Alchemy
Inger Nova Jorgensen & Michael Buscemi
April 1st – 30th 2019
Artist Reception: Friday, April 5th, 6-9 PM
Bryant Street Gallery is pleased to present Alchemy a new exhibition featuring the works of Inger Nova Jorgensen and Michael Buscemi. Rich with texture and elegant lines, both Buscemi’s abstract hand-cut archival paper constructs and Nova Jorgensen’s figurative bronze sculptures embody lithe movements that belie their staid and static mediums. At first glance, the warm bronze patina on the sculptures seems to stand out starkly against the crisp whites of the paper constructs; however, there is a synergistic undercurrent running between the earthy bronzes and the radiant abstractions. Their combined works will be on exhibition April 1st – 30th with the opening reception on Friday, April 5th from 6-9 pm.
Inger Nova Jorgensen was born in Lansing, Michigan, moved to Northern California when she was 17, and currently lives in Ashland, Oregon. She has always known her path lay in the arts and as a student at Sonoma worked through many mediums before focusing on painting and bronze sculpture. Nova Jorgensen takes her strongly narrative figurative work and abstracts their surfaces to add to their story. This imaginative process also carries into Nova Jorgensen’s original songwriting, which has been said to be unmistakably similar to her art. She will be giving a special musical performance along with her husband, Jeff Pevar, during the opening reception.
Michael Buscemi is a San Jose based artist who first moved to the Bay Area when he was eleven. Growing up his early ventures into art were comprised of covering the streets and tunnels of Oakland in graffiti. From there Buscemi worked his through more conventional applications, adapting his style and incorporating any medium he could get his hands on. After some success with his large-scale watercolor paintings Buscemi started putting paintings that didn’t make the cut to the cut. The resulting fragments were then collaged back together giving the works fresh energy and repurposed life. From there it was a natural leap to sculptural relief constructions and when a collector asked for a white on white piece, Buscemi was sparked into his current body of work.
Alchemy will be on exhibit from April 1st– 30th, 2019 at Bryant Street Gallery, 532 Bryant St, Palo Alto, CA. The opening reception will be held Friday April 5th from 6-9 pm where both artists will be in attendance.