October 20-November 25, 2000
Satoru Aoyama, Annabelle Clarke, Howard P. Fonda, and Taro Hattori
Dissimulation
 Aoyama: Untitled, 2000 stitched polyester 10" diameter
The four artists in this exhibition examine the inherent falsity of representational imagery. The perception of truth in a visual work relies upon the viewer’s ability to suspend his/her belief in the reality as it is presented and look instead to the contextual environment and history for meaning.
Satoru Aoyama creates portraits of his peers in a format that echoes the handiwork of a bygone era. His meticulously stitched pieces are images of young individuals engaged in mundane activities. The nostalgic element of the embroidery hoop belies the contemporary scene framed within, and sets up a visual contradiction of the form and its content.
Annabelle Clarke, on the other hand, creates enormous fabric banners which read as paintings. They reference both contemporary painting and the large flags displayed outside suburban homes celebrating the seasons. The high and low tension present in her work is tempered by the humor of the imagery. In one work Adirondack chairs are set at the edge of a lake with icebergs floating in the distance, the sky colored with Northern Lights.
 Hattori: detail of re-fraction(s), 2000 metal, glass, photo negatives, plastic, rubber and electronic components 144" x 96" x 9"
Taro Hattori’s installations depict the struggle to communicate: the psychological warfare present in dysfunctional households, the simple difficulty to explain oneself with clarity, the misperceptions of father, mother and siblings. In re-fraction(s) he places stolen family negatives in a row on a Plexiglas platform while a lens traverses its length, projecting the images below. These images are interspersed with text providing a history of the artist’s father.
Howard P. Fonda, like Aoyama, creates images that recall other media and genres. His paintings read like drawings, their surfaces feel like ceramic, and the figures depicted within embody isolation and withdrawal. His restrained palette of a primarily white ground with linear streaks of blue or black reinforces the severity and silence depicted in the work. These are not windows to an interior space, but visual haiku.
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