Spaces Real and Imagined: Angelo Arnold & Gaetano LaRoche

Angelo Arnold: Familiarture

(fa.mil.iar.ture) n. 1. well known, commonly seen or heard, and easily recognized

2. with a thorough knowledge and good understanding of furniture 3. in or characteristic

of a close personal relationship with furniture 4. unduly friendly or intimate in a way

that is seen as presumptuous or impertinent (dated) 5. the movable items such as chairs,

tables, or cabinets in an area such as a room or patio 6. part(s) of furniture assembled

together or mounted to wall 7. upholstered form(s)

Through the comfortable format of furniture, I present concepts of metamorphosis, change and subversion with self. I create custom works that embrace change and present possibilities for adaptation to new, unfamiliar environments and situations. These metamorphic forms deconstruct the functional object to establish a foundation or platform to recall past memories, stories and uncanny events. Through my reconstructed objects reference a vocabulary of furniture, the removal of the functional aspects subverts the viewer’s expectations and provokes new interpretations. I use the gallery as a platform to establish an imagined environment of familiar upholstered objects with an unfamiliar twist… I call this work Familiarture.

Gaetano LaRoche

The paintings, drawings and prints in the show Spaces Real & Imagined reflect my passion for such things as the sea, sky, forest and thought.  By thought, I mean how we perceive the reflection of inner thought as revealed by our perception of the physical.

Drawings like “Horse” and “Mountain Range” combine my study of such things with my wish to create a fantasy place more magical, beautiful, and lasting. I seek to draw new places for the imagination to roam, consider, have enter into them.

The paintings are the same, in a different medium and so demanding a different response from from the maker, and viewer.  My interests are the same, space (real and imagined), people, places, images.  I am trying to create worlds for people to enter.

“St. Francis”, “St. Sebastian”, and “Michael Slays the Devil”, combine my Catholic upbringing, artistic training, love of stories and homoerotic interest.