Melissa Kuntz, chair and associate professor of painting for Clarion University Department
of Art, will have an opening reception for her two-day exhibition, "Melissa Kuntz:
New Drawings," from 5 to 8 p.m. Aug. 24 at Shaw Galleries, 805 Liberty Ave., Pittsburgh.
The exhibition will continue Aug. 25. The reception is free and open to the public.
In a series of gouache-on-paper drawings, Kuntz, of Highland Park, explores locations
of leisure and artifice and the strangely appealing aesthetic of tawdry, gaudy cheapness
that is particular to these settings. These drawings are "collaged" from her collection
of thousands of photographs that she has taken over the past 10 years. Many of the
objects in the new 23-by-29-inch drawings that will be on display were ‘extracted'
from photographs taken in Pittsburgh.
"I find trailers, architecture and signage of ‘leisure,' and vintage homes and other
items appealing because exaggerated, unnatural colors and patterns often used in their
decoration are alluring, but at the same time, the often manic intensity of the ‘style'
is oddly alienating," Kuntz said. "I am interested in how, by combining disparate
objects such as signs, buildings, trailers, satellite dishes, and exaggerating the
scale of the items, unsettling, slightly
surreal scenes often begin to take on an implied narrative."
Located in the heart of downtown Pittsburgh's Cultural District, Shaw Galleries specializes
in antique maps, prints and works of historical importance spanning three centuries.
Regular gallery hours are 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday.
Kuntz holds Master of Fine Arts and Master of Arts degrees from State University of
New York, Purchase College, and a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Nova Scotia College of
Art and Design. She has written reviews for Art in America and the Pittsburgh City
Paper while also maintaining a studio practice. Kuntz's recent collections include
the Senvest Art Collection (Montréal) and Fidelity Corporate Art Collection. In Canada
she is represented by Gallery Page and Strange in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Works and
a detailed biography can be seen online at www.melissakuntz1.com and www.pageandstrange.com.