Always Be An Emerging Artist: Amy Lincoln, John Avelluto, James Prez and Other Heros

Amy Lincoln

My friend Julie Tores organized an exhibition of artists that not only make work she is inspired by but who also involve themselves in the art community. These are people that give much more to the art scene than take from it. According to Julie, "They show and talk about other artist's work in a meaningful way, and provide venues for us to meet, look, think and engage both face-to-face and on-line." I should also add that most of the work she chose to put into the show was work that the artists never intended to exhibit publicly; in some cases she scrounged around piles of forgotten work or found a piece hidden in the corner of dusty studio.

Here is a list of all the artists and their projects...

Liz Atzberger (Airplane), John Avelluto (Bay Ridge Storefront Art Walk), Brett Baker (Painters' Table), Paul Behnke (Structure and Imagery), Deborah Brown (Storefront Bushwick), Sharon Butler (Two Coats of Paint), Kevin Curran (Airplane), Joy Curtis (Pioneers of Inspiration), Paul D'Agostino (Centotto), Rob De Oude (Parallel Art Space), Lacey Fekishazy (Sardine), Enrico Gomez (Parallel Art Space), Chris Harding (English Kills), Katarina Hybenova (Bushwick Daily), Lars Kremer (Airplane), Ellen Letcher (Famous Accountants), Amy Lincoln (The Laundromat), Loren Munk (The James Kalm Report), Matthew Mahler (Small Black Door), Mike Olin (Pioneers of Inspiration), James Prez (artist/organizer), Kevin Regan (Famous Accountants), Jonathan Terranova (Small Black Door), Austin Thomas (Pocket Utopia)

The gallery itself is very interesting and is refereed to as an apartment gallery. Here's what the website says...

Small Black Door is a project space located in Ridgewood, Queens. Artists Jonathan Terranova and Matthew Mahler founded the space in late 2010 with the intention of bringing emerging artists and thinkers together. Located in the basement of a diverse Queens neighborhood, Small Black Door physically embodies the challenge of a new generation of artists in their quest to explore alternative venues and ideas within an established art system.

Small Black Door

John Avelluto

John's art first struck me as being of bad taste. It looked cheap, gross, and not very sophisticated. But I soon realized that these unflattering words were actually compliments. I fell into his trap. And after talking to Julie about his work I learned that everything in his paintings was made of acrylic paint! The yellowing baloney that he drew Jesus on was not real baloney; the cheap wood panelling that he drew diamond "s" shapes on was not cheap wood panelling; and the plain sheet of blank paper was not a plain sheet of blank paper. John is both a magician and a terrific artist with a genuine knack for humor.

Amy Lincoln

Amy's work is simple, introspective, and charming. Her small paintings and drawings are magical and they exhibit a developed visual language primarily of flattened space and forms, abstracted shapes, and soft colors. Her work is soothing but also has a kind of tension to it, that I think in part is from the figures in her work (all self-portraits except for the one immediately below this paragraph) confronting the us, the viewers, with an unnerving stare.

James Prez

James's art was my favorite in the exhibition. From what I understand he draws and paints on anything and everything he can find. His drawings become little sculptures because of their tactile qualities and uneven edges of the materials we works with. His sculptures in particular fascinate me. I want to see more of his work and I wonder if he creates larger sculptures, drawings, and paintings.