WE ARE MOVING

That's right we are moving!

Unlike most art galleries in Michigan, which are moving into bankruptcy, we are moving into a bigger and better showroom! How about them apples?

let's not get carried away...

Since we are literally busting at the seams with art, we have decided to move into a place that can hold our considerable art girth...

ok not that big, but still pretty big...

In April, look for us in the #15 Showroom. We are right up at the front of the building next to Robert Allen. I good location I think.

This means many exciting things in our future:
We show more and larger artwork
We have more on hand for clients to view
We can hold events and art openings
We can hide in the back room where people can't see us
New business cards (although we will probably just cross off old information and write the new info on the old business card on with a pen or something...you know you've done that before haven't you?)
We can cop a bigger attitude because others will have gallery envy (we won't though)

man look at all that attitude...
Most of all we can be thankful that we are doing well, and that we have a better facility to serve our clients and our friends. We have both you know...

Mostly I'm excited to grow our business into the go to art gallery for designers and architects in Michigan. How do we do that?????? We just keep doing the same things we are doing now... just do more of it! More consulting, more art, more framing, more commission art work, more corporate clients, more residential clients, more friends, more artists.

I think I am going to wax poetic about some of our art for a bit........

Mary Rousseaux

We like Mary. Sorry but we do. She's a cool art chick! She knows what she's doing, and she is a darn good painter. I am still not sure whether she is a sculptor that does some painting or a painter that does some sculpture. Her work takes up a lot of space. It has a very physical presence in the room because of the size. Even the smaller ones are quite powerful in terms of their mass. They are thickly painted. She slathers on wax, resin, roofing tar, plaster, paint (the kitchen sink really) onto heavy wooden structures. When people come into contact with the art they immediately want to touch it. It is so thick and luscious that you want to feel it to try to get in touch with this "thing" that you are confronted by.

this one's really cool...

I think there is a lot going on behind the work. I man much smarter than I once said "Try to look behind the painting. That is what is really important!" What he meant was try to figure out what drove the artist to do this? What are the ingredients that made the stew?

I think Mary is part sculptor part painter. She builds the surfaces more than she paints them. She is an Abstract Expressionist with a little pop thrown in for flavor (plus lots of other flavors: saffron, tarragon, sea salt, sour creme...). The weight of the object both visually and physically, puts her into the Ab Ex realm. The grandeur of the art object and its ability to take up physical and spiritual space is part of the Ab Ex doctrine, but I don't think Mary thinks her work holds any of the pretences inherent in the "deep meaning" of art making. She is an object maker.

The loud and bright colors, along with the slick resin finish puts a pop twist on the art. The color choices for the art above is reminiscent of candy apples and jolly ranchers. (lots off food references today, maybe it was the Krispy Creme donut I had this morning?) It brings it down a notch to a piece of manufacture type finish. Engineers love her art, because it looks "slick and well done". I love the work because it touches on many different levels. I think there is a serious side to it with a touch of sarcasm thrown in. The work does not take itself too seriously. There is all this stuff mushed together on wood to make a surface you wish you could walk on in bare feet. Then the resin finish teases us. It robs us of the opportunity to scrape our hands over the lush waxy substrate.

At the end of the day though Mary's art is beautiful to look at, and a joy to own. Her work evokes land, sea, and sky. They can be joyful and somber. It is both refined and unfinished. Elements of the human hand and the harsh slick sheen of manufactured product mix together; sometimes they are forced and sometime they are a natural transition. Don't take my word for it. Come judge for yourself.

Jeff