By Erin Comerford
Are you looking to escape, what we can only hope to be, the last dreary days of winter? If you need a little light in your life, look no further. The Buffalo Arts Studio, tucked away in the Tri-Main Center, is sure to brighten your day.
Buffalo Arts Studio is a not-for-profit arts studio. It houses two gallery spaces where solo and group exhibitions are presented, surrounded by resident artists' studios.
According to Curator Cori Wolff, "The studio is committed to the support of working artists and the art-viewing public."
When touring the artists' studios, one is able to see all aspects of work in progress as well as final pieces. There are completed works ready for show, as well as half-drawn sketches and partially painted canvases, to artists at work on on-going projects; the BAS might even inspire you to take a class or two at the studio.
Relatively new to BAS, Wolff has acted as curator for the past six months, with an eye for talent as exemplified in the current exhibition at Buffalo Arts Studio.
The two solo shows currently being exhibited are those of John Aasp and Kevin Charles Kline.
Kevin Charles Kline is a Buffalo-based multimedia artist who collects discarded books and maps. It is the manner in which Kline reshapes the books, so to speak that makes his gallery exceptional.
As Wolff states, "He cuts apart and reconstructs [the books] revealing the subjective and often absurd nature of their arrangements and generating his own systemization of history based purely upon on aesthetic preference. His work examines the manner in which government and education shape and control our views."
Kline's current exhibit is entitled, "DIG: Excavations of Information Visualized."
The other gallery offers a multimedia display by John Aasp entitled, "Eternal Now."
Aasp is a multimedia artist from Texas. "He utilizes a chronophotographic sensibility in his videos to bridge the seemingly contradictory characteristics of cinema and photography: motion and stillness," Wolff says.
His current exhibit utilizes this idea by borrowing scenes from old silent films and modern television. As Wolff notes, the singular result "is a cyclical narrative that entices the viewer, while simultaneously producing feelings of uneasiness and longing for closure."
If you are looking to escape the ordinary and mundane this winter, these exhibits, as well as the studios themselves, are just the ticket.
Founded in 1990 by local artist Joanna Angie, Buffalo Arts Studio is located at the Tri-Main Center at 2495 Main Street,
Suite 500. Gallery hours are
Tuesday through Friday 11-5 and Saturday from 11-3. You can find more information online at: www.buffaloartsstudio.org.
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The Tri-Main building is a fantastic example of an innovative reuse with hard work and creativity. This is a huge structure that has provided unparalleled amenities for artistic freedoms because of its historic and structural abilities.
You cannot afford to build buildings like this today. The amount of load that each floor can take and its durability would make a similar sized project fiscally incomprehensible. It is one of the main reasons that the demolition of other such structures should be rethought.
The casino project unfortunately took down a similarly structured building albeit much smaller. A real shame. They could have had an operating casino months ahead of time if they just renovated and expanded the existing structure. I wonder if they are rethinking that idea now that their structural steel has been exposed to the elements for a whole winters worth or water and salt. I sure hope they get it all inspected before they start construction again.
Either way if anyone hasn't been inside this building it is well worth the visit. Studio spaces, architecture firms, offices, cafe. A really fun mix.
Totally agreed about the excellent reuse of space, sbrof. Now if someone would recognize the vast potential of more empty industrial spaces... Pierce Arrow building on Great Arrow between Elmwood and Delaware, anyone? One of the most beautiful industrial environments in the city in my opinion, and it's hardly being utilized.