New Bleu Acier show

Bleu Acier is proud to open the winter season with CONTROLLED BURN, a solo exhibition of drawings and video by collaborative artists Robyn Voshardt / Sven Humphrey, formerly of Florida and now based in New York. In late 2005, the artists were awarded a Caldera Artist Residency in Oregon, where they made many of the works on view.

Controlled Burn refers to the forestry practice of eliminating undergrowth and invasive species, with the goal of mitigating disastrous fires in the future. The artists used this idea as a point of departure, inspired by a two week stay in a mountainside area decimated by a burn gone way out of control. The resulting large drawings use the the most basic materials derived from trees – paper and carbon-based ink – and the artists' own breath instead of a brush to make the mark.

When I Look Up, I Fall Down, 2006,
dvd video/sound projection, dim. variable, ed. 8

This series continues to influence Voshardt/Humphrey's current projects that explore issues of control and intent on an environmental and personal scale: such as controlled growth in urban planning, and the surrender of control over to chance in their selection of materials and process for making art. Also on view in the Project Room is their video projection entitled When I Look Up, I Fall Down, from footage gathered on location in an old-growth forest, with audio composed by the artists. Seen from a disorienting spin, the lush tree canopy no longer offers a sense of shelter, but creates a vortex suggestive of a larger ecological and personal conundrum.

Voshardt/Humphrey have been included in numerous museum exhibitions on the west coast of Florida and the Boston area. Their work is in the permanent collections of the John & Mable Ringling Museum of Art in Sarasota, Tampa Museum of Art, Gulf Coast Museum of Art, and Pinellas County Arts Council. In 2006 they were also awarded a Florida Individual Artist Grant and participated in the Bridge and Pool Art Fairs in Miami, as well as Perpetual Art Machine at CinemaScope New York and Miami.

The artists will be present for the opening reception.

For more info contact Erika Schneider at 813-272-9746
www.bleuacier.com | erika@bleuacier.com

or Robyn and Sven at 917-407-3824
www.voshardthumphrey.com | studio@voshardthumphrey.com

When I Look Up, I Fall Down, 2006,
dvd video/sound projection, dim. variable, ed. 8


VIDEO INSTALLATION
DiVA STREETS in conjunction with the DiVA FAIR, NEW YORK
February 17-24, 2007, 12pm to 8pm
8th Avenue @ 24th Street, Chelsea
Subway C,E to 23rd Street

Bleu Acier is proud to present Voshardt/Humphrey’s new video When I Look Up, I Fall Down in this video container project, one of eight in various locations throughout Chelsea.

Voshardt/Humphrey’s action of transplanting footage gathered from an old-growth heritage forest to a commercial shipping container in the midst of Manhattan reinforces the mental disconnect between nature and its conversion to consumables. Experienced in such a confined, temporal space, the disorienting spin amplifies the larger ecological as well as personal conundrum even more acutely than a white-box gallery context.
www.divafair.com

The Fall, 2006, dvd video/sound, 3 min 42 sec, variable dim., ed. 8


EXHIBITION & ARTISTS' LECTURE
SOLOS: 20th Anniversary Exhibition, Part II
February 9-March 7, 2007
Selby Gallery, Ringling School of Art & Design
Sarasota, Florida
Panel and preview: Thurs, Feb 8 at 7pm
Opening reception: Fri, Feb 9, 5-7pm
www.ringling.edu/selbygallery

Voshardt/Humphrey will show, The Fall, a new video from footage shot on location in Nova Scotia. This exhibition features artists who have had solo shows at the gallery, where in 2004 Voshardt/Humphrey presented six works in a video/sound installation. The artists will talk about their work on Thursday Feb. 8th at 7pm in Selby Lecture Hall on the Ringling campus, Sarasota.


Tangle 2, 2006, ink on mulberry paper, 16 x 12.25 in., Private Collection

UPCOMING SOLO EXHIBITION
Voshardt/Humphrey are now represented in Sarasota, FL by Greene Contemporary, where they will have a solo exhibition in May.
www.greenecontemporary.com