by Eric Standley, will be on display January

    18 through March 1, 2014. Marta Hewett

  • Windows to Eternity

    ... , . , , . , , .... , , 12 , . , . . , . , . , : . Erik Standley , . , . : , ' . ;

  • . ; ! , . . . , , . , , , . , art craft. art ars , , craft . , Erik , . , , , . , . , , , . , , , , . . Erik . , . , , , , . , , , , Erik Standley . , . , . . , 12 . , Erik . , , . - . , , . . , . .

  • , , . , (arabesque), , . . , , , , . , , , . . , "" , , . . . , , , , , . , . (vitraux) , , . , . Erik Standley , , , . . , , , , . 100 . , , , , , , , , Erik , . . , .

  • . . Erik Standley , , . . , , William Butler Yeats 1927, .

    Windows to Eternity

    ... But I saw myself the work made by the hands of an artist; my eyes were astonished by the spectacle and I really admired the craftsmanship of this man. Thus, I thought that only an

    enemy of beauty could fill with silence such a work of art, and limit oneself to the admiration

    of this creation. That is why I offer it a word and I present it the way I can, before the eyes of

    those who have never seen it... This quote comes from the Chronicle of Historical Synopsis by Constantinos Manasses, one of the most important scholars, who lived in 12

    th c. in

    Constantinople, the capital of the Byzantine Empire.

    I have always believed that the only one who could speak and interpret a work of art is its

    creator himself. The works of art have a life of their own, a life that comes entirely from the

    artists soul. The moment of creation presupposes absolute freedom and the sense of submitting the will to instinct. This is why the random images are more real, maybe because

    they remain untouched by the conscious thought. I totally agree with Aristotle, who advised

    the creators and artists of his own time saying: to create and by creating you are created and you are nothing but your creation. Erik Standleys magnificent and dazzling works make us travel in a multidimensional space, a labyrinthine reality, offering us the chance to envision and experience something of

    his personal emotion. Through his inspired creation I desperately seek to give some light,

    something like optimism, to what it seems we have lost and we gradually discover day by

    day. Suddenly, the thought that this is the destiny of everyone who displays and is displayed

    crosses my mind: unfortunately, every artist and creator is critiqued by people with less

    talent, imagination and taste than them. What place can have something that gives light

    among those who weave the darkness? Our lives are humble monuments. How much the

    magnificent value of the humble is missing from our times! It is sometimes buried in the

    insignificant elements of modern life, some others in the arrogance of the wooden language used by the intellectuals! We have lost the significance of every unique life, where every one

    of us writes his own history, are taught and teach himself. Art means to whisper our personal

    story to the ears of Eternity.

    In Greek the word techne includes every process for the production of a certain product. It

    constitutes a term of broader interpretation that is usually used to describe the process, whose

    product is something that it is not natural, something that follows the rules of the creator.

    Consequently, terms of common root such as techniko (=technical), technites (=technician),

    kallitechnes (= artist) are attributed to human creations, ways of expression and activities that

    are unrelated to the flow of the natural world. In English, there are two words, namely art and

    craft. The word art derives from the Latin ars, which partly means to settle or to marshal,

    and it is used to define the art that is related to products of aesthetic value, while the word

    craft for all the rest.

    To be able to surpass what you see is a spiritual conquest. Showing a self-regulating

    imagination, Erik proceeds with his work beyond the senses. Two different ways of approach,

    the spiritual and the instinctive one, along with his impeccable technical execution seem to

    cooperate in his work. Nothing vain can be detected, as he does not seek to achieve climbing,

    but lifting.

  • His images construct the mosaic of the collective representation of the time, the time that

    flows, includes, accompanies. The time that has gone by, the time we are living in, the time

    that will come, the way that this defines us, and whether we can resist it and intervene to its

    flow. Consciousness is perhaps the only redeeming excuse we have to stand against him.

    In Eriks work we can reveal the soul of the time that has gone by. The echo of the past that was articulated, when the material elements that used to consist it were completely lost

    were like a dream. Time, in relation to mans existential agony, creates questions and thoughts, concerns and reflections; all these are transferred and translated through the forms

    and the intense colors, deconstructing every convention and renewing our vision.

    Erik Standley creates painted and carved compositions, through a deafening silence, which

    is however filled with whispers and winks from the past, namely a combination of memories

    and impressions that stems sometimes from the individual, others from the collective

    subconscious. His works sometimes impress us with their ingenuity; in other times, they

    trouble us with their particular technique. What however fascinates me the most is the

    perpetual mobility of the work, within its own frame. It seems like it does not want anything

    to escape from it.

    He draws his themes from the Islamic and Gothic architecture and art, as these were

    formed in the 12th century. The technique he follows for the building of his works does not differ from that of the ancient craftsman; Erik uses lasers in the place of the chisel and

    hammer.

    Architecture follows all the creations of the human mind, in which there is an evolution as

    a result of the maturation of the human intellect. People discovered what every diligent finds,

    when seeking the truth - that all life is connected. Within this connection of life and forms

    that this is inherent, there are harmonies, formations and analogies that are set in motion by

    higher intellects. They play the role of the models for the manifestation of life in all its

    expressions. If we pay attention to these simple universal principles, we could create

    harmonious environments that unite beauty with functionality. The harmonies and

    proportions that were used by the ancient architects are the same with the ones used by higher

    intellects who have created the life around us. This is their secret, a secret that is no different

    than the ones that the open book of knowledge reveals to the researcher, when he or she goes

    through its pages.

    The decorative style of Arabic art, known as arabesque is limited to the use of exclusively

    geometric and floral motifs, since the Muslim religion prohibits the depiction of persons.

    Several art historians argue that this element derives from the Islamic view of the world. For

    the Muslims, in their entirety these shapes constitute an infinite shape that extends beyond the

    visible material world and represents thus the nature of the creation of a single God.

    The art of arabesque, passed from the Arab to the Byzantine world and was then transferred

    to Western Europe by the Crusaders; there it flourished and got significant differentiations, in

    the common technique and in the themes used.

    Architecture was the main expression of Gothic art. Among its main features one has to

    mention its vertical structural lines, the intense linearity of buildings, the massive sizes, as well as the elaborate and detailed decorative elements that dominate. The Gothic architecture

    is expressed with great subtlety in design and great disposition for further decoration of

    buildings giving the feeling of exaltation and grandeur. Cathedrals represent a kind of a

    microcosm and their imposing architectural style serves to transmit the religious message of

    the greatness of God, which is opposed to the humility of the human existence.

    Unlike the little Byzantine churches of the era, which are entirely covered with colorful

    paintings, the pointed Gothic churches, with their bare interior walls needed something a

    certain narrative art, as this was established by the Orthodox Christian artists. The approach

    of the divine through sculpture and not through painting found a way to fully establish the

    glass windows. Known as stained glass, these glassworks are a form of painting, or rather a

    mosaic, where the tiles are replaced by colorful glasses. These enable the artists to represent

  • various scenes from the life of Christ and other Saints and on the other hand allowed the light

    to pass through, to create a sense of a transcendent character.

    It is not the quality of the raw material that makes the art, but the art that gives quality to

    the raw material. The works of Erik Standley consist of successive layers intricately cut paper

    sheets with the help of a laser, thus creating a multifaceted, rich, colorful ensemble. The

    result is so complex and detailed that should be examined from multiple perspectives to be

    fully appreciated.

    The bold, I would say, effort of his to shift from the permanence and the massiveness of

    the stone to the instability and the familiarity of the paper, is rewarded by the pleasure of the

    gaze that the work stimulates.

    Often, these projects are created using over hundred layers of paper; a long time is

    required to pass between the initial design and the final structure. The inventiveness, the

    sensibility and the expressive solutions he gives to the animation of each form, aligning the

    prominent conversation of the surface carves and styles with the structural balances of every

    composition, but also the absolute balance, this pendulum of precision between the design and the color, all the above lead Erik to a form of sculpted engraving, to prints full of

    plasticity and expressionist tension.

    Every artists aim is to create a work that will not be reminiscent of anything we have seen before. His or her desire is also that this work will be recognizable without a signature. Soon

    most of his works will not belong to him. He is their creator, but not their holder. Through the

    suggestibility that his works express Erik Standley managed to harness the time and to turn it

    into a lever of reflection on the riddles of life, as well as into a way of reconstructing its

    values. It has become more imperative nowadays to connect culture with our everyday lives.

    Through symbolisms and allegories bridges are built between the past, the present and yet to come as William Butler Yeats, Nobel laureate, writes in 1927, in his Traveling in Byzantium.

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  • (100-300 ) .