Matteawan Gallery is pleased to present Borrowed Lines, an exhibition of recent works on paper by August Ventimiglia. The exhibition is on view Sept. 14 through Oct. 5, and opens with a reception from 6 to 9 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 14.
The exhibition features minimalist works that incorporate found books and chalk line drawings. Lines appear throughout Ventimiglia’s art, from chalk line drawings, to ink lines cut from the pages of a book, to the lines of glue that remain inside a book cover. Lines are evocative of landscapes, timelines, trajectories, and the mark of a hand at work. Ventimiglia’s abstract forms are invested with human social and philosophical references.
For example, in Borrowed Lines from The Meaning of Evolution, he has cut the underlined passages from an old copy of George Gaylord Simpson’s The Meaning of Evolution, and has removed all the text, just saving the underlining. He pastes the lines back together into the form of an open book.
The meaning and importance of the text has been lost, but the lines that remain create an abstract drawing while referencing the physical act of underlining important passages to better understand and remember them.
Ventimiglia was born in Maine and currently lives in Wellesley, Mass. He received a B.A. in anthropology from The University of Pennsylvania and briefly studied studio art and theory at the Maine College of Art.
Mattewan Gallery is located 464 Main St., Beacon. For more information, call 845-440-7901, contact [email protected] or visit matteawan.com.
