Compass 
June 1 through November 17, 2012
Adrian Barron (Northampton, UK), Gethin Evans (London),  Benjamin Gonzales (Philadelphia), Kaori Homma (London), Paul Moston (Philadelphia), and Joe Netta (Wilmington, DE) 

Our second exhibition at Street Road brings together artists
from abroad and from the local region, introducing them to each other and setting up opportunties for dialogue between the here, and the there. 

Our title is inspired by Kaori’s work, ‘Homma Meridian’, an outdoor installation consisting of a longitudinal line stretching from north to south across the property (over roof, grass, and pavement). This work conceptually proposes ‘re-setting’ our longitude to 0º0’0” - the usual setting for Greenwich, England and Greenwich Mean Time, asking us to re-think the ephemeral and arbitrary nature of boundaries and demarcations. Inspired by Kaori’s work, for Compass we sought out artists who are interested in shifting boundaries, and by extension the ephemeral nature of place. Thinking about compass points, and directions,  the works inside also emphasize the three dimensionality of the space, to which end work is shown on the walls and also on the ceilings and on the floors.

Kaori Homma (www.kaorihomma.co.uk)
Speaking about 'Homma Meridian', Kaori notes, "As with the Greenwich Prime Meridian Line, boundaries and demarcations are necessarily a means of orientating ourselves within the increasingly multi-cultural, multi-ethnic social context we face in this shrinking world, where information is shared online, and physical property is flown easily around the global marketplace. However, at the same time these demarcations and boundaries also create tensions and barriers. The idea behind the meridian is to draw an imaginary line which points to the North and South Pole in a specific location; the project highlights - and asks the audience to reconsider - the 'imaginary' nature of the boundaries that exist in our minds."
The Homma Meridian has been installed in Paris, Margate, Hungary and Tokyo. Our little town of Cochranville, and our township of Londonderry, are in good company.


Joe Netta (joenetta.com)
Joe, who is based in Wilmington, Delaware, has been given free rein to install something - anything - on our floor.  Joe says of his work that "definitions of categorical states of existence come and go, leaving the viewer to describe the material, the process of manipulation, or the constructed situations I build in order to derive meaning." The ephemeral is important in his work and he is not concerned if what he makes lasts only for a short period of time. That said, we've told him that the treatment of the floor can be as permanent as he wishes. We have no idea what the final outcome will be at this point, about which we are very excited.

Gethin Evans (http://www.picassomio.com/gethin-evans.html)
Gethin's paintings of London storefronts capture the city of his immediate, lived experience. Again, the ephemeral, ever-changing nature of place comes into play. One thing that became apparent over the time he worked on these paintings was the fact that the facades of the storefronts changed - the shops either being refurbished or in a number of cases closed down - often before the paintings were completed. The project thus is in part a document of the 'vanishing', of the small and personal, and also is a symbol of the continuing expansion of the boundaries of London as a work in progress.

Benjamin Gonzales and Paul Moston

Ben and Paul reprise and develop an installation they showed previously at the Delaware Center for Contemporary Art: their three dimensional collage suggestive of suburban housing development takes its cue from aerial photography and will sprawl across the ceiling and down the walls. Ben on the underlying concept: "Despite changing economic and cultural trends, we continue to propagate the suburban expansion. This creates a social stratification where our gluttony for square footage amounts to social status. Suburban sprawl has become its own reality, alienating itself within its gates of false security, shopping malls, predictability and a sense of artificiality. A mere shell when abandoned, and an activated organic unit when occupied, a house is comprised of different compartments that serve various purposes but mostly represent privacy and personal space.  We occupy the house and inundate it with information through the technologies that we attain: it then becomes an individualized box or, as I would describe it, a “Cookie-cutter bomb shelter”. Taking this notion as our starting point, in this installation we are isolating the space of 'house' and reducing it to a simple and repeating form."

Adrian Barron (http://adrianbarron-artist.com/)

Adrian's works in Compass are etchings from his series 'Smoke / Sybils / After John White's Algonquins'. These are based on the colonial architecture of Belize, and reference colonial interpretations of the new world - John White's 16th century watercolor drawings and Theodor De Bry's engravings. The work examines the central, 'canonical' visions brought back to Europe which codified and fixed a European view of 'there'. Christabel Harley provides a trenchant analysis of the work and Adrian's process here.

In closing, it is worth citing Adrian's general statement about his work and working process in general as it draws out tendencies that we see in the practices of all artists in Compass:

"The word 'printmaking' conjures up various ingrained associations. Many of these relate to traditional notions such as the bound, the two dimensional and the multiple, which must conform to order as a repeatable fixed pattern. My intention is to break with these conventional canons, and create an alternative paradigm in which to use traditional printmaking techniques.

Much of my work is inspired by my garden (a Heterotopia), which I have been building myself for the last eight years. In its small scale, this environment exemplifies the state of constant flux and ambiguity that characterise nature. Nature continuously generates multiples in which the repetitive, predetermined and imitative play a role, but also the mutated and the unpredictable. This uncertainty is reflected in the outcome of my work, which questions what the real 'nature' of nature is, the role of the human, deceptions and the resulting phenomena.

I see printmaking as a game of two. Not between the work and the artist, but between the work and the process. Ideas are placed within a process from which they are only removed at a point when I feel that I can take responsibility for the outcome."

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OPENING NIGHT FESTIVITIES, AND VISITING US
 
On opening night (June 1, 4-8 pm), Kaori will attend via Skype from London, Adrian will travel from the UK to be with us in actuality, and Gethin will visit later in the summer. Having visited us, Ben, Paul and Joe all know that Street Road is a fair drive from Philly or Wilmington or Lancaster - but that that's nothing compared to Adrian and Gethin's travels. Make the drive (it's pretty), and join us on June 1. Local wine from Va La vineyards and chips, guac, and salsa from El Sombrero just down the road will be on offer. 

Local businesses The Motorcycle Outpost, Electric Monkey Tattoo, and the Parkesburg Lions Thrift Shop will all be open on the night as well - visit us and see some art, pick up your vintage, get a tattoo, and get your motor running!

Gallery hours: ARA Real Estate and Street Road are open most weekdays between 10am and 3pm. Just walk in if you see our cars outside. If you're coming from afar, it's best to call ahead to make sure we'll be here - 610-869-4710.