2009 shows

Three Generations +1: The Elibekians April 1 – April 25, 2009
Artist’s Reception: Saturday, April 25, 2-5pm

The month of April is a family affair at Gallery Z with offerings from four different members of the Elibekian family and artwork spanning three generations.
The tradition of painting has been passed down within the Elibekian family for decades resulting in the brilliant artistic compositions that define the family’s artistic legacy. The show will feature paintings by Vagharshag Elibekian, his two sons Henrik and Robert Elibekian, and grandson Areg Elibekian. The works of these four artists are quite different despite their shared heritage.
The elder Vagharshag was born in Tbilisi, Georgia in 1910. It was there that he directed Tbilisi’s Armenian Theatre and worked as a painter. His work captures scenes of traditional Georgian customs, architecture, and lifestyles.
His son, Henrik Elibekian, was born in 1936 in Tbilisi. He graduated from Yerevan’s Institute of Art & Drama in 1967 with a degree in painting. Aside from painting, he also studied acting, directing, sculpture, graphics and design.
His other son, Robert Elibekian, was born in 1941 in Tbilisi, Georgia. He later moved to Yerevan where he graduated from Yerevan’s Institute of Drama & Fine Arts in 1969. His colorful expressionist paintings portray beautiful women and energetic indoor scenes.
The son of Robert, Areg Elibekian, represents to youngest artist in this exhibition. Areg was born in Yerevan, Armenia in 1970. He graduated from Yerevan’s Institute of Drama & Fine Arts in 1992. He since moved to Montreal and travels to Paris every summer to meet his father Robert to paint.
Each of these talented artists is included in the permanent collections of prestigious museums located all over the world.

URI Senior Student Showcase
Show Dates: April 29 – May 2, 2009
Artists Reception - Thursday, April 30
Gallery Z has decided it is important to support the fine art students at URI by providing them with an accessible space to showcase their artwork in Providence. Join us on Thursday, April 30 for the Artists Reception for the URI Senior Student Exhibition at Gallery Z from 5 – 9 PM to support the next generation of artists soon to emerge from Rhode Island into the art world.
The Senior Seminar Class of 2008-09 at the University of Rhode Island's Department of Art and Art History represents a talented and diverse group of young artists. Gallery Z has worked closely with Senior Seminar faculty, Brian O'Malley and Bob Dilworth who acted as co-curators, to mount an exhibition that is timed to coincide with the end of the academic tenure of these students and the beginning of their professional career. Senior Seminar is designed to give senior art majors the opportunity to independently develop a cohesive body of work within a thoroughly conceived project.
“Paintings, photographs, sculptures, and drawings done during the semester are cut, torn, folded, glued, and recycled into new and exciting ideas… But regardless of the approach, the general idea is to keep the process fluid and open to every imaginable visual suggestion, carrying forward old views that transform into new challenges,” explains Bob Dilworth.
This exhibition will feature the photography, painting, printmaking, sculpture, textile art and illustration. The artists will include Sarah Fitzgerald, Amelia Green, Jessica Galeber, Carrie Edens, Timothy Howe, Jennifer Plante, Dawn Grant, Joseph Silver, Brendan Sullivan, Eric Slade, Katie Picard, Alex Henning, Christopher Hart, Sabrina Strawn, Chris Murphy, Arthur Kobin, Sarah Sczepanski, Ryan Monaco and Adam Carter.
“I envision great things to come from this class and look forward to the expansion of this work,” says Brian O’Malley.

Ancient Timeless Shores: Photo – Constructives by Lawrence Sykes Show Dates: May 6 – May 30
The Photo-Constructives created by Lawrence Sykes for this exhibition are multi-layered photographic constructions that engage us with their different textures, variations in scale and blend of landscape and symbolism.
“Our Odysseys on space ship earth carry us to far places – by foot, flight, float, or thought.”
These words of Lawrence Sykes refer to how we as individuals take inventory of our personal journeys, one heartbeat at a time; how the evidence of our routes can be found in the clues and marks we leave behind.
It is through this deeply introspective journey that Sykes is able to present us with such compelling visual narratives that at once place him in the role of photographer, archaeologist, and material culturalist.
Lawrence Sykes, born in 1931, is a retired professor of art at Rhode Island College where he developed the curriculum for the school’s photography concentration. After receiving his undergraduate degree from Morgan in 1955, he earned his masters at the Pratt Institute in New York in 1957. Later, Sykes went on to teach at New York University, the College of Art in Kumasi, Ghana, the Parsons School of Design West Africa Program, and served as commissioner for the Rhode Island State Council on the Arts. Additionally, Sykes’ artwork has been collected and exhibited by museums throughout the United States, Brazil and Malawi in Southeast Africa.
"The amazing Larry Sykes, a professor to many and a mentor to most, crosses the intellectual landscape through powerful images, haunting experiences and an iron clad sense for historic perspective.... with the wisdom of a cunning shaman, the artist will take you through a personalized journey with his constructions and con-jur-graphs."
Angelo Marinosci Jr., Art Critic / Photographer.

Armenian Artists
Show Dates: July 1st to August 1st, 2009

The Armenian Artists exhibition features long-celebrated and emerging talents from within the Armenian art world. The skill and dedication seen in the paintings and sculptures of artists Simon Samsonian, Emma Gregorian, Reuben Nakian, Melik Ghazarian, Kegham Tazian, Garen Bedrossian, Sarkisov, Levon Jamgochian, Aghassi, Chris Gasparian, and Albert Arakelian serve as a visual representation for the enduring Armenian spirit.

Being of Armenian ancestry himself, Gallery Z Director Bérge Zobian takes pride in sponsoring Armenian artists from all over the world.

Real & Imagined Landscapes
Show Dates: August 5 – August 29, 2009
Opening Reception: August 20th, 5-9pm
On Thursday, August 20th from 5:00 – 9:00 PM, Gallery Z will host the opening reception for an exhibition of new artwork by Ewa Romaszewicz and Brian O’Malley titled Real & Imagined Landscapes. This exhibition will be on display at Gallery Z from August 5 – August 29, 2009.
Brian O'Malley has been practicing his art for the better part of 15 years. Brian received a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in painting and drawing from the University of Rhode Island in 1995 and a Master of Fine Arts degree in 1999 from the University of Miami. Brian began teaching at the University of Rhode Island as an adjunct professor in 2001, where he has been ever since. He has shown extensively in the New England area in numerous group shows at the Boston Center for the Arts, University of Rhode Island, Rhode Island College, the Space at Alice, and Gallery Z. Brian maintains a home and studio just outside of Providence, in Greenville, Rhode Island and continues to pursue narrative style paintings fusing landscape and figure.
Born in Bialystok, Poland in 1977, Ewa Romaszewicz has lived in the United States since the age of six. She concentrated in two areas while studying at Brown University, obtaining a Bachelor of Arts in Visual Art and a Bachelor of Science in Biochemistry. She went on to earn her Master of Fine Arts in painting at Indiana University where she taught Color Theory and Design as well as a chemistry laboratory course. She has received several academic awards, most notably a Fulbright grant, which enabled her to pursue her painting in Switzerland. She has exhibited nationally and internationally. Her most recent shows have been in Switzerland, Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Island.

Marty McCorkle & Ian Silvia
Show Dates: September 2, 2009 - October 3, 2009
Opening Reception: Thursday, September 17, 5-9pm
​On Thursday, September 17, from 5:00—9:00 PM, Gallery Z will host the opening reception for an exhibition of paintings by Marty McCorkle and hand-blown glass sculptures by Ian Silvia.

Ian Silvia possesses both masterful skill and perfect timing, both of which are necessity in sculpting three dimensional forms in glass. To watch a glass blower working with molten glass in a furnace with temperatures around 2000 degrees, it can be difficult to imagine how it is possible to control the shape and design of the piece. Silvia's figurative glass sculptures add yet another dimension to the process by demanding exacting forms and drawing.

Marty McCorkle’s fusion of oil painting and computer technology involves a process using far more calculation than one might initially assume. His technique involves photographing his subjects, altering the original form using digital software, and then painting the manipulated image with oil paints on canvas. The distressing effects of oil paint on the original digital image create a tension between the two media.

The elegant hand-blown glass figures of Ian Silvia coupled with Marty McCorkle’s innovative use of technology in his paintings will make this the hottest exhibition in Providence this fall.