MAIN GALLERY: Barbara Black and Angela Passalacqua Flights of Fancy / Moments of Doubt

Barbara Black and Angela Passalacqua share a long history of exhibiting together — splitting the gallery space at Blackfish Gallery. For February 2021, they also share a show title, Flights of Fancy / Moments of Doubt, as both artists present works that are dream-like, that traverse time in a non-linear way, that mix human and non-human subjects (real and imaginary, organic and architectural, natural and human-made), and that utilize metaphor, all while posing questions about the existential state of things — in the world and deep within ourselves: where will we go from here?

Barbara Black’s 54-year career in art spans painting, collage, drawing, sculpture, teaching, and founding Blackfish Gallery in 1979 with nineteen fellow artists. Throughout, her artistic aesthetic has remained consistent, demanding “tribute to dreams and the poser of the muse,” as she describes it. For this show, Black’s explorations on canvas and paper reflect her deep concern about the environment and the world. She mines her dreams and her unconscious studio mindsets, as she responds to her materials and the unexpected compositional structures and imagery that mysteriously emerge of their own volition when, for instance, very watery washes have been employed: improbable land- and waterscapes, symbols, architecture, patterns and figures (human and animal) reveal themselves. “I am always intrigued and delighted by the way imagery appears and is adamant about what must and must not be added - whether through drawing, painting, or collage in a variety of mixed media - to finish the work. Any initial ideas I might have had are wonderfully changed by its demands.” Black describes her practice as an intricate dance between this imagery and her own consideration of the artwork’s formal needs. Completing a work is like working through “to the end of a particularly satisfying mystery novel.”
Angela Passalacqua’s work explores the transmigratory travel lessons offered in Greek and Roman myths. She is particularly interested in chimera — imaginary creatures melding human and animal spirits, gods, goddesses and lesser gods — who exist on the same plane as mortals, mirroring our desires, fears and flaws in enhanced and poetic form. The retelling of their stories gathers momentum, propelling and transforming them for our own time. The catalyst for much of Passalacqua’s show was a battered straw suitcase from Sicily, full of previously unexamined family photos from a bygone era. Angels, demons, temples pagan and Christian, wings and winged creatures, were in every frame alongside the people enjoying family celebrations. Passalacqua wonders whether the chimera in her family photos are real, an illusion, or just part of an allegorical landscape. Sicily, an early Greek colony from antiquity, is an island bursting with Greek ruins — it is said there are more Greek ruins in Sicily than Greece. It is also an island that has been conquered many, many times, lending an enduring pathos to its beauty. The figures in Passalacqua’s paintings are set in a dream-like, romantic space and are imaginary beings. Small groupings of figures are in the background, culled from sketchbook drawings of people going about their everyday lives in airports, restaurants, streetcars etc. One can “see” chimera everywhere if one looks for them. Flight, as in birds and planes, is a recurrent element. “Our chimera still exist in our dreams, and in the stories which we never tire of hearing. Our landscape (or plane) is now informed not only by metaphor, but by the world of science. Our genes can be manipulated for better or ill. Chimeras manifest in nature are created in laboratories as well as our imagination. Will we create monsters or angels? Will the stories prevail?”

Barbara Black, Equine Observation, 2020, acrylic and ink, 10” x 8”, photo credit: Kristin Solomon

BACK ROOM GALLERY: In Memoriam: Dyann Alkire (1948 to 2020)

Dyann Alkire was a founding member of Blackfish Gallery. While she moved on to other venues over the years, she always felt close to the gallery and the artists associated with it. Her work was displayed at the gallery over the years, most recently in 2019 at the 40th Celebration Show. Alkire’s work has been shown over the years in many shows and galleries across the West, and her work is in many public, corporate, and individual collections.In a recent statement about her work, Alkire wrote: “I’m held hostage by nature, a good place to be. Nature images combine in my work with various shapes. It’s an ‘interpretation’ of nature: it is my North Star….My thrust of my work is how I like combining different images. For example, placing finely ink-drawn images of birds next to childlike washy renditions of petroglyphs or placing sophisticated cave painting images adjacent to abstract expressionist painterly areas. Juxtaposing smooth areas with textural impasto areas lends interesting surface qualities.”

Artist Reception: Virtual First Thursday, February 4, 2021 @ 6pm on Facebook Live

Artist Talk: The Long Look, Virtual Premiere Sunday, February 21, 2021 @ 2pm

Gallery Hours: Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays 11 am - 4 pm