My uncle is close in with me. His loss and its impact on his father and my father resonate now in my studio. The ninety-seven years close like a telescope. That split second near La Bassée – they said he died instantly. They always said that they died instantly. Four hundred thousand lost over a few weeks at the Battle of Ypes. Just the start of a century of war stories and holocausts. It’s all personal. We get to carry our pieces – our fragments.

Time in a drawing is a strange thing. It is part of what is needed for the drawing to come in. Without this quality it will not belong – it will not take its place – it will not sit right. I work away trying to crack the surface of the drawing – to open up space. Time needs space to unfold, to inhabit. How it happens is mysterious. It appears unknowable. Sometimes I just smash the drawing, strip it down, roughly, with frustration, scraping and slashing the surface and it just falls open. There it is. The quiet. The silence. Sometimes it is coaxed out and opens slowly like a flower. Other times it comes unnoticed – I leave a drawing that I believe to be in process and I come back the next day and it is there. Done. I think of Einstein’s metaphor of a permanently sealed clock that you can never open. You can only observe from the outside – speculate, hypothesize – the secret of the universe evidenced by the ticking and the turning.

My uncle Lieutenant Stanley Hawkesworth’s death was on the 25th of January 1915. His name was listed on the casualty list on the 27th which would have been his 21st birthday. I think of my own son just past twenty-one. I think of his Bar Mitzvah when he was fourteen. Rites of passage. My dad was fourteen when his brother died. He turned his grief into a loyalty to the British Empire so deeply held that he could not forgive Gandhi – too much loss – too much investment – too many lies – too much heart break. Gandhi saw clearly. He saw the tyranny playing out on the streets of India. He also understood that although it was propelled by power, money, racism and brutality it was backed by a set of ideas touched by conscience. Just enough so that he could show them up, and he did. It fell open. His discipline and clarity bringing power to its knees – the alchemy of a seer – a steady gaze.

My Grandfather, as the vicar of the Church of England in Ambleside, had to summon himself up to lead his parish as the devastation of loss spread through the countryside like a plague – random, dropped house after house, family after family, death by death. ”They will not grow old like we that are left grow old” reads the village memorial. A trick of time. A turning of the screw. My Grandfather died that year. His heart gave out. My father lived, but not to grow old. The workings of the clock are hidden from us. As Jorge Luis Borges say: “Know this: in some way you are already dead….a marble slab is saved for you, one you won’t read.” Don’t be so sure about the marble slab Mr. Borges, my uncle got a makeshift cross in a churchyard in Givenchy. He was one of the lucky ones – found in one piece – not piled up with others – bulldozed.

Strange that thought – in some way I am already dead – and my uncle vibrant in his loss and promise here in my studio. His photo is earnest in the “Roll of Honor” newspaper cutting. I must remember to give my children a copy even though they seem freed of these matters, constructed in another force field.

Time sits inside me, like in the drawings, holding itself wider than the illusions of myself, my life. It is more a dream state. It lifts me up and opens my consciousness. It is delicious, spacious, this now. It breaks open and shatters into a million pieces – part of the dissolution.

Tim Hawkesworth
9/2012

Quote: Jorge Luis Borges poem ’To the One Who is Reading This’

On View: April 15th – May 31st 2013
Reception: Sunday April 21st 2013, 1:00pm to 4:00pm

This month Pagus is pleased to announce an exhibition by Richard D’Addario titledGeometric Progression.  Completed within the past two years D’Addario’s paintings literally push the boundaries of the rectangle.  D’Addario uses geometry as the main tool in the his often wildly colored abstract paintings. Many of the paintings are completed on unique shapes crafted by the artist.

Please join us this Sunday between 1:00PM & 4:00PM for a reception for the Artist.  Adrienne Beth Jenkins’ paintings will also be on view in the Project Space with a reception held at the same time.

SHE Tiger Sapphire, 2013. Oil on canvas, 36.00 x 28.00 in.

On View: March 1st – April 15th 2013
Reception: Sunday March 10th 2013, 1:00pm to 4:00pm

On View: March 1st – April 15th 2013
Reception: Sunday March 10th 2013, 1:00pm to 4:00pm

STATEMENT

“The inspiration for my art comes from dreams, memories, stories, everyday occurrences and political or environmental concerns. I create my art to be visually interesting as well as intellectually and spiritually provocative.  Although the subject matter is diverse, the techniques used in the paintings and drawings serve as a “thread” tying the work together. The symbols in my art represent transitions, conversations with the past, or a search for new growth and promise for the future. The words and numbers in some pieces become part of the design as well as hinting at the narrative. The figure may represent a participant, an observer, a witness, a victim or a survivor, depending on the scenario.

BIO

Michael Diven was born and raised in Utah where his high school art teacher inspired him to seriously pursue art. After high school he moved to Los Angeles, California, to attend art school but instead, surfed and painted for the next few years.  He later returned to school, studying art at the University of Nevada and the San Francisco Art Institute, where he earned an MFA degree in painting.

Diven taught painting and drawing for 15 years at several West Coast colleges and universities. He recently moved from Northern California to the Philadelphia area. Michael Diven’s art has been exhibited nationally in major galleries including Triangle Gallery and  James Snidle Gallery in San Francisco, CA.  Museum shows include San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and the Seattle Center Art Museum.  Art critics have described his art as, “Broad and rewarding,” “Infinitely rich,” and “Bold and captivating.”

On View: March 1st – April 15th 2013
Reception: Sunday March 10th 2013, 1:00pm to 4:00pm

STATEMENT

Decemberist, 2012.

Works on View: October 1st – 31st 2012
Opening Reception: October 7th, 2012 1:00pm to 4:00pm

Works on View: January 1st – February 28th 2013
Reception: January 13th 2013 1:00pm to 4:00pm

Sue O’Donnell has put together a very large installation of about a dozen new works that would be visually powerful to any casual viewer, but upon closer inspection reveal a powerful conceptual rigor. The works are mostly assembled in large grids from small prints produced with digital techniques. The finished grid is a dramatic formal abstraction with each of the individual components having its own tactile beauty and detail that draws the viewer closer.

ARTIST STATEMENT
“Memory and truth – what is hidden and what is revealed – is central in my work. I create visual narratives that are based on personal experiences and events. Recollections are recontextualized into diagrams and visual constructions that uncover patterns and paths and hidden infrastructures of chance and choice. These constructions reveal an obsessed preoccupation with self reflection and evaluation.

“Chance & Choice” is based on the idea of connections. The path these connections take is determined by the strength and significance of their effect – following a route that meanders through associations, references, observations, relationships and lasting impressions. The result appears organized however closer scrutiny reveals dense, overlapping edits – hiding and revealing thoughts that evolve and linger into questions of uncertainty and doubt.
- Sue O’Donnell

ARTIST BIOGRAPHY
Sue O’Donnell is a visual artist whose work combines experimental book arts, graphic design, and conceptual narratives. She earned her MFA degree in Visual Arts at Purchase College in 2002 after having worked for many years as a freelance designer and digital consultant in
Buffalo, NY. She joined the faculty at Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania in 2007 where she teaches digital art and design fundamentals. O’Donnell brings with her a wide range of life experiences that informs her work and teaching philosophy. Along with a national exhibition record, she is the recipient of numerous artist residencies, grants, and awards.

Works on View: January 1st – February 28th 2013
Reception: January 13th 2013 1:00pm to 4:00pm

November 1st – 30th 2012