Now through February 27! 

Wine and Cheese Artist Reception: February 11, 6-7:30pm 

The creation of art is a means to explore the barriers that we build around us; viewing art is a way to see beyond these defenses to another perspective.  In Urban Constructions, John Osgood, Monika Dalkin, and Keith Troester provide innovative and inspired representations of the literal and figurative walls that surround us.

Dalkin presents playful constructions in shapes of homes. Working adeptly in many mediums, her strong conceptual pieces in ceramic and mixed media on panel convey a natural creative expression.  Her iconic house shapes convey a myriad of ideas from warmth and protection to stability and social standing, all the while creating labels for those that live there.  Dalkin’s installation of 100 ceramic 'tags' which make up a house structure, draw upon this idea directly, as well as a metaphor for graffiti.  A visual language of shapes and symbols on the surface of her work explores the mysterious facets of all sorts of walls.  Dalkin holds an MFA from the University of Arizona, has exhibited her work internationally and has ongoing representation at Gallery 110 in Seattle. 

Osgood paints idiosyncratic characters with a bold palette in a graffiti art style.  His collection of colorful oddballs are inspired by life and the uncomfortable and forlorn circumstances that happen within it.  These unique characters are the embodiment of all of the idiosyncrasies recognized as one peers over the walls we surround our true characters with.  Osgood was recently recognized in a feature story in the Seattle Times for his brainchild and work on a transformational memorial mural in Greenwood after the neighborhood was targeted by an arsonist.  This is yet another example of his immense creative effort to transform heartbreaking situations into remarkable art.  Osgood graduated from Washington State University and is owner and resident artist at Bherd Studios Gallery in Greenwood. 

We are pleased to present New York video artist Keith Troester in AMP at ArtsWest for the month of February.  His video, “In a Landscape,” was inspired and accompanied by John Cage's musical composition of the same name.  Troester’s video collapses day and night into the same frame.  It’s as if we sit looking through slats of a fence onto an enigmatic urban landscape as it whizzes by.  Like Cage's piece, the elements accumulate over time, slowly and deeply.  This piece was exhibited in Italy's "Festival dell'Architettura 4" in 2008.  Troester has worked in video since 1999 and recently began collaborating with OgreOgress productions creating original videos that compliment their recordings of works by avant garde composers such as Cage and Morton Feldman.  Most recently, he has been experimenting with ways of making videos without a traditional video camera.