12 12 Gallery's latest exhibition opens Sunday, November 8th, 2009 with a reception for the artists from 2pm to 5pm.This dynamic and thoughtful collection of photographs and paintings by Lynchburg photographer, John Shruptrine, 12 12 Gallery's own Director and Curator, Martin McFadden, LRPS, and Richmond painter Melissa Burgess explores forgotten and neglected urban spaces. Harry Kollatz, Jr. of Richmond Magazine describes the works in this exhibition as "the built landscape: broken windows of derelict warehouses, the altered interiors of abandoned motels."
About the exhibition:
John Shuptrine | Unspace
Flour Mill
(Note that this title is derived from the text of a novel by Stephen Hall entitled the "Raw Shark Texts" and the statement below is John's son's interpretation of the definition of Un-Space)
"Unspace isn't non-space; it isn't nonexistence. Unspace is full of life, laden with meaning, and brimming with its own story. Unspace is a refuge, a place of possibilities, a reminder that there still exists unnammed, unvisited (or forgotten) hideaways in our hectic world. Unspace mystifies us, for it encompasses both an utter emptiness and a cryptic history. Unspace is beautiful in its disorder, surprising in its simplicity, and magical in its timelessness. We're drawn to Unspace, and, yet, we know it will never be able embrace us back, never be able to reciprocate our interest, for Unspace is about isolation and the allure of the void. It can never return our fascination because if it did, it would lose those precise traits that make it seductive." -- Chris Shuptrine (John's son)Martin McFadden, LRPS | Unnoticed
Only Way In
"Making extradordinary of the ordinary, this body of work features images of architectural elements of buildings experienced in daily travels yet go unnoticed. They have been identified for renovation and in some cases the processes have already started. The change is an effort to make them noticeable once again."-- Martin McFadden, LRPS Melissa Burgess | You Are Here
Egglston Hotel
"Buildings have always intrigued me. Old ones with the sweet smell of lead paint and old pine timbers. The rusty artifacts resting in their dusty perimeter. Or the forgotten vegetation that casts overgrown shadows and cuts strange beams of sun through an interior. The light traffic on lost streets. It's mine. I take it home to preserve." --Melissa Burgess
Unspace, Unnoticed and You Are Here continue through December 20 2009 followed by exhibitions by Dana Frostick, Inge Strack, and Charles Philip Brooks opening January 10th, 2010.
12 12 Gallery, South Richmond's Fine Art
Gallery, is located at 12 East 12th Street, in the John B Anderson House, just
east of Hull Street. Gallery hours are Thursdays and Fridays 12-4, Saturdays
11-6, Sundays 12-5 and by appointment.
