Brandt Gallery presents Kari Solomon and Peter Seward
Kari Solomon
April 12–May 10, 2013
Solomon curates an exhibit of interactive installations demonstrating the unique results of collaboration between art and technology. The show also reflects the collaboration of artists, designers, and computer programmers to create unique experiences with the community wherein the works are displayed. The desired result is to engage viewers through sight, sound, and touch to interact with the exhibit and its live installations, both at the opening reception and throughout the run.
By way of biography, Solomon tells us, “My professional title is Owner/Photographer at Solomon Foto D-Lux, which specializes in professional photography and reflects my skills and expertise in portrait photography. I received my achelors in Sustainability from Hiram College and am completing my Management MBA at Baldwin Wallace. I am currently involved with Northeast Ohio Emerging Professionals, Tremont Arts & Culture Festival, and Greater Cleveland RTA Future Leaders.”
Peter Seward
June 8–July 6, 2013
In a series of landscape paintings, Seward explores our collective use of technology, set against our desire to preserve the natural environment.
For the past five years, “Stealth Towers,” has been the subject of this inquiry, as real and imagined cell-phone towers are camouflaged as pine trees, church steeples, flag poles, barn silos, and totem poles. Depicted with traditional techniques, and with a nod to the Hudson River School style of painting, these works place communications infrastructure in a Romantic, sometimes religious, context.
“My attempt is to seduce the viewer with a beautifully painted image, but then discover a betrayal with a narrative contrary to the original emotion. I’m as conflicted about living in the post-modern world as anyone else, and present these works as open-ended questions.”
This new body of work looks at another current technological wonder framed against the sky: drone aircraft. The on- going quest to control the sphere geo-politically— with black operations since the Cold War—continues as stealth drones dominate the skies over domestic and foreign lands. As unwitting ambassadors of American policy, drone planes demonstrate our reliance on technological solutions while, literally, being personally removed from the equation.
“I’m hoping that the viewer considers this surveillance tool from another angle, by juxtaposing the invasiveness of remote technologies with pristine landscape and, sometimes, exploring stylization of the piece from a non-Western tradition.”