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Castellani Art Museum 'TopSpin' series offers 'High Strangeness'

by jmaloni

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Mon, Dec 15th 2014 12:50 pm

Gary Sczerbaniewicz's architectural vignettes invite viewers into a distorted world

Buffalo artist Gary Sczerbaniewicz's exhibition, "High Strangeness," features a series of seven small architectural vignettes housed within scorched periscope forms and a central terminal from, which the vignettes emanate. The artist calls these studies "incursions" as he views them as "spatial scenarios which have in some way been interlopers within my psyche, and through which I transfer to the psyche of the respective viewer."

The exhibition is the latest in the Castellani Art Museum's "TopSpin" series of solo exhibitions by emerging regional artists. An opening reception is set for 2-4 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 25. The exhibition runs through May 3.

The vignettes are displayed in periscopic stands and viewed through visor ports placed in the face of the stands. The language here is decidedly militaristic. The viewer is invited to glimpse the interior scenes, which are slightly distorted by glass lenses set within the visor, indicative what they are viewing is not exactly truthful in its display, but contains a mixture of truth and distortion. There is also a necessity the viewer cannot see what is revealed unless physically close to the peering site. Indeed, this dialogue only can take place under specific intimate conditions.

Sczerbaniewicz said, "I have been, for many years, interested in the absurd concept that invisible dangers can be protected against by physical means (hence my interest in fallout shelters, bunkers and confessional booths)." He is fascinated with interior and uncanny architectural spaces such as tunnels, mineshafts, catacombs, fallout shelters, basements, crawlspaces and other forms of subterranea. Drawing upon these marginal spatial subjects, Sczerbaniewicz constructs intricate psycho-geographical vignettes, which excavate the latent historical, phenomenological, sociological or political strata inherent within their substrates.

Sczerbaniewicz has recently joined the roster of artists represented by the BT&C Gallery in Buffalo. He currently lives and works in Buffalo.

For more information, contact Michael J. Beam, curator of exhibitions and collections, at 716-286-8286.

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