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Point, Line, Plane, an installation resulting from a collaboration between painter Pat Badt and sculptor Scott Sherk, will be exhibited Dec. 9-Jan 24 in the Grossman Gallery of the Williams Visual Arts Building.
The gallery will host an opening reception 5-6:30 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 9, and an evening talk with the artists 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 22. The events are free and open to the public.
The Grossman Gallery is open 10 a.m.-5 p.m Tuesday-Saturday and can be reached at 610-330-5831.
Created especially for the gallery, the installation was inspired by the artists’ recent reading of Wassily Kandinsky’s inspirational text, On the Spiritual in Art.
“We found a certain resonance in Kandinsky’s critique of the art of ‘materialist attitude’ and his suggesting an art of the spirit,” notes a joint statement by the artists. “We embrace Kandinsky’s critique and hope for something different — an art which doesn’t scream at you from the wall, as Dave Hickey says, but rather one that whispers. We have tried to create an art that whispers, whispers about a rendezvous with you in the space between existence and recognition.”
Point, Line, Plane consists of three elements derived from Kandinsky’s elements of a visual syntax, according to the artists:
“Point– At the far end of the gallery sits a chair. Cut into the floor by the base of the chair is a simple circular hole. A viewer sitting in the chair becomes aware of singular drops of water falling from the ceiling above. Each drop forms, falls through the space of the gallery, and passes through the floor into a cavity below. The water drop is accompanied by the deep sound of its impact as it strikes a drum buried beneath the floor.
“Line– Crossing through the gallery at the threshold of perception are lines of monofilament. Linking the world outside the space to the world below, drawing the viewer in, these connect and penetrate. These lines, although straight, suggest a curving plane in space.
“Plane– The viewer is invited to enter one of three aluminum cubes, which have been installed, on wheels in the gallery. Each cube is painted one of the primary colors — red, yellow, blue. Within each cube is a zabuton pillow. The viewer, sitting inside the colored cube, is immersed in a world of primary color. The viewer looks out at the world through a specially shaped window — circle, square, triangle. Painted on the north wall of the gallery are the primary and secondary colors. These colors interact with the colors within the cube, giving the viewer an experience of color in all its complexity and subtlety.”
Point, Line, Plane is the fifth collaboration between Badt and Sherk. Their previous partnerships include Hutview at the Katonah Museum of Art in Katonah, N.Y.; Horizonlines at the Kim Foster Gallery in New York City; and Range at Martial Arts in Memphis, Tenn.
Badt is professor of art and chair of the art department at Cedar Crest College, while Sherk holds the same position at Muhlenberg College. They live in Orefield, Pa., on an old homestead. Their studios are shared between three barns.
Directed by Ed Kerns, Eugene H. Clapp ’36 Professor of Art, the 23,500-square-foot Williams Visual Arts Building is one of the leading high-tech facilities for art education and exhibitions in the nation. It includes sculpture and painting studios, a community-based teaching studio, the Grossman Gallery, a flexible studio area with movable walls for honors and independent study students, a seminar room, a conference room, and faculty studios and offices.
The building is home to the studio art program. The classrooms are adjacent to professors’ personal studios, which encourages the free exchange of ideas between students and faculty. Honors students, faculty, and visiting professional artists work together with area high school and adult art students through the Community-Based Teaching Program, which is led by sculptor Jim Toia, who also directs the Grossman Gallery.