Liz Antle-O’Donnell and Alan Shulik at Kehler Liddell Gallery, March 23 – April 23, 2017
Opening Reception: Saturday, April 8th, 3-6pm; featuring live guitar music by Joseph Tinari and a discussion with the artists hosted by Semi Semi-Dikoko @ 5pm.
New Haven’s Kehler Liddell Gallery presents two unique bodies of work exploring American landscape and culture. Liz Antle-O’Donnell’s mixed media exhibit WALLS focuses on gated communities, drawing an analogy to what is happening in the country at large. Running simultaneously, ENIGMATIC CANYONS, an exhibit of Alan Shulik’s landscape photography, features canyons found in the southwest. Both shows will be on view from Thursday, March 23 through Sunday, April 23. The Opening Reception, part of Westville’s Second Saturday event For the Love of Art will be held on Saturday, April 8, 3-6pm, and features a lively Q & A with the artists, hosted by Semi Semi-Dikoko at 5pm.
Antle-O’Donnell explains the concept for WALLS – a mixed media exhibition featuring prints, collages, 3D installation and video – grew from a fascination with gated communities: “As an artist and lifetime city-dweller, it was hard for me to understand this desire to barricade oneself in conformity and box living.” Her varied research on the subject was the foundation for the exhibit, which asks the viewer to consider the larger implications of our fabricated communities, the epidemic of mass consumerism, and the “visible and invisible, blatant and subtle” walls that are everywhere in today’s society.
ENIGMATIC CANYONS, a collection of new work by Shulik, consists of color photographs created in the slot canyons of the southwest, as well as some images of Yellowstone and Bryce Canyon. These works were created with color digital technology, and reveal the enigmatic beauty of the slot canyons, and the visionary drama of western landscapes. Of this exhibit, Shulik says, “My most recent works have a painterly quality, much more reminiscent of a painted image than a traditional photograph.”
Shulik is a fine-art photographer who lives in Guilford, Connecticut. He likens his work to visual poetry, and to painting with the lens of the camera. His artistic work in recent years has moved into a more impressionistic and surreal realm, focusing on creating images that are evocative of dream-life, memory and wishes. Shulik uses digital imaging techniques to achieve some, but not all, of his final works. Shulik has exhibited in many solo and group exhibits in the U.S. as well as in France, and has won numerous awards and honors. His work has been featured in the New York Times, Connecticut Homes and Gardens, and Focus Magazine, among others. You can see more of his photography at www.alanshulikphotography.com
A New Haven native, Antle-O’Donnell has been an active member of the New Haven arts scene as a teacher, administrator, and artist for over a decade. Though primarily self-taught, she studied printmaking and studio arts at New York University (BA, English), Paier College of Art, and Rhode Island School of Design. Her work has been exhibited from coast to coast, including such local venues as Kehler Liddell Gallery, Creative Arts Workshop, Artspace, and Seton Gallery, and is held in private collections in CT, NYC, LA and abroad. You can see more of her work at www.lizantle.com.
Programs and events made possible with support from the City of New Haven Mayor's Community Arts Grants Program. For more information about all upcoming events, visit www.kehlerliddell.com, call 203.389.9555, or follow the Gallery’s Facebook page. Kehler Liddell Gallery is located at 873 Whalley Avenue in New Haven, Connecticut. Gallery hours are Thursday through Friday from 11:00am - 4:00pm: Saturday and Sunday from 10:00am - 4:00pm. It is free and open to the public.