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PAST EXHIBITIONS
SPRING / SUMMER 2004 |
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Waterfall by Patrick Robideau
July 1 – September 19
Opening Reception with artist’s tour:
Thursday, July 1, 5:00 - 8:00 p.m.
Patrick Robideau's new installation,
Waterfall,
presents a thrilling juxtaposition of an actual mini-falls with traditional “travel”  trunks. In decades past, adventurers would load their trunks to the brim with items of importance and necessity for travels to glorious destinations. Today,
the trunk has been devalued to a static remnant of times past, its original
purpose lost to a culture of mass-produced, disposable objects. A native of Niagara Falls, Robideau can relate these forgotten trunks to his once bustling city of international tourists and travelers, now hoping to dislodge its reputation as a center of lost existence and forgotten memories.
The artist’s recurring theme of discovery and transformation of the found object is once again paramount in this large, new installation
For a copy of Pat Robideau’s catalogue click HERE
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Apocalypstick: The Promise of Peril by Eric Starke
 July 1 – September 19
Opening Reception
with artist’s tour:
Thursday, July 1
(Canada Day),
5:00 - 8:00 p.m.
 Over the last few years, Canadian artist Eric Starke has never
stayed longer than six months in one of several places: Barcelona,
Vancouver, Chicago, New York City, Bangkok and the remote jungles
of Laos, Cambodia and Burma. These sojourns, he says, have made
him “painfully aware of the rapid slide of unique cultures into homogeneity.
Globalization and unfettered desire for American products continue to
crush indigenous diversity.” Starke’s daily observations leave him
“utterly appalled and confused.” Neither didactic nor pedagogical,
the objects depicted in his work – match books, beer logos, movie
posters, hygiene pamphlets, cleaning products, cereal boxes –
function “entirely as reflectors of our duplicitous surroundings, a visual travelogue,
an illuminated nomadic journal.” This exhibition is sponsored by the Canadian
Consulate General and opens on July 1 (Canada Day).
For a copy of Eric Starke's catalog click here
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 A Passion for Collecting:
Dr. J. Warren Perry’s
Donation of Niagara Falls Prints
July 1 - September 19
Opening reception and tour: Friday, July 9,
5:30 - 7:30 p.m.
With this exhibition, the Castellani celebrates a
new acquisition of fifty historical Niagara Falls
prints, donated by Dr. J. Warren Perry of Buffalo.
A founder of the University of Buffalo’s School of Public Health and Health Professions,
where he served as dean from 1966 to 1977, Perry has been a passionate collector of
Niagara Falls artwork, ceramics, and books for his entire life. We are fortunate to be
the recipient of the best of his Niagara print collection.
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SERIES OF SOLO EXHIBITIONS FOR REGIONAL ARTISTS |
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“What Lies Beneath”: An Installation by Sandra C. Fernandez
August 1 - October 17
Opening reception with artist’s talk:
Friday, August 13, 5:00 - 8:00 p.m.
 Out of a personal history of isolation, abandonment, and,
ultimately, exile from her native Ecuador, Sandra Fernandez
uses her art to document her cultural identity and “experiences
of emotional struggle.” Her installation will include three
huge skirt forms, each representing a stage in human
development: childhood, youth, and adulthood. The
exteriors of the skirts will recall the nurturing spirit of
motherhood with hints of joy and peace, while the
“walk-through” interiors reveal “the tumultuousness
of the human process of achieving that peace.
For a copy of the the Fernandez catalog click here
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 More
than Meets
the Eye
JULY 28 - SEPTEMBER 26, 2004
With the appearance of postcolonial and neocolonial states amid boundaries and borders in constant flux, identity is ever more complicated to define. Terms such as “hybridity” and “mimicry” complicate matters even further. There are no longer clear differentiations to be made in the construction of one's own identity. One of the reasons for this is due to the emergence or, rather, the recognition of postcolonial discourse, which investigates and discusses the marginalized and/or subaltern people. Historically, the West has ignored global perspectives when defining the identities of individuals from cultures outside its own, labeling them generically as the Other. To categorize the Other into this  inclusive set, stereotypes, often referential of race, are utilized – frequently casting the Other into the role of uncivilized or savage. The hegemonic discourse never takes into account the perspective of the Other or how the Other would define itself. While contemplating these issues in terms of identity, images become key to the process of construction. When viewing portraits of people, assumptions are made about the subject, especially in terms of social status. Many of these assumptions are prompted by the artist through the framing and ultimate presentation of the sitter, thus influencing the viewer’s construction of the subject's identity. At first glance, the image is the key to the construction of the individual identity. However, upon further investigation and contemplation by the viewer, the image is always only an appurtenance to authority and identity and must never be read mimetically as the appearance of a reality.2 In other words, the image is just a part of the subject's identity and is not the mirror that shows a resemblance. There is something more, something that is absent. This absence, along with the presence of the image, constitutes true identity. The images chosen for this exhibition are aimed at provoking this discussion. Some pieces come from well-known social documentary photographers, painters, and portraitists, but also included are artists who are considered and consider themselves marginalized individuals. It is
the combination of these various viewpoints that reflects this ongoing discussion of
identity in terms of construction by both hegemonic and postcolonial discourses. This
exhibition demonstrates that, when it comes to identity, there is always more than meets the
eye. 1Homi K. Bhabba, The Location of Culture,
Nicole M. Jowsey, Guest Curator
Jowsey is a Buffalo native and State University at Buffalo graduate. She resides in Buffalo and is currently the Associate Director at Big Orbit Gallery and Special
Projects Coordinator for CEPA Gallery. She is also an independent curator and
critic. Special thanks to the staff of the Castellani Art Museum, Sean Donaher for
editing this essay, Lawrence Brose, Deborah Jack, and Adriane Little.
For a Copy of the Brochure Click Here |
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