From March 18 through May 15 in the Heights Arts exhibition space, artists Peter Christian Johnson, Karin Dijkstra, Corrie Slawson, Claudio Orso, and Carmen Romine test where boundaries lie between representational study and abstract expression. FIGURATIVE /ABSTRACT explores the familiar in unfamiliar ways, referring to the recognizable as a foundation from which new ideas are born. Portraying subjects from daily life as they meet the eye doesn’t satisfy the intentions of artist Peter Christian Johnson, who remarks,

“My work explores the tension between balance and collapse, between precision and failure. It’s a meditation on entropy that uses architecture as a foil to examine the dichotomy of beauty and loss. I am interested in transformation, which is expressed in both destruction and growth.”

When is a mountain not a mountain? There are immediate associations we make when we behold them. Figuratively, the impression mountains have in art can be described as majestic and may evoke a sense of wonder. To Carmen Romine, a mountain can be more like the tip of an iceberg. Beneath the surface of her piece The Ridge Line, there’s a process and deliberate choice of materials that carry deep meaning. Says Romine,

“I make abstract landscapes that investigate ideas behind technology advancing and transitioning from paper to digital devices. By using paper as a material, I intend to draw from its symbolism to create a sense of touch and human presence for what could become an ancient tool for culture and communication. The work is fabricated through heavily process-driven steps of repetition—cutting, crumpling, piecing and gluing.”

Viewers of this exhibition can expect color, form, scale, and any other tool at an artist’s disposal being used to distort clarity, provoking the senses to seek new answers. Questions normally not considered are posed in these abstract works tangled with figure.

Jane Alexander’s work is showcased in the Spotlight exhibition opening alongside FIGURATIVE /ABSTRACT on March 18. Alexander is the chief digital information officer for The Cleveland Museum of Art. Her work on display in the Heights Arts Spotlight Gallery presents a single point of reference in space, along the Cleveland waterfront, in a striking collection of iterations. The static images range from subtle to dramatic, telling a story of nature’s dynamism easily overlooked when one perspective grows increasingly familiar.

 

FIGURATIVE/ABSTRACT | MARCH 18–MAY 15
OPENING RECEPTION 6-9PM FRIDAY, MARCH 18

EKPHRASTACY | 7PM THURSDAY, APRIL 21

SPOTLIGHT: JANE ALEXANDER | MARCH 18–MAY 15
OPENING RECEPTION 6-9PM FRIDAY, MARCH 18

WHAT A TIME TO BE ALIVE | MAY 20–JUNE 12
OPENING RECEPTION 6-9PM FRIDAY, MAY 20

EKPHRASTACY | 7PM THURSDAY, JUNE 9

SPOTLIGHT: ERYN LAWSON, JOSIE NAYPAUER | MAY 20–JUNE 12
OPENING RECEPTION 6-9PM FRIDAY, MAY 20

HEIGHTS ARTS
2175 Lee Road
Cleveland Heights, Ohio 44118
heightsarts.org
216.371.3457