Worcester -The Worcester PopUp, 38 Franklin Street, Worcester, will host an artist reception to celebrate the installation of its second gallery exhibit on Thursday, July 31, 2014 from 5-7 p.m. The newest exhibition showcases works by six artists: Scott Boilard, Scott Erb, Louie Despres, Lukas Godaire, Aaron James Powers and Paul Puiia, featuring photography, abstract painting, and illustration. Guitarist Derid Peguero, a faculty member at the Worcester Music Academy, will perform during the opening reception and light refreshments will be served. Admission is free and open to all. WOO Card holders can swipe their WOO Card for WOO points.

 

Since its opening in mid-June, the Worcester PopUp has hosted nine events including painting workshops, poetry readings, live music, and art sales. Between 300-400 guests have visited the PopUp in just over a month. In coming weeks guests will be able to enjoy a staged play reading, flamenco dance demonstration and lesson, and belly dancing lessons among other activities. A complete schedule can be found at www.WorcesterPopUp.com 

 

Worcester PopUp is a collaboration led by the Worcester Cultural Coalition and City of Worcester Economic Development Office, in partnership with Bay State Savings Bank, Worcester Business Development Corporation, and Technocopia to bring creativity to life through rotating art exhibitions, brilliant performances, music, good food, arts, 3D printing, and inspiring hands on activity. The PopUp still has openings for inspired events. Contact: hannahyukon@gmail.com

 

About the Artists

Scott Boilard

"The direction of my current work follows two opposing influences: my love of Abstract Expressionism and my ability to render representational subjects. With each piece, I aim to reconcile the two a little bit more to create interesting images, to try and understand what each end of this spectrum can share and how they can complement each other. I have always loved the freedom of abstraction, but will always want to stretch my imagination to depict physical entities both familiar and unearthly. These can be human and or animal forms, sometimes in a hybrid or as something as simple as shapes, surfaces and textures that serve as a vehicle for rendering and experimenting."

 

Scott Erb

Scott Erb is a nationally published and collected artist from the central New England area. His work has been exhibited at the Center for Creative Photography in Fort Collins, Colorado, and the Spectrum Gallery in Rochester, NY, as well as many local New England shows since 1997. His work has received numerous awards and honors including Best Photo Studio for 5 years running and a Massachusetts Cultural Council Grant to publish a show and book entitled 20 Artists of Worcester. Specializing in figurative imagery, He utilizes classical lighting techniques and modern premise. He studied photography in Daytona Beach Florida at the Center for Photo/Graphic Studies where he developed his first figurative portfolio. Please check out www.scotterbgallery.com He continues to create fine art figurative images while at the same time engages in a flourishing commercial photography career, which specializes in hospitality and food imagery. Check out Foodies of New England Magazine at www.foodiesofnewengland.com to see more of his work.

 

Louie Despres

"Artistic Voyeurism is a self-defined definition for my license to passionately observe and photograph life as it unfolds around me. I drift in and out of each area I'm in, studying the social dynamics of individuals in front of me. My technique is to shoot fast, while people are unguarded. They usually do not see me with my camera in hand and the results are always a surprising microsecond of activity not fully perceived before-hand. My style captures and uncensored reality of this life scene as I interpret it."

 

Lukas Godaire

Lukas Godaire interprets the colors and shapes of life to create an image that forms as the painting progresses through layers of texture and vibrant color to catch the human eye. Abstract qualities found in natural forms suggest atmosphere, textures, and color schemes as his main focus while creating a sense of wonder among his artwork.

 

 

Aaron James Powers

Though the illustration of Aaron James Powers can be viewed simply as a figurative blend of fauna and synthetics, there is also an opportunity to project one's own personal narrative on the subject(s) layered within. A pensive thousand-yard stare or the intent with which a figure cranes its neck while searching its surroundings invite the viewer to question what it is that the subjects are looking for. Where some find regret in the hand-screened layers of ink, others can find an opportunity for hope.

 

 

Paul Puiia

In an economy no longer dependent on the manufacturing industry as a source of income, many of Worcester's most characteristic structures, its factories, are abandoned. Slowly they're torn down or converted into other more profitable spaces such as studios and apartment buildings. Brick & Glass is an exploration of Worcester's changing architectural landscape-a once-prosperous mill town, slowly rebuilt with modern glass and steel structures. The old buildings are dying. They're decomposing, crumbling under their own weight as they sit immobile, sad and neglected. They watch as the city that they worked so hard to shape is populated by alien structures. The new buildings stand helpless as they witness the foundations of their grandfathers rotting, anticipating the day that they're finally pulled down by a backhoe. Brick & Glass attempts to capture the souls of these buildings, and the dramatic, dissonant transition between the old and the new.

 

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