Tuesday, January 4, 2011

John Arsenault-A Ghost Is Occupying My Heart- 1/6/11




Barely Breathing,” Provincetown, Massachusetts, 2009
Chromogenic print
20 x 20 inches

John Arsenault-A Ghost is Occupying My Heart @ Clampart Gallery will be the very very  first  art  opening show of 2011 that,  I will attending and so should you for many reasons.


The number one reason is because I love his photography work which I find extremely personal, heartfelt and beautiful.


Another reason is that his work reminds me a lot the work of the late photographer Tracey Baran which she is to photograph herself as the subject mostly as John mostly does.I think in terms using yourself as the main subject in a photograph takes a special kind of skill, self confidence and talent and John and Tracey in my opinion are very successful about keeping that mystic photograph after photograph. 


I had known John since he was 19 years old and we were both college/clubs kids in Boston and NYC finding our own sense of identity. It is so interesting that many many years later , I have the pleasure of seeing and even including his work in shows that I had curated.  


I encourage you to unveil yourself in the New Year 2011, the same way John Arsenault is unveiling his life in front of the camera and go and see this show and provide support  for the arts.


As far as art collecting, I will also encourage you to also collect his work. I had not purchased anything yet (don't know why!) but, never count me out. There is so many images I want that, maybe that is the hardest part of it. 




Here is more information about his solo show here in NYC @ Clampart Gallery:






FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
JOHN ARSENAULT
 A  G H O S T  I S  O C C U P Y I N G  M Y  H E A R T
January 6 – February 5, 2010
Opening reception:
Thursday, January 6, 2010
6:00 - 8:00 p.m.
__________________________________________________________________________________
ClampArt is pleased to announce “A Ghost is Occupying My Heart,” an exhibition of photographs by John Arsenault, the artist’s third show at the gallery.In April 2008, after eleven years of living in New York City, John Arsenault packed up his bags and moved to Provincetown, Massachusetts for a year of self-discovery and artistic growth. With the end of a nine-year romantic relationship (which largely served as the subject of many of Arsenault’searlier images), he sought out the artist colony of Provincetown as a place to heal and intensely concentrate on his photography.

While many of the works in the new exhibition are self portraits (as in his show from 2007), Arsenault is now incorporating evocative and emotional landscapes and still life imagery, punctuating the vision of his life with views outward, no longer presenting the viewer exclusively with photographs just of himself.

The artist writes: “Inspired by a desire to heal a broken heart and to find myself, I decided to strip
myself down emotionally, often literally nude, in order to create a body of work that revealed my search and my pain as honestly as I could.”

Raised in a small town in northern Massachusetts, John Arsenault moved to New York City in 1997 to
pursue a degree in photography at the School of Visual Arts. He now resides in Los Angeles. Arsenault’s photographs are represented in the permanent collections of the Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art in Overland Park, Kansas and the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston.

Ten-percent of the proceeds from the exhibition are being donated to The Trevor Project, the leading
national organization focused on crisis and suicide prevention efforts among lesbian, gay, bisexual,
transgender and questioning (LGBTQ) youth.

For more information and images please contact Brian Paul Clamp, Director, or see www.clampart.com.
Gallery hours are Tuesday through Saturday, 11:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.www.clampart.com

No comments: