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Material Matters

 
Material Matters @ BoxHeart Gallery
 
In Material Matters, four distinctive artists demonstrate how material, medium, and process can evoke emotion and meaning, bringing diverse artistic processes to life. Featuring artwork by Tiffany Budzisz, Aster Da Fonseca, Ellen Silberlicht, and Belgin Yücelen, this thoughtfully curated exhibition showcases how the materials artists use transform their mediums into languages rich with texture, form, and meaning.
 
Artist Tiffany Budzisz is renowned for her intricate cut paper art, a medium that involves meticulously cutting and layering paper to create detailed and mesmerizing compositions. Influenced by both traditional paper cutting techniques and contemporary art forms, Budzisz’s artwork is characterized by its delicate craftsmanship, precision, and the harmonious interplay of light and shadow. Drawing inspiration from nature, mythology, and design, Budzisz’s artwork invites us to pause and marvel at the delicate interplay between craftsmanship and emotion.
 
Aster da Fonseca’s collection of collages are inspired by time in his home Florida garden watching the painted buntings, parrots, hummingbirds, and other fauna that visit his favorite garden trees, the Plumerias. Inspired by the simplicity of his surroundings, he reached for the leftover painter's tape around his studio and began creating. He uses acrylic paint on painter’s tape, designing various patterns and schemes. He then cuts out each shape by hand and pastes the shapes onto paper, harmoniously capturing the essence of a peaceful moment in nature, where every leaf and branch is alive with subtle movement and texture.
 
Ellen Silberlicht's journey as an artist is shaped by a blend of resilience and creative discovery. Originally working primarily in ceramics, her artistic process shifted when health challenges led her to explore a new approach. Her signature "Raku Fiber Fusion" series combines the earthy, unpredictable qualities of Raku-fired clay with the softness of felted wool. Adding glass beads and metallic details, Silberlicht's artwork celebrates contrasts - rough and smooth, rigid and flexible - inviting us to experience art that is both tactile and emotionally resonant. Her sculptures, like "Instinctive Emergence", are tactile emotionally resonant celebrations of material innovation.
 
In her silk and paper paintings, Belgin Yücelen invites us into misty dreamscapes where the boundaries between the seen and unseen dissolve. Ghostly figures and delicate natural forms seem to float through the textures of her artwork, evoking memories and quiet reverence. Paintings like "Hero's Imagination" capture the soul of the impermanent and the sacred. Rather than a direct representation, Yücelen creates fictional worlds to conjure unrealized possibilities and to challenge our imagination. Traces of her previous years in Turkey appear in her artwork at the fascinating edge where East and West meet and ancient and modern coincide.
 
Together, these artists demonstrate how materials are often collaborators in creating meaning. Material Matters invites us to reflect on the transformative relationship between material and message in contemporary art.

portfolio.jpg Material Matters is on exhibit January 15th - February 28th, 2025.

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