JEPH GURECKA
Salt, Soil, Ash
Feb. 10 - March 12, 2006
Opening reception: Friday, Feb. 10, 7-10pm
“That which the fire does not consume and the wind does not carry away, they will throw into the water.”---Savonarola
31GRAND is pleased to announce Jeph Gurecka’s first solo exhibition in New York, “Salt, Soil, Ash”.
Salt, Soil, Ash, is a series of paintings created solely on and from rudimentary materials; greatly motivated by the writings of the Czech philosophers Ladislav Klima, Mircea Eliade, and Bohumil Hrabal. Their philosophy drew much inspiration from Nietsche and Schopenhaur and dealt with the paradoxical nature of pure spirituality and dark absurdist humor. Jeph was also inspired by the work of the Czech photographer Josef Koudelka, most known for his documentation of the gypsies from Eastern Europe and the Balkans. Koudelka’s Divadlo (theater) series are striking grainy innovative photographs of live theater productions that capture grotesque charlatans, masks, dramatic romance, and symbolic metaphors. When blown up these images lose their humanism and become the souls of the theater. Jeph also seeks the same emotion and caption of the soul in his salt paintings. All of the images and inspiration have been taken from Eastern Europe where Jeph has had a close relationship with the people and environment for the past two years. Whenever you leave somewhere, there is loss. The images become a dreamscape and never to be experienced again. Like grainy black and white photographs either discarded or taken from a personal past, Jeph wants his salt drawings to evoke remembrance of the journey. This journey is between two states… a projection of the conscious and subconscious. In the piece, “While I Slept the Sky Emptied” a site specific floor drawing of the artist sleeping, the artist metaphorically lies unconscious in the exhibition and at the same time he is also his own conscious fabrication. In an existential sense he has designed his own fate. Much like the actor in his own dreamscape, the encased salt paintings on the walls surrounding the sleeping artist on the floor depict a world of Shamans, beasts, muses and journeys lost.
As a conceptual artist, Gurecka, uses an array of materials that host his ideas of transience, reflection, and transcendental states. Many of the materials are temporary mediums that evoke historical permanence. Jeph uses simplistic and organic materials such as salt, soil, and ash to ground the world of illusion to the physical. Much like Mandela paintings and street graffiti murals, Gurecka’s work exists to reflect on the moment, the preciousness of the past and the impermanence of the world. By incorporating the use of resin, a plastic sealer, the images are preserved much in a mummified way, which relate to antiquity. Stained and tarnished from their original form, these images now become something from long ago but assimilated in the present.
For more information about the artist please contact us at 718.388.2858 or gallery31grand@earthlink.net.
Salt, Soil, Ash
Feb. 10 - March 12, 2006
Opening reception: Friday, Feb. 10, 7-10pm
“That which the fire does not consume and the wind does not carry away, they will throw into the water.”---Savonarola
31GRAND is pleased to announce Jeph Gurecka’s first solo exhibition in New York, “Salt, Soil, Ash”.
Salt, Soil, Ash, is a series of paintings created solely on and from rudimentary materials; greatly motivated by the writings of the Czech philosophers Ladislav Klima, Mircea Eliade, and Bohumil Hrabal. Their philosophy drew much inspiration from Nietsche and Schopenhaur and dealt with the paradoxical nature of pure spirituality and dark absurdist humor. Jeph was also inspired by the work of the Czech photographer Josef Koudelka, most known for his documentation of the gypsies from Eastern Europe and the Balkans. Koudelka’s Divadlo (theater) series are striking grainy innovative photographs of live theater productions that capture grotesque charlatans, masks, dramatic romance, and symbolic metaphors. When blown up these images lose their humanism and become the souls of the theater. Jeph also seeks the same emotion and caption of the soul in his salt paintings. All of the images and inspiration have been taken from Eastern Europe where Jeph has had a close relationship with the people and environment for the past two years. Whenever you leave somewhere, there is loss. The images become a dreamscape and never to be experienced again. Like grainy black and white photographs either discarded or taken from a personal past, Jeph wants his salt drawings to evoke remembrance of the journey. This journey is between two states… a projection of the conscious and subconscious. In the piece, “While I Slept the Sky Emptied” a site specific floor drawing of the artist sleeping, the artist metaphorically lies unconscious in the exhibition and at the same time he is also his own conscious fabrication. In an existential sense he has designed his own fate. Much like the actor in his own dreamscape, the encased salt paintings on the walls surrounding the sleeping artist on the floor depict a world of Shamans, beasts, muses and journeys lost.
As a conceptual artist, Gurecka, uses an array of materials that host his ideas of transience, reflection, and transcendental states. Many of the materials are temporary mediums that evoke historical permanence. Jeph uses simplistic and organic materials such as salt, soil, and ash to ground the world of illusion to the physical. Much like Mandela paintings and street graffiti murals, Gurecka’s work exists to reflect on the moment, the preciousness of the past and the impermanence of the world. By incorporating the use of resin, a plastic sealer, the images are preserved much in a mummified way, which relate to antiquity. Stained and tarnished from their original form, these images now become something from long ago but assimilated in the present.
For more information about the artist please contact us at 718.388.2858 or gallery31grand@earthlink.net.
solo exhibition, "Salt, Soil, Ash" 2006 31Grand Gallery, Brooklyn, New York
Salt,Soil,Ash
2007
31Grand Gallery New York USA
2007
31Grand Gallery New York USA
Selfish
2006
Shellfish,flocking,archival resin on board
35" X 25 88.9 cm X 63.5
A portrait of the artist was created by using a collage of shellfish parts.
2006
Shellfish,flocking,archival resin on board
35" X 25 88.9 cm X 63.5
A portrait of the artist was created by using a collage of shellfish parts.
The Peach Eater
2006
Salt,soil,ash,charcoal,concrete,flocking, archival resin on board
46" X 40 116cm X 102
2006
Salt,soil,ash,charcoal,concrete,flocking, archival resin on board
46" X 40 116cm X 102
An image from a photograph was recreated comprised of Salt, soil, ash, charcoal and concrete powder much like a drawing or painting. The piece was built up in layers between archival resin like a traditional painting. A cast frame was made for this permanant piece.
The Linden Tree
2006
Salt,soil,ash,charcoal,concrete,flocking,archival resin on board
62.5" X 48 159cm X 122
2006
Salt,soil,ash,charcoal,concrete,flocking,archival resin on board
62.5" X 48 159cm X 122
An image from a photograph was recreated comprised of Salt, soil, ash, charcoal and concrete powder much like a drawing or painting. The piece was built up in layers between archival resin like a traditional painting. A cast frame was made for this permanant piece.
The bather
2006
Salt,soil.ash,charcoal,concrete,flocking,archival resin on board
65" X 49 165cm X 125
2006
Salt,soil.ash,charcoal,concrete,flocking,archival resin on board
65" X 49 165cm X 125
An image from a photograph was recreated comprised of Salt, soil, ash, charcoal and concrete powder much like a drawing or painting. The piece was built up in layers between archival resin like a traditional painting. A cast frame was made for this permanant piece.
Love Song
2006
Salt,soil,ash,charcoal,concrete,flocking, archival resin on board
32.5" X 43 83cm X 109
2006
Salt,soil,ash,charcoal,concrete,flocking, archival resin on board
32.5" X 43 83cm X 109
An image from a photograph was recreated comprised of Salt, soil, ash, charcoal and concrete powder much like a drawing or painting. The piece was built up in layers between archival resin like a traditional painting. A cast frame was made for this permanant piece.
Bite
2006
Archival Pigment print
15" X 21 38cm X 53
2006
Archival Pigment print
15" X 21 38cm X 53
A drawing composed of salt, soil, ash, charcoal powder and concrete is reproduced from an original photograph. The drawing is made on the floor and is usually at a scale of 10' to 15' and then photographed from above.
Mourn
2006
Archival Pigment Print
10.5" X 22 27cm X 56
2006
Archival Pigment Print
10.5" X 22 27cm X 56
A drawing composed of salt, soil, ash, charcoal powder and concrete is reproduced from an original photograph. The drawing is made on the floor and is usually at a scale of 10' to 15' and then photographed from above.
Andrea
2006
Archival Pigment Print
16" X 11.5 41cm X 29
2006
Archival Pigment Print
16" X 11.5 41cm X 29
A drawing composed of salt, soil, ash, charcoal powder and concrete is reproduced from an original photograph. The drawing is made on the floor and is usually at a scale of 10' to 15' and then photographed from above.
Compress the Highlights and Amplify the Shadows
2006
Flocking,archival resin on board
56.5" X 41 144cm X 104
2006
Flocking,archival resin on board
56.5" X 41 144cm X 104
An interior from a photograph was recreated as a drawing in different black and white values with flocking (powdered felt).
While I Slept the Sky Emptied
2006
Salt,soil, ash,charcoal and concrete powder
84" X 113 213cm X 287
2006
Salt,soil, ash,charcoal and concrete powder
84" X 113 213cm X 287
A temporary floor drawing comprised of salt, soil,ash,charcoal and concrete powder
While I Slept the Sky Emptied
While I Slept the Sky Emptied
While I Slept the Sky Emptied
detail
detail
While I Slept the Sky Emptied
detail
detail
