Linear Worlds combines the intuitive processes of Elisa Albrecht and Steven Mastroianni to illustrate a surrealist landscape at Waterloo Arts.
Elisa Albrecht’s Unearthed series explores the passage of time within a landscape, gathering inspiration from both historical and figurative structures. Working mainly on paper, Albrecht transforms ink blots into ethereal scenes which bridge the gap between the known and unknown. Each finished piece suggests the existence of life, allowing the viewer to reflect upon the meaning of a moment within a larger cultural history.
Lying at the intersection of drawing and photography, Steven Mastroianni’s Strange Mechanisms series examines the meaning of mechanical design. This abstract work draws upon blueprints which expose the inner workings of a separate, imaginary world. Mastroianni’s multi-panelled pieces are larger than life, creating a world of imaginary letters, biomorphic shapes, and unfamiliar constellations.
Together, Albrecht’s and Mastroianni’s work provides a foundation for exploring the outer limits of the imagination, for delving deeper into one’s dreams.
Opening Reception: Friday, June 6 from 6-9pm. Artist talk at 7:30pm
About the artists:
Elisa Albrecht is from Cleveland Ohio, she was born in 1991 and studied Fine art with a focus on drawing and painting at Kent State University graduating in 2015. She has mainly participated in a number of group juried shows, most recently winning second place in one in 2022. Currently, her work is focused in styles from surrealism, using the techniques of decalcomania. An inventive mode of drawing with either ink or thick paint on canvas creating blots and patterns on a surface. Using these as a starting point, Elisa finds shapes within or of the entire blot itself to work from, adding lines and other various gestural marks to create entirely new figures, and spaces.
Steven Mastroianni: The creative life has led me in many directions: photographer, exhibiting artist, gallery owner, college professor, and musician. After graduating from the Cleveland Institute of Art, where I studied drawing, printmaking, video, and photography, I worked in the video and photography field, eventually carving out a career as a freelance commercial photographer. At the same time I began exhibiting my own work in area galleries, and a frequent participant in the early Tremont Art scene. And I ran my own photo studio and art gallery from 2008-2018. I also work in higher education, as a faculty member in Visual Arts at Cuyahoga Community College, and in the IT department at the Cleveland Institute of Art.
My father was a quiet person, but a big influence on my creativity. He was a newspaper man and his beat was the entertainment scene; through his writing he taught me the value of art on its own merits. There was no low-brow or high-brow to his critical eye, he would review a police thriller one day and an Ingmar Bergman film the next, followed by Shakespeare or a musical, it all had its own worth and purpose. I’ve always applied these values to my work, whether photographing a wedding, making commercial work, or creating art for the gallery, it all has value and requires the same earnestness and honesty.
A lifelong Clevelander living in the Tremont neighborhood, I’ve owned a photography studio and art gallery, raised two children, and still live there with my wife, along with our dog and a clowder of cats.
Linear Worlds will be open from June 6 through July 19 during regular gallery hours on Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays from 12 p.m.-4 p.m., and by appointment on weekdays. To request an appointment, email info@waterlooarts.org or call 216.692.9500.
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