Opening Party and Reception for the Artists

Friday, October 21

Show continues through

November 3, 2011

Working in a variety of media, Argentinean sculptor Guillermo Rigattieri and Michigan artist, Graceann Warn present their latest works: Guillermo, his quirky, endearing sculptures in metal plate, and Graceann, her alternately ethereal and bold paintings/assemblages in encaustic, oil and collage.

Guillermo Rigattieri was born in 1976 in the town of San Rafael, Mendoza. At the age of 18, he moved to the city of Mendoza where he studied at the Faculty of Arts, receiving a degree in Fine Arts. In searching to find his own personal style of work, Guillermo began experimenting with various media in his studio. His first forays into the world of sculpture were made with “plastic” materials such as clay and latex. Once the artist felt more confident with the language of shapes, he turned his focus to welded and wrought metals which quickly became his preferred medium.

With his excitement at discovering the flexibility and immediacy of metal his expressiveness took flight. His fascinating, playful, thought-provoking sculptures have a broad range of themes, from the dramatic to the fantastic and amusing.

Guillermo Rigattieri, Heroe, 24" x 22" x D 19" metal plate

Using metal plate, Guillermo cuts the first shapes and then creates volume by pounding the pieces with a round point hammer. The pieces are welded together, polished, then finished with varnish or an enamel patina to protect the pieces against humidity.

Guillermo Rigattieri exhibits in South America and the United States, and has received numerous awards and honors. His sculptures are included in private collections around the world. He lives with his wife and young son in Mendoza, Argentina.

GRACEANN WARN, as a young child, began to think of herself as an artist but it never occurred to her that people could make their livings as such.

“I never knew an artist when I was growing up. I grew up in a really small town in New Jersey. We barely had an art program in my school. I went to college and became a landscape architect—it was the closest thing to art I could find. After I graduated, I was working for a private office in Ann Arbor, and they sent me to Minneapolis to attend an urban design conference, and when I was there I took a look at the Walker Art Center. What was showing was an exhibition of the last works of Mark Rothko. I went into the gallery, and, surrounded by these paintings, I had a strong emotional reaction — my heart was beating so fast and my eyes filled with tears. This was the first time that abstract art had affected me in such a profound way. In retrospect, I realized that my own work, the design work I was doing in an office, couldn’t compare with what art had to offer, and I decided to get a studio. My life changed within that year.” Graceann feels her profound reaction to Rothko’s abstracts was probably influenced by her synesthesia, a neurologically-based phenomenon.

“I’ll look at a color and I’ll taste it–as if colors have flavors. And numbers have colors. In my

Graceann Warn, Distance + Observation # 17, 11" x 11" mixed media assemblage

weirdly wired brain, I think: Yeah, well, it’s red, so of course, you have to have a number four there. There are all kinds of things that cross over in my head. I’ve only recently realized that I do this. I guess I assumed everybody did–that it was a normal thing. I think for me abstract art, especially color and form, has something to do with that, because when I look at an abstract painting I can taste it or I can hear it.”

Warn’s current work, encaustic painting and part assemblage, is inspired by walls–the layering of plaster, paint, graffiti, the covering over with time, over centuries, the palimpsest. Her greatest influences are Antoni Tapies, Cy Twombly, Franz Kline. Newer influences are Caio Fonesca and Sean Scully. Warn’s work is collected worldwide.

Mixed Messages: October 21 to November 3, 2011