OPENING RECEPTION & BOOK RELEASE : SUNDAY NOVEMBER 7, 4-7pm
Founder and Artistic Director, Umberto "Bert" Crenca, exhibits new and recent paintings, sculptures, drawing and mixed-media pieces in all of the AS220 Galleries. The exhibit features new work and pieces from over the last ten years, many of which have never been exhibited before. Bert is widely known as the founder and director of Providence's alternative art space AS220, but he is also an accomplished artist moving seamlessly between mediums creating engaging works of art that are often dark as they are humorous. You Can't Call Your Own Baby Ugly features several bodies of work, including the large scale mixed media trptych's Devolution, the Free Mickey series that examine copyright and copy wrong, Dis Dat Dees Does, and Bert's Head, of off the wall sculptural paintings of the artists' influence and imagined self, plus a whole lot more. Exciting show with well over a 100 works of art representing at least a decade of focused, engaged art-making.
Bert's opening reception is also the book release of : "you can't call your own baby ugly: the doodles of Umberto Crenca" The book contains hundresd of ddodles and drawings Bert has don over the last ten years on scraps of paper, conference agendas, and hotel pad paper, documenting the artists ceaseless flow of creative output. Signed copies will be available at the opening.
Bert will be giving an artist talk on November 19th at 5:30 p.m. that begins Main Gallery at 115 Empire St. and will end at the As220 Project Space at 93 Mathewson St.