Charleen Kavleski. Paying Tribute

About

The exhibition features ink jet prints of quilt top studies along with photographs and documents shown to pay tribute to significant, deceased family members whose lives were marked by practices in construction and quilt making.

A Conceptual artist since the 1970’s, the artist’s current works evolved from initial concerns with the grid as a visual system and developing visual permutations within such narrow constraints. The work of family masons and quiltmakers with their grid involvements enhanced this pursuit. Her work evolved, over time, to incorporate and transform these system-oriented objectives to expressive ends.

Amos Eno has most frequently exhibited Kavleski’s acrylic-shaped canvas constructions in triptychs and suites. Their origins are in the isosceles right triangle, a foundational form known as a half square in quiltmaking. The quilt top studies presented in this exhibition explore similar forms, yet are free of the constraints of shaped canvas. Some studies employ solitary photographic reproductions, while others include images fragmented by color blocks and stripes. All works feature people, events and achievements surrounding the early life of the artist’s father, Charles Hayes.

As a stonemason, Charles Hayes was one of the artist’s first and most important visual role models. In 1995, an exhibition of stonework by Sol LeWitt at the ACE Gallery in NYC titled “Concrete Block Structure- Two Vertical Columns” reconfirmed the influence of both artists on Kavleski’s work.