Conduit Gallery will present "Afar Tree," a solo exhibition of new work by Brooklyn-based artist, J.C. Fontanive.
Movement, cinema and mechanics are a common thread Fontanive’s work, spanning various mediums from kinetic machines and animations to carved wooden reliefs. He is inspired by the dialogue between man-made and natural processes, such as industry, movement found in the complexity of city streets, the way leaves fall, or how a tree is structured; each informing the other.
The wooden wall-sculptures in "Afar Tree" are born from a progressive dance between 2D and 3D processes. Fontanive "builds" his drawings, creating the lines of metaphorical beams and rafters, structures scaffolded against gravity. By rotating the page while holding his stylus hand still like an indexing mechanism, he carves lines at precise intervals. Conversely, he ‘draws’ in wood, delineating curves with the bandsaw and mark-making with the metal plane. The repertoire of line and shape learned from the page guide the chisel or saw. The imaginary logic of flatness is used to create 3-dimensions.
The result is a series of work formed like puzzles, corresponding edges aligning to create a larger form. Metaphorically they are an attempt at piecing together the visual language that connects us all. Why do certain combinations of line, color and shape remind us of parts of our lives, the cosmos, the deep sea, Stonehenge - or a memory or feeling we had years ago? It’s the language of the enigmatic world that they are trying to solve.
In addition to "Afar Tree," Fontanive will mount an installation of editioned kinetic sculptures in the Conduit Gallery Project Room. These moving prints marry his interests in mechanics and automation with his fascination for insects and birds. Fontanive found inspiration in Victorian clocks and other antiquated mechanisms while earning his MA at the Royal College of Art, London. In his "Ornithology" series, the artist animates archival inkjet prints of various birds, generating movement with a meticulously hand-tooled motor that flits through the images like a wall-mounted flipbook.
Following the opening reception, the exhibit will be on view through October 15.
Conduit Gallery will present "Afar Tree," a solo exhibition of new work by Brooklyn-based artist, J.C. Fontanive.
Movement, cinema and mechanics are a common thread Fontanive’s work, spanning various mediums from kinetic machines and animations to carved wooden reliefs. He is inspired by the dialogue between man-made and natural processes, such as industry, movement found in the complexity of city streets, the way leaves fall, or how a tree is structured; each informing the other.
The wooden wall-sculptures in "Afar Tree" are born from a progressive dance between 2D and 3D processes. Fontanive "builds" his drawings, creating the lines of metaphorical beams and rafters, structures scaffolded against gravity. By rotating the page while holding his stylus hand still like an indexing mechanism, he carves lines at precise intervals. Conversely, he ‘draws’ in wood, delineating curves with the bandsaw and mark-making with the metal plane. The repertoire of line and shape learned from the page guide the chisel or saw. The imaginary logic of flatness is used to create 3-dimensions.
The result is a series of work formed like puzzles, corresponding edges aligning to create a larger form. Metaphorically they are an attempt at piecing together the visual language that connects us all. Why do certain combinations of line, color and shape remind us of parts of our lives, the cosmos, the deep sea, Stonehenge - or a memory or feeling we had years ago? It’s the language of the enigmatic world that they are trying to solve.
In addition to "Afar Tree," Fontanive will mount an installation of editioned kinetic sculptures in the Conduit Gallery Project Room. These moving prints marry his interests in mechanics and automation with his fascination for insects and birds. Fontanive found inspiration in Victorian clocks and other antiquated mechanisms while earning his MA at the Royal College of Art, London. In his "Ornithology" series, the artist animates archival inkjet prints of various birds, generating movement with a meticulously hand-tooled motor that flits through the images like a wall-mounted flipbook.
Following the opening reception, the exhibit will be on view through October 15.
Conduit Gallery will present "Afar Tree," a solo exhibition of new work by Brooklyn-based artist, J.C. Fontanive.
Movement, cinema and mechanics are a common thread Fontanive’s work, spanning various mediums from kinetic machines and animations to carved wooden reliefs. He is inspired by the dialogue between man-made and natural processes, such as industry, movement found in the complexity of city streets, the way leaves fall, or how a tree is structured; each informing the other.
The wooden wall-sculptures in "Afar Tree" are born from a progressive dance between 2D and 3D processes. Fontanive "builds" his drawings, creating the lines of metaphorical beams and rafters, structures scaffolded against gravity. By rotating the page while holding his stylus hand still like an indexing mechanism, he carves lines at precise intervals. Conversely, he ‘draws’ in wood, delineating curves with the bandsaw and mark-making with the metal plane. The repertoire of line and shape learned from the page guide the chisel or saw. The imaginary logic of flatness is used to create 3-dimensions.
The result is a series of work formed like puzzles, corresponding edges aligning to create a larger form. Metaphorically they are an attempt at piecing together the visual language that connects us all. Why do certain combinations of line, color and shape remind us of parts of our lives, the cosmos, the deep sea, Stonehenge - or a memory or feeling we had years ago? It’s the language of the enigmatic world that they are trying to solve.
In addition to "Afar Tree," Fontanive will mount an installation of editioned kinetic sculptures in the Conduit Gallery Project Room. These moving prints marry his interests in mechanics and automation with his fascination for insects and birds. Fontanive found inspiration in Victorian clocks and other antiquated mechanisms while earning his MA at the Royal College of Art, London. In his "Ornithology" series, the artist animates archival inkjet prints of various birds, generating movement with a meticulously hand-tooled motor that flits through the images like a wall-mounted flipbook.
Following the opening reception, the exhibit will be on view through October 15.
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