From: To: Subject: Sat. Feb 4, "Landscapes Urban and Wild" Artist talk w Gregory William Frux Date: Tuesday, January 10, 2006 7:46 PM Landscapes Urban and Wild Artist talk with presentation by Gregory William Frux and Closing Reception: PAST & PRESENT Saturday, February 4, 2006, 2:00 - 4:00 pm Tabla Rasa Gallery is pleased to present Landscapes Urban and Wild, an artist's talk and presentation by Gregory Frux. The event, which marks the closing of the PAST & PRESENT show, will include Mr. Frux speaking about the connections between his wilderness travels and his urban landscape painting, a signing of the journal Whole Terrain (which uses his painting as its cover illustration and carries a story of his climb up the quarter-mile-high Lotus Flower Tower mountain,) a screening of a five minute documentary on the artist by Robert DiMaio of the Artist’s Archives, and a sale of his etchings. =============================================== TABLA RASA Gallery 224 48 Street Brooklyn, NY 11220 http://www.tablarasagallery.com/ 718. 768-0305 718. 833-9100 "R" train to 45th Street ======================= Landscapes Urban and Wild In 1992 Gregory Frux attempted to climb the quarter-mile-high Lotus Flower Tower in the Canadian Arctic. February 4 at 3 PM, Frux will speak on the connections between his wilderness travels and his urban landscape paintings. The artist has served as Artist-in-Residence at four national parks including Joshua Tree, Glacier and Death Valley, as well as compiling an extensive mountaineering resume in the Andes, Cascades and Rocky Mountains. He is better known for his paintings of Park Slope’s brownstones and churches, Coney Island, DUMBO and the Gowanus Canal, several of which appear in the current Tabla Rasa show. The presentation will include exhibition of the painting “Lotus Flower Tower” and signing of the journal Whole Terrain, which uses the painting as its cover illustration and carries a story of the climb inside. The event, which marks the closing of the current show, will also feature a sale of Frux’s etchings and a screening of a five minute documentary on the artist by Robert DiMaio of the Artist’s Archives. Rowland Russell has been inspired by Gregory's work for almost 30 years. As a writer of natural history and scholar of 'sense of place' literature, he feels Frux's paintings - both urban and wilderness subjects - evoke a unique and deeply felt sense of the human experience of place. "In both his life and his art, Greg transcends the dichotomies between city and wild places. He is able to draw from one to sustain and inform the other, resulting in a deeper experience of both. It is art which celebrates paradox; embracing apparently contradictory themes without needing to resolve the tension between them. The rift of values between wilderness and urban places is one which potentially threatens the fabric of society. Greg's accurate and impassioned work in each realm transcends the divide. His art shows us that love and respect for beauty in place is to be celebrated wherever we are." Russell continues, " In natural history, an ecotone is a place where different plant and animal communities overlap. Such a zone is inclusive of organisms from each region, but gives rise to diverse life forms that are not found in either separate place. For me, Greg's life and art function as a creative ecotone; offering a unique vision that incorporates the depth of human experience of urban architecture/history/culture as well as rural/wild/elemental nature, with a freshness not present in either genre apart from the other." PAST & PRESENT, is an exhibition of paintings by female American Ash Can artist Lena Gurr (1897-1992), and her husband, Joseph Biel (1891-1943), shown with works by various contemporary artists of similar genre and sensibility. Among the other artists being shown are Simon Dinnerstein, Dave Mitri, Gregory Frux, and Sylvia Maier. The gallery hours are noon to 5:00 pm, Friday and Saturday. the xhibition continues until Saturday, February 4th TABLA RASA GALLERY 224 48th Street (b/w 2nd & 3rd Aves.) Sunset Park Brooklyn NY 11220 Call for additional hours 718. 768 0305 718. 833 9100 http://www.tablarasagallery.com/ FREE