New exhibition this Friday.

Mary DiBiasio (print hybrids) and Michael Roberts (mixed-media)
Opening: August 3rd, reception 6–9 pm, gallery open at 4 pm; through August 11th.

Mary DiBiasio’s print-based works and Michael Roberts’ mixed-media pieces juxtapose geometric forms with gestural marks and painterly application, implying an organizing presence of a human mind within the realms of organic and natural. In their abstract works the lyrical and the intuitive are complemented by the commonplace and the rational, and physical and psychological spaces are intrinsically linked.

Mary DiBiasio utilizes collograph technique to create hybrid works which are constructed over extended periods of many months. Her practice suggests a never-ending, natural cycle in which potential finished product, a print, becomes a paper matrix for subsequent pieces. Through multiple repetitions of this process combined with cutting, layering, and continuous re-printing, DiBiasio creates intricate collages – infinitely complex structures reminiscent of weathered maps, satellite views or archeological excavations.

Michael Roberts uses multitude of media and techniques inherent to the practices of drawing, painting and printmaking in order to create quiet, constrained representations and symbols of time. A limited pallette of rich blacks, white and grays, scarcely intermitted with oranges and rusts, and basic geometric forms, primarily circles and semi-circles, are combined together to render subtle visual allusions to moon phases, astrolabes and celestial maps. Through these symbols, Roberts investigates time as it manifests itself materially in the processes of keeping and recording, as well as in natural and man-made markers.

About the artists:
For the past five years Mary DiBiasio has been a resident of Milwaukee, and has recently moved back to Chicago with a BFA from MIAD, a 7th Floor Studio, and teaching experience through MIAD, Pius XI High School, and Gallery 37. She has printed through MIAD and Bunker Press in Milwaukee, The Chicago Academy for the Arts and Anchor Graphics in Chicago. Her current intentions are to earn insurance through a well paying job, attend a graduate program in printmaking, and continue her investigations through the collagraph printmaking technique.

Michael Roberts grew up in the border area between Michigan and Indiana. He has lived in Chicago and St. Louis and is now a full time resident of Milwaukee’s East side, with his wife and daughter. Michael has an Associate’s degree in Fine Arts from St Louis Community College at Florissant Valley and a Bachelor’s degree in Fine Arts from the Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design. He has exhibited work though the Mid-West of the United States.