Biography

At the age of 10 Lineu Zadereski discovered his passion for drawing. In the 90’s his mother held a job at a local Museum, Solar do Barao, in Curitiba, Brazil. In one of his visits to his mother at the museum, he managed to escape and ended up in the beautiful artist’s loft. At that time he was immediately taken away, right then he sealed his soul to the arts.

Zadereski hoped to discover a better world, so he packed his bags along with his dreams and moved to Lowell, Massachusetts, at the age of 19. Despite all the challenges of an immigrant he continued to follow his dreams. Even if he had graduated in lithography and English in Brazil, he enrolled at Middlesex Community College where he received his associate degree in Liberal Arts, Graphic Design.

He learned to paint mostly on his own. His subject matter is figural, with large geometric shapes defined by thick smooth black lines. There are recurring motifs such as abstract eyes (always with one winking), dotted areas signifying skin, and shoes indicating the directional motion of the figure. A belt on the figure completes the composition, tying the elements together with the artist’s signature. His hands were trained to follow strict rules, but his heart did not conform. His pursuit is something new and different. He loves seeing the differences and contrasts among individual people and he hopes to show the impact of their unique selves in the big world in these new paintings.

After expressing himself in many different styles and techniques he found acrylics to be the one that currently represents him best. His works are done with mixed media on canvas, hoping for a three-dimensional cubist space.

Zadereski finds influences in the work of Picasso, Dali, and Brazilian artists Portinari and Denise Roman. He says of his paintings, “I try to find the specific beauty of everyday people through color and line. My figures are always smiling. I want them to be happy and bold.” He cheerfully invites you to be taken away.

Biography

The compulsive need for artistic creation has ruled Hermann Polz since childhood, sometimes to an uncontrollable extent. Attempted escapes led him through quite a few professional detours and wrong ways. However, during other occupations he was always driven back to the drawing table and easel. While studying Philosophy and Psychology at the University of Vienna (doctoral dissertation on: “Psychoanalysis in Modern Art”), he attended evening courses in figure drawing with Herbert Böckl at the Academy of Art. After finishing his degree, he participated in stage set design while working as a dramatic producer at the Scala Theater in Vienna. Later, as an editor for a publishing company he also designed book covers and as a theater critic was also creative as an illustrator and caricaturist. Most of his career was spent as editor in chief for an Austrian daily where he made a significant contribution to the formation of the political landscape in Austria. After having suffered the devastating consequences of fascism in Europe during the WWII, Mr. Polz devoted his career to actively fighting against even the hint of fascist ideology. The indelible mark of the wartime experience also manifests itself in many of his paintings.

In the second half of his life, Mr. Polz evolved into an alter Wilder (old wild one), a somewhat suspicious species because the aggressive impetus of the junger Wilde (young wild one) was reinvigorated by an array of experiences over the course of many years while not yet being diminished by age. Mr. Polz is interested in depicting the human being not without irony but in all of its inadequacies and defeats – a state more unequivocally revealing than any success or victory.

Artistic fear of publicity led to the materialization of a number of solo and group shows, including in Austria, Germany, Sweden and the United States.

Hermann Polz lives and works in Vienna, Austria.

OPENING: July 11; 6 – 9 pm

JARRETT MIN DAVIS’s work deals with the bewilderment and uncertainty of identity. The figures are integrated from multiple Asian pop sources and dressed in clothing from both Eastern and Western culture. Along with avian imagery, these Asian pop icons inhabit a psychological landscape created by combining traditional Korean architecture, bombed-out Western ruins, and Flemish-style painting.
The particularized scenography is a blend of Korean and partially demolished Western architecture. It is the artist’s reflection on the duality of being Korean-American. The Western European images depict the ruins of architecture destroyed by various world conflicts. The Korean imagery is taken from traditional Confucian Sõwon architecture, from the Chõson period, and stylized Korean paper lanterns. Within the early Flemish-style landscapes are elements of Chinese, Italian and Korean cultures. The fusing of multiple differentiated image-streams into one is an attempt to deal with the uneasy liminal quality of being between two cultures.
The birds chosen for each painting are almost exclusively exotic Asian or African species. The avian imagery has three main functions:  as signifier of aggressive invasiveness, as an emblem of the resurgence of an extinct native species, and representative of the interaction between the West and the Orient.
A purposeful ambiguity is created through the layering and interlocking of images— the exploration of scale, proportion, volume, paint and charcoal. Inverting the scale of the figures, birds, and buildings, putting painted passages next to charcoal rendered objects, and layering images creates a fractured yet cohesive whole.
The work is built up to induce a narrative-like quality, yet the stories are meant as discontinuous ones. The inhabiting creatures cope with and adapt to the deserted and demolished architecture in a faux idyllic landscape. In the making of this work, the artist is learning to create personal, even private spaces. The paintings, to a greater or lesser degree serve as indicators of frustration and confusion within the everyday, as well as signposts of impending integration and resolution.