CHEWING TAR: Curated by Linda Griggs

Industrial materials in the service of art.

March 1 – 27, 2016
Opening Reception: Sunday, Mar. 6, 2 - 4 p.m.

Twelve artists find irresistible inspiration in shiny tar, shimmering aluminum, smooth cement, and the sound of metal on metal. Included are cut tar paper hangings, 3-d printing, aluminum roofing tar paintings, inner tube and hardware cloth sculpture, metal rattles, plastic, spray paint, and cement and newspaper wall art.
 
Participating Artists:

Linda Griggs’ Curator’s Statement

Twelve artists working with materials found in hardware stores or typically manufactured for non-art purposes. Included are cut tar paper hangings, 3-D printing, aluminum roofing tar paintings, inner tube and hardware cloth sculpture, metal rattles, plastic, spray paint, and cement and newspaper wall art.
These artists come to their materials in different ways. Some see art and potential materials everywhere they go.  They find irresistible inspiration in shiny tar, shimmering aluminum, smooth cement, and the sound of metal on metal.

For others, a vision or feeling can only be executed by non-traditional materials which must be sought out. They come together in this handsome, visually textural show.The title refers to the childhood, summer pastime of chewing on melting, sticky tar found on the side of the road.
 
Linda Grigg’s Curator’s Bio:

Linda Griggs (MFA Hunter College, BFA Virginia Commonwealth University) has curated or assisted on 12 exhibitions and two art fair booths. Her past shows include All | Together | Different: A Survey of Working Artists on the Lower East Side which was reviewed on PBS Arts Watch, ARTslant Worldwide, ARTslant, Bedford + Bowery, IdeaSmyth, DART and Visual Arts Daily, included over 100 artists including Kiki Smith, Roger Welch, Richard Hambleton, Kembra Pfahler, Anton Van Dalen, David Sandlin, Judith Simonian, and Susannah Coffey. In Amherst, her 2010 Hampden Gallery shows Sweetness and Light and Where There's Smoke were received full page coverage in the Hampshire Daily Gazette's Arts section. The Clemente booth at the Cutlog Art Fair was pictured in Artiholics and Arts Observer. She directs E32, an on-going Lower East Side crit/discussion group. 

As an artist, she has had solo exhibitions at Christopher Stout Gallery, Hampden Gallery at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, and Carolyn J. Roy Gallery, New York. Group shows include the Iwami Art Museum, Japan; Wustum Museum, Racine, WI; the Bertha and Karl Leubsdorf Art Gallery at Hunter College; Gahlberg Gallery at the College of Du Page, Illinois; Albany International Airport Gallery; and the New York Public Library. Fellowships include the MacDowell and Millay Colonies. She has received grants from Change, Inc. and the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council; and a residency at the Artist Alliance Inc.’s LES Studio Program.