Brian Buckley’s Cyanotypes as Masterful Marine Mythologies
What a cool way to start the summer! Last night we attended the opening of Brian Buckley’s “Ghost Ship” at ClampArt gallery in Chelsea. We provided the framing using white maple mouldings, museum board, Japanese paper hinges with rice paste for floating the work and museum glass. The art was delivered by our collaborative partners at Art Delivery Van.
One of Brian Buckley's cyanotype prints in the studio
Buckley is an artist whose process is dedicated to analog methods of photography and printing, a rarity in this age of digital imagery. His choice of cyanotypes for the work in “Ghost Ship” feels appropriate to the artist’s themes of Greek Mythology and his own experiences of the sea. Cyanotype is a nineteenth century process that predates silver gelatin photographic printing and which produces images in distinctive shades of blue. Buckley’s process involves mixing his own photosensitive chemicals and applying them in layers to watercolor paper. He uses a variety of brushes, sponges and even glass rods for his applications. The layers of chemicals contribute to the intended end result. He then uses large format negatives in combination with photogram techniques – placing objects directly onto the photosensitive paper - to produce the desired image.
Objects represented in “Ghost Ship” include: octopuses, rope, boats, bits of statuary and water. Buckley is fascinated by the sea itself and longs to be a mariner. This current body of work explores that fascination with the deep and loosely references Homer’s “Odyssey”, sirens, sea monsters and the like. Buckley’s impressive career includes a foundation scholarship to Parsons School of Design, working under master printer Ira Mandelbaum at Ken Taranto Photo Lab and working with photographer Sheila Metzner. He has been published in Fotomagazin, Germany, The Photo Review and New York Magazine among others.
Buckley has exhibited internationally and is a collaborating artist at Adam Fuss Studio. We are so lucky to have Brian as our neighbor here at the Clemente and excited to be a part of his success!
Artist Brian Buckley with Erick from Frames and Stretchers
Love Steve Smith's art show. Thrilled that we framed it.
About The Collection:
“I call my collection ‘The Fabric of Rhythm’ because I feel that this art is a view into the inner workings of the motions I use to make rhythms. With drumming, we hear only part of the motions that we make, and because the sticks and hands are generally traveling so fast, we don’t see all the motions being used. We hear the impact of the stick on a drum head or cymbal, but we don’t hear the motions made in the spaces between the notes. The spaces in-between the notes are as important as the notes that we hear. With some percussion instruments like shakers or tambourines, we do hear the entire motion and it’s important that the motions are smooth and symmetrical, in order to get a grooving rhythm. To me, this means that the entire motion that you use with a drumstick is important. With the process that we used to make this art, you see both the impacts and the spaces between the notes, it’s as if we are looking into the very fabric of the rhythms.”
- Steve Smith
Steve Smith grew up in the Boston area and started playing drums at the age of 9 in 1963. He studied music at the Berklee College of Music from 1972 to 1976 with Alan Dawson and Gary Chaffee as his private instructors. Steve joined the rock band Journey in 1978. He occupied the drum chair from late 1978 through mid-1985. Smith left the band in 1985, but he returned in 1995 for the band's 1996 comeback album, Trial by Fire. In the interim, he played with Journey offshoot The Storm.
He has also worked with pop artists such as Bryan Adams, Mariah Carey, Andrea Bocelli, Elisa, Vasco Rossi, Zucchero, Savage Garden, as well as world musicians such as Zakir Hussain and Sandip Burman. Additionally, he has played with various jazz artists including Mike Mainieri's Steps Ahead, Wadada Leo Smith, Tom Coster, Ahmad Jamal, Dave Liebman, Larry Coryell, Victor Wooten, Mike Stern, Randy Brecker, Scott Henderson, Frank Gambale, Stuart Hamm, Dweezil Zappa, Anthony Jackson, Aydın Esen, Torsten de Winkel, George Brooks, Michael Zilber, Steve Marcus, Andy Fusco, Kai Eckhardt, Lee Musiker, Howard Levy, Oteil Burbridge, Jerry Goodman, Tony MacAlpine and Bill Evans. Smith also has lead his own jazz group, Vital Information since 1977. In 2001, Modern Drummer magazine named Smith as one of the Top 25 Drummers of All Time. The following year, he was voted into the Modern Drummer Hall of Fame.
On November 24, 2015, Journey announced that Smith has rejoined the band.
Journey is an American rock band that formed in San Francisco in 1973, composed of former members of Santana and Frumious Bandersnatch. It's strongest commercial success occurred between 1978 and 1987. During that period, the band released a series of hit songs, including 1981's "Don't Stop Believin'", which in 2009 became the top-selling track in iTunes history.
Special Thanks to the Art on A Gallery crew for all your support!!!
Art on A Gallery
24 Avenue A New York, NY 10009
Work on Display March 10th - April 7th
Inta Ruka, from the Venice Biennale to Frames and Stretchers in NYC
We feel very proud that we framed the work Inta Ruka for her next show in NYC. She is one of the most famous photographers in Latvia, and one of the leading portrait-photographers of our time. Ruka received a scholarship from the Hasselblad Foundation in 1998, the Spidola Award of the Latvian Culture Foundation in 1999 and a scholarship from the Villa Waldberta in Feldafing in 2002. One year later, the Artist's Union of Latvia awarded her the "Prize of the Year 2003."
Inta Ruka's photographs have already been presented in several important international exhibitions. In 1999, she took part at the 48th Venice Biennale which finally publicized her name internationally.
Her art dealer, Marina Goldena contacted Frames and Stretchers from Latvia and brought us personally Ruka's pictures. We designed the framing up to the highest standards and only using museum materials. The result was sublime.
