K.Tauches

WHITE BALANCE // Christina Price Washington
September 26 – November 7, 2019,
Forward Arts Foundation Gallery, ATL

Christina Price Washington, known for her photographic abstractions and theoretical investigations, explores alternative interventions in light values, who determines them, and how they are mediated in contemporary printed methods. Her work transcends the mere physicality of a photograph in that she investigates the systems of image-making itself.

By playing with the concept of “white balance,” a commonly accepted tool within the genre, Price Washington challenges how photography has historically evaluated color, lightness, and darkness at an institution tied to white power in the South. Such valuations were aesthetic decisions made in the early 20th century by male pioneers of photography such as Ansel Adams, who developed the Zone System and incorporated the concept of “middle grey.”

In this exhibition, the artist flows in and out of literal imagery, with a devoted interest in process. Presented are silver gelatin prints, photograms, and re-photographs. Some traditional photographs are then scanned and transformed into digital negatives and then reprinted in the darkroom. Expired photo papers are employed to create very dark white balance.

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PRINT or PROJECTION
JAN 14 - FEB 19, 2016
Forward Arts Foundation Gallery, with projections in the Swan House at the Atlanta History Center

Morgan Alexander, David Baerwalde, Benita Carr, Amanda Greene, Courtney Egan, Jody Fausett, Sarah Hobbs, Audrey Hynes, Bill Orisich, Christina Price Washington, Jessica Scott Felder, Steffen Sornpao **VIDEO curation by Kristin Juarez & Gregory Zinman, SCREENS designed by Etienne Jackson

This exhibition presents photographic prints by a variety of prominent artists from the Southeast and compares them in format and feeling to projected video works.

On the opening and closing nights, small groups will be led by performance artist Jessica Scott Felder to the historic Swan House to experience a site specific video installation created by artists Benita Carr and Bill Orisich. This unique art event is in conjunction with the Atlanta History Center. In the gallery several short video works will be projected onto objects and screens installed in the darkened front gallery. In the back gallery will be formal framed prints. Viewers are invited to experience the differences between media. . .

Curator's statement: “Images are ephemeral by nature. How we hold them in our presence is a matter of immense contemporary choice. This exhibition asks the key question photo-based artists must confront: PRINT or PROJECTION? One is an image captured, domesticated, readily bought, sold, and physically collected. The other is free to trade, free to move over any surface or roam to any corner of the internet ...”

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PAINT LIKE DREAMING
Addison Adams, Chris Deriso, and Nico Marulanda
February 21 – April 4, 2019,
Forward Arts Foundation Gallery, ATL

“Dreams are the speech of my soul.” Karl Jung, Red Book

Dreams are the language of the unconscious mind, unique to each individual. Presented are three emerging artists who process their waking lives through a prolific free-flow of imagery. Each demonstrate a painting and drawing practice that act like dreaming, mixing abstract and literal elements into distinct personal styles of expression.

Addison Adams’ painterly abstractions are oddly figurative, but cleverly smeared beyond recognition. Larger paintings are informed by cartoon-like sketches of bodies and objects. Often, a storyboard element appears at the bottom of the artworks, with fuzzy linear squares, denoting a hidden narrative.

High-strung, emotionally sensitive, and excited about art, Chris Deriso is always channeling work. Like an “Outsider” or “Visionary” artist, He claims to co-create with his imagination, allowing imagery to flow through him from some other place.

As a person who has recently come out as transgender, Nico Marulanda works out fantasy, fears, and personal freedom in a realm that is a safety zone of watery aesthetics, and serenity.

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COVER-UPs
David Baerwalde and Alex Martinez Collaborative
September 26 – November 7, 2018,
Forward Arts Foundation Gallery, ATL

Mid-career artist David Baerwald--known for his rustic painting and sculpture practice--and fashion photographer Alex Martinez collaborate for this special exhibition in conjunction with Atlanta Celebrates Photography.

Presented are altered photographs which have been torn, taped, and repaired after the removal of the original subjects. Martinez provides out-takes from his professional photo shoots, which are then printed for Baerwalde to work with in a collage-like manner. The two edit from the resulting new artworks. The best results are re-photographed and re-printed as minimal landscapes with mysterious disappearances and “cover-ups.”

Nature is so often used as an attractive backdrop for models promoting products. Here, the artists attempt to recapture a certain lost beauty and idealism from before the commercial age.

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MIXED USE by Jess Jones
GAUDI JU-JU by Lillian Blades
January 12 – February 17, 2017
Forward Arts Foundation Gallery, ATL

Both contemporary artists JESS JONES and LILLIAN BLADES are highly informed by the traditions of Quilting and Craft. The gallery presents two solo shows in one space, and thus the title-- "MIXED USE "also refers to the way the exhibition floorplan is re-triangulated.

JONES makes what seems like traditional quilts. But, she actually co-creates with anonymous makers whose quilt tops she finds at thrift stores around metro Atlanta and then adds a layer of transparent fabric on top to create altered artworks. As she completes each piece, Jones considers those with whom she shares the city landscape. Through the shared language of quilting, she reads clues in the original hand sewn object, then adds her own response with an overlay of geographic pattern. Titles like Topoquilt: Krog Street Market, and Topoquilt: Peoplestown reference places where “mixed use” developments may cause displacement. Presented are a spectacular array of large, hybrid quilts that honor and empathize with lost local traditions and the shifting city landscape. DOCUMENTATION PDF

BLADES presents a body of assemblage and installation pieces called “Gaudi Ju-Ju.” Within the artworks are an intense collection of found objects woven together in sculptural "patchworks": baskets, boxes, picture frames, food stamps, shells, stones, buttons, magazine clippings, hand-made tourist trinkets, glass, burnt wood from North Georgia. The artist prefers to leave them “as is” in an effort “to preserve their honesty” and respect the embedded memory of many anonymous makers from factory workers to nature itself. Inspired by the Central African concept of Nkisi--that spirits can inhabit objects--Blades conjoins the spiritual with the vernacular. Crafty aesthetics like quilting, decoupage, and beaded curtains intuitively tie the artwork together into an architecture of objects. DOCUMENTATION PDF

SUMMER INVITATIONAL
CERAMICS, FIBERS, & FOLK ART
May 31 – August 10, 2018
Forward Arts Foundation Gallery, ATL

This Invitational has been a popular annual exhibition at the Forward Art Foundation's Swan
Coach House Gallery since 2011, selling art that is beautiful, usable and affordable.

Works were selected for sale which employ craft materials and/or aesthetics. Some are conceptual; others are not. Juxtaposing functional, trans-functional, and non-functional work from over 50 artists, I’m hoping to express how categories freely overlap from fine art to ceramics for everyday use--all of which are highly valuable in a world gone virtual. Artists today do not fall neatly into categories. Traditionally, their artworks had to fit into either Art or Craft, Folk or Fine, Trained or Untrained. However, most works have elements of both or more. In this way, new 21st century hybrids will eventually transcend the old polarizing labels.

There will be a small selection of Folk/Outsider Art from North Georgia. Main Street Gallery in Clayton, GA--which houses an impressive collection--has generously agreed to let the Swan Coach Gallery exhibit and sell some work. Additionally, Tauches added a few artists found selling their work on the country highways.” Artworks include: cups, plates, planters, pots, bowls, boxes, tapestries/stitchery, hanging work, glass, watercolor & collage on paper, found objects, sculpture, wood, and much more. DOCUMENTATION PDF

 

SUMMER INVITATIONAL // Ceramics, Textiles, Small Sculpture, & Design
June 25 – August 5, 2020
Forward Arts Foundation Gallery, ATL
Co-curated with Michelle Laxalt

Presented was a wild assortment of one-of-a-kind objects by over 60 talented makers from our Southeast region. As usual, we aim to juxtapose artworks that represent the full spectrum of what is being created in our community. Artworks range from functional to conceptual, from folksy to fine design. References to animals and nature, vibrant colors and an array of textures unite the wide variety of works in the show. This year, you’ll also notice an abundance of textiles that conflate traditional and non-traditional materials and techniques. Additionally, we included many new artists from the Athens area, as we are lucky to have a close sister city with such a rich community of potters to highlight.

In a special acknowledgement of the hardship brought on by the pandemic, The Forward Arts Foundation—which founded the Swan Coach House Gallery and has a stronghold in Atlanta arts funding— has generously set up a support fund for the participating Invitational artists. Each artist received an honorarium for exhibiting their work with us.

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$H!T THAT AMERICANS LIKE
Riots & Rallies, Parades & Protests
Michael Jones
February 18 - April 1, 2021
Forward Arts Foundation Gallery, ATL

Michael Jones brings his gritty collage aesthetic to the Gallery to comment on the things Americans like in 2021. His latest series, “Riots & Rallies, Parades & Protests,” conjurs a mood of unrest in the streets. The surfaces of artworks are indeed riotous! Spliced and sampled into multiple layers, viewers will find gesture, portraiture, color, stencils made from found photos, Astroturf, glitter, graphics from printed ephemera, and found objects like furniture and fragments left on the curb.

Known for creating murals the size of buildings, it is no surprise that Jones’ relatively smaller paintings and assemblages pack a punch of energy. The work expresses a point of view rooted in the experiences and observations of a black man brought up around the bravado of Texas nationalism. Living and working in the Atlanta art community for decades, he speaks from a place of love and activism at a time of political transformation.

ARTSatl review by Rita Nicole Leslie

Burnaway review by Maria Korol

ONLINE CATALOGUE (PDF)

ARTIST STATEMENT VIDEO on IG

FORCES of NATURE / symbol /edifice / ritual / / Richard Sudden
January 16 – February 18, 2021
Forward Arts Foundation Gallery, ATL

Science defines Laws of Nature such as gravity and electromagnetism, but the mystery and wonderment of such forces remain potent for artist Richard Sudden. In this exhibition, Sudden shares recent paintings depicting icons such as sun signs, planets, comets, and stone circles. Additionally, an installation of twenty-eight cement castings representing the cycle of the Moon fills the main Gallery space. Conjuring the graphic power of ancient symbols, rituals, and architectural space commonly used in pre-industrial civilizations, Sudden expresses a deep veneration for the power, beauty, and the brute physicality of Nature.

Richard Sudden left the city center of Atlanta over seven years ago to set up a sustainable art practice in the woods, on his own terms. He has built a home, studio, garden and grounds, which are ever-evolving examples of high design unto themselves. Travel, solitude and a deep connection to the outdoors directly influence his work. Sudden channels a particular, rustic aesthetic that he has honed over the years into everything he creates. This exhibition is a special opportunity to experience his unique relationship with nature.

DOCUMENTATION PDF

ARTIST STATEMENT / video on IG

ORANGE // Trevor Reese
August 17 – September , 2019,
Forward Arts Foundation Gallery, ATL

Like the rest of us, Trevor Reese is out there, looking for meaning online. It is in this state of mind that the artist transforms the gallery with an immersive and improvisational installation. He channels feelings of being lost in a sea of information, commerce, and identities.

On display are two exhibitions within one. Visitors first encounter a highly compromised photography exhibition that the artist has designed from the work of his friends. Like a package waiting to be opened, visitors must pull up a plastic window to see each framed piece clearly. Not only are the artworks covered in plastic, so are the gallery's architectural elements, all in an attempt to neutralize the associations of the space--to diminish traditional/ aristocratic design tropes like columns and Palladian windows.

The second exhibition in the back half of the gallery connotes an Ikea-like retail environment. The artist has made two of every item and created a pricing matrix which changes by the week. A collection of carefully selected objects ordered online are displayed here, which reveal a decidedly lost human element.

Lastly, the artist provides a prose poem on a large sheet of plastic: a combination of found phrases and fiction he has written himself.

PROSE POEM

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WHY PAINT NOW
January 30 - February 26, 2012, Kiang Gallery, ATL

It's a good question to ask . . . "WHY PAINT NOW?," when there's so many other ways to make images and make art ? For this show--the last ever in Kiang's classic white space on Marietta Street-- Curator K.tauches assembled some of her favorite painters from the ATL and asked them the proverbial question.

Their responses were displayed in an installation of texts, and selections of their work are designed throughout the space. Paintings range from sloppy to tight, tiny to large, professional to naive, vernacular to absolutely fine art.

PAINTERS: Caroline Annandale, Alvaro Alvillar, Teresa Bramlette Reeves, InKyoung Chun, Brendan Carroll, Eula Ginsburg, Shara Hughes, Mark Leibert, John Otte, Ben Steele, Martha Stiles, Katherine Taylor.

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. . .AFTER THE SUBURBS
January 21 - March 26, 2011, Kiang Gallery, ATL

The American suburbs of the 20th century are notoriously branded: bright, safe and brand-new. The homes and the tightly symmetrical shrubbery idealize ordered gardens, comfort and spaciousness. This environment is mythologized as the ultimate, affordable eden, where the wilderness of both the country and the city centers are managed at a controllable distance.

However, the new century brings an alternative perspective on the suburbs, as they grow more complex and shift back out of human control. Unsustainable and overbuilt, we witness the suburbs as they become havens for immigrants, agriculture, small business, bohemians and underground activity. Will the spirit of its original utopia still remain (albeit transmogrified), as that pastoral, yet urban American space?

DOCUMENTATION PDF
MEG AUBREY(atlanta), AMANDINE DROUET(atlanta),
JAMES GRIFFIOEN (detroit), SARAH HOBBS(atlanta/ new york),
SZE TSUNG LEONG(new york, beijing), MICHELLE LEVINE (new orleans), KEMP MOONEY (atlanta), SHIELA PREE BRIGHT (atlanta),
TRAVIS SHAFFER (lexington, ky), NANCY VANDEVENDER (atlanta),
NAT SLAUGHTER (atlanta), ALEX ROGERS (atlanta),
PANDRA WILLIAMS (atlanta)

*w/ SPECIAL LECTURE by JULIA CHRISTENSEN,
author of "BIG BOX REUSE"
WED,MARCH 16, 2011, 6pm
at the Reinsch-Pierce Family Auditorium in the College of Architecture at Georgia Institute of Technology.

*this lecture is presented by: Georgia Institute of Technology,
School of Architecture, Kiang Gallery and Karen Tauches
. . .RECONSTRUCTIONS
January 10 – February 19, 2018,
Forward Arts Foundation Gallery, ATL

Joe Bigley, Evelyn Breit, Krista Clark, Derek Faust, Meta Gary, Katie Hargrave, Chakura Kineard, Spencer Maxwell, Rusty Miller, Aaron Kagan Putt, Trevor Reese, Martha Whittington, Zena Zakanycz

RECONSTRUCTIONS, a group exhibition reflecting an urban landscape under heightened development. The idea behind this exhibition was the result of numerous studio visits. So many artists were using materials, ideas, and aesthetics highly informed by life in a veritable construction site. Presented are art installations, discarded urban relics, and documentary photographs made in the metro Atlanta area, including the suburbs and Chattanooga. Artworks feel provisional, erased, relocated, replicated, re-routed, halted, haunted, influenced by the road, deconstructed, and still in-process.

Loosely referring to the “Reconstruction Period,” the title plays with the historic term by making it plural. Is our southern urban experience particularly characterized by multiple and constant destructions and regenerations? Or are we just like any other growing urban center? As “The City Too Busy To Hate,” does Atlanta ultimately race past more complex histories and preservation opportunities to pursue a fresh new identity? DOCUMENTATION PDF
CURATORIAL PROJECTS
SMALL PIECES, LOOSELY JOINED
June 17 - July 30, 2011, Kiang Gallery,  ATL

The title of this group exhibition refers to David Weinberger's unified theory of the web. Internet culture has undoubtedly affected how we gather and connect nuggets of information. No longer are we bound to particular chronologies.  Artists have been known to use loosely associated images and information to gesture abstractly toward a concept. This exhibition illustrates the fluidity of connections both in the content of individual works and in the style in which it is presented.  Weinberger states that "by removing the central control points, the Web enabled a self-organizing, self-stimulated growth of contents and links on a scale the world has literally never before experienced." He continues that, "The Web has blown documents apart. It treats tightly bound volumes like a collection of ideas. . . The reader can consult in the order she or he wants, regardless of the author's intentions."

Small Pieces, Loosely Joined has noted that tightly-bound articles are now ripped into pieces and thrown into the air.  As we continue to practice information gathering that is less linear, we learn to accept and digest content in loosely associative clusters and interchangeable, floating fragments.

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