This collection of work reappropriates found material and gleans preloaded symbols through a process of cutting, collaging, and casting. The resulting pieces become artifacts left behind through this process of deconstructing consumer detritus and existing ubiquitous objects – transposing their original appearance into a new form of material cartography. The exhibition expands on Robb’s ongoing investigation into the reciprocal relationship of human, object and landscape — what society and culture hold to be sacred, what is considered commodity, and the impact of time.

The Tarp paintings in this body of work are created through acts of collaging found material into assemblage casting matrices. Acrylic and spray paint, highway safety glass and other mediums are cast in various combinations into the matrix repeatedly over several weeks. Once the medium reaches a substantial thickness and solidity the cast tarp is meticulously removed from the casting bed and applied to a new host – canvas, panel, or artist-made rigid box frames. The found materials used to create these matrices include cast-off debris, standardized construction items, consumer-grade packaging, asphalt shingles, aluminum cans and common everyday symbols such as road construction markings or the American flag.

The exhibition title references the wartime practice of shifting typical material manufacturing processes and techniques in order to conserve those materials viewed as precious, sacred, or valuable — i.e., the 1943 US cent manufactured in steel to conserve copper.

Artist Statement

Levi Robb is a multidisciplinary artist and architect. Robb’s work explores the role of material perception and identity within social, environmental and cultural contexts. His practice investigates how we attach memory to object, landscape and architecture – how we search for joy and fulfillment within the confines of these day-to-day items – and how their applied labels shift and evolve over time, in turn creating an implied material hierarchy through the embedded human histories left behind. The formal qualities of his work visually break down, abstract and reconstruct discarded forms – often transposing cast objects and material found on the landscape by reassembling the castings as archetypal sculpture. This process yields a unique body of work the artist refers to as, “Deconstructed Americana”.

Artist Bio

Robb holds a B.Arch from Iowa State University and has spent periods of time studying and practicing in Rome, Italy and the American Southwest. In 2018 Robb completed artist residencies at the Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve in Strong City, Kansas and at the Association of Icelandic Artists — Seljavegur in Reykjavik, Iceland. In 2020/2021 he was named an Iowa Arts Fellow. His work has been exhibited internationally and is held in both public and private collections.

I’m an artist because I have always enjoyed drawing and believe we should explore the things we are passionate about. Early on I discovered my fascination with people and began focusing on portrait art. This fascination arose out of the desire to understand human behavior. Human behavior is complex, as is portrait work.

My art experience spans over a 30-year period. I have illustrated children’s books, designed business cards, book covers, and logos. As well as exhibited and won awards for my work. As I have grown so has my work. I am currently working as a Free Lance Illustrator and creating work for my website. My most recent pieces are movie posters and social conscious illustrations. I recently completed the Visual Passage Illustration program. From this program I discovered my “Wheelhouse” and have returned to my love for graphite and charcoal drawing digitally applying thin layers of color. I am currently completing art for my website which will get well known Art Directors attention. My deepest desire is to become a published illustrator.

Edit

Imprint is a two-person exhibition featuring ceramic works by Sarah Gross and fiber works by Mary Anne Jordan.

Sarah Gross uses pattern and repetition to engage the viewer’s eye, using multiples and repetition to build pattern and complexity. Her imprint is evident in the labor-intensive surface decoration of her vessels and in her installation titled Consumption, a 36-foot-long carpet of red-glazed ceramic tiles. The texture of each tile was created by a cast of the artist’s finger.

Mary Anne Jordan uses nontraditional quilting processes to create hand-dyed, quilted, and stitched works. Creating pattern using bold colors and intensive hand-stitching, she allows her dyes to run and smear to reveal the artist’s imprint and a humanness to the work. These visual statements allude to domesticity and daily life, while referencing current events and contemporary culture.

“I paint and draw things, but I do not work from life. Although I begin with the object, I paint and draw from measurement and memory. I choose objects with little meaning or narrative attached. They are anonymous utilitarian objects; a fan, a spring, a tire. I choose them for their formal qualities, their shape, color and geometry.

I begin by measuring the object; it’s height, width and depth. Once the dimensions are determined, I place the framework in the center of the page, adjust the drawing, establish the space, and invent the light. Then I begin to draw, and the drawing takes on a life of it’s own.

I draw and erase. Things appear and vanish. The process is one of searching, not knowing. The certainty and doubt is in the history of the surface. And the work takes on a new meaning and the subject becomes the work itself.”

-Andrew Watel

Andrew Watel grew up in St. Louis, Missouri. He received an undergraduate degree in Painting from San Francisco State University in 1977 and a Master of Fine Art from Yale University in 1983. Upon graduating from Yale, he moved to New York City where he independently pursued painting and teaching. In 1993, as a founding member, he established and developed The Painting Center, an independent non-profit artist run space. He curated several shows there, including the work of such ‘painter’s painters’ as Albert York and Jake Berthot. Twenty-eight years later, The Center remains viable today and offers artists alternative exhibition space. From 2006 until 2017 he taught as an Adjunct Professor of Painting and Illustration at the Rhode Island School of Design. Here he developed his own curricula for beginning and advanced painting and drawing, led seminars and supervised independent projects.
In 2018 he moved from New York to Kansas City to pursue painting full time.