500X Gallery

The words text and texture share a common latin root- TEXO- to weave; to braid together; to construct with elaborate care.

 This surprising, yet intuitively clear bond of meaning, serves as the central metaphor for this suite of photographs. Language and sensation- the textual and the textural- are processes of pattern perception. Meanings are woven from words just as lived experience is interlaced with bodily feeling. To me, the hand-made, physical photographic image is the ideal way to express how concepts have a tactile presence because they are woven…

Mini Retrospective 2002-2012 : Michael Francis

fade, 19 x 19 inches, 2002-2003, oil on canvas

“to see a world in a grain of sand and a heaven in a wild flower,

hold infinity in the palm of your hand and eternity in an hour”

                                                                       -William Blake

I strive for the type of sentimentality that exists in old photos, faded tapestries, and worn out prints.  This literal wear of time acts as a filter, which creates idiosyncratic qualities, transforming the scene while referring to an inner domain of images. Each setting embodies individual qualities, creating a sense specific to the location depicted.  However, the scene is not developed the same way one would if they were actually standing there; instead it is painted to be reminiscent of the experience through various states of one’s mind.  Objects approximate their essential tones and surfaces so that their real and abstract properties can coexist.

In the Upstairs Gallery-

(…)  :Laura Doughtie and John Nicholas Hutchings

John Nicholas Hutchings Veil, 2010 Paper, Plexiglas, wall Laura Doughtie Untitled, 2010 ink on paper 46" x 42"

Heidegger writes, “A space is something that has been made room for–something with boundaries. A boundary is not that at which something stops but is that from which something begins its presence.”

In this two-person show the artists Laura Doughtie and John Nicholas Hutchings respond to the conscious awareness of presence within the aesthetic experience.  

Doughtie creates drawings of minimal organic forms. These drawings are constructed with a consuming and meticulous mark, reflecting her inclination toward minimal aesthetics and biomorphic patterns. Her work is set in the process of an obsessive-compulsive movement, elemental in its repetition, until it fills the surface with variations. These variations are created through moments of failure instigated by the pen and fatigue.

Hutchings’ work focuses an awareness of the tension within the liminal space between the artwork and the conscious presence of the viewer. Liminality can be defined in the body of work as the threshold or the space of passage. His artistic practice, similar to the Haiku, is to remove the superfluous elements within the work to speak in a more succinct voice. By distilling the aesthetic experience he creates a space where the viewer can be still and reflect on their presence in relation to the artwork and thus the liminal or in-between space is filled with the perception of the viewer.

In the Project Spaces-

Ride, Johnny, Ride: Organized by Alison Hearst and Leslie Murrell of Subtext Projects

Ant Farm, T.R. Uthco The Eternal Frame, 1976 Video (black and white and color, sound) Duration: 22:19 minutes Image copyright the artist, courtesy of Video Data Bank, www.vdb.org

Ride, Johnny, Ride features works by Ant Farm and T.R. Uthco, Paula Curran, and Kurt Mueller that each respond to the 1963 assassination of President John F. Kennedy in Dallas. It is an event few experienced in person, yet it is an extremely familiar topic to all Americans. Each artwork in the exhibition touches on various responses to this historical tragedy and how individuals choose to position and locate themselves within the event.

Homo Sapiens Saturniidae: Jonathan Snow and Rhiannon Davis

This collaboration is based on the idea of a collective consciousness, achieving a higher level of enlightenment through the cycle of discovery and dissemination of new knowledge. We are all innately drawn to the search for a greater understanding of our existence. Once something new is realized, others will inevitably embrace and expand upon it in their own distinctive ways.

Jonathan Snow: A first year 500X member. Sculptor who works in many different materials including wood, paper pulp and found objects. His work often combines figurative and small-scale architectural elements conveying progress as an endless cycle of construction and destruction. He holds an MFA in sculpture and an MA in art education.

Rhiannon Davis is a recent graduate of the University of North Texas with a BFA in Metalsmithing and Jewelry. Her work is mostly functional or wearable and inspired by those close to her. Asymmetry and repetition are prominent elements throughout her work.