Park Row Gallery News

An ambitious solo exhibition of new work by Michael Zelehoski will be on view at Park Row Gallery in Chatham, NY, from June 26th through August 2nd, 2008. There will be a special reception with the artist on Saturday, July 5th from 4pm – 6:00pm, and the public is cordially invited to attend.

Michael Zelehoski grew up in the Berkshires of Massachusetts, but traveled to South America at the age of 20 and spent nearly six years pursuing his vocation as a young artist, including an apprenticeship with the late Chilean sculptor, Felix Maruenda. Mr. Zelehoski, now 28, has returned to the region and is currently working on upcoming exhibitions from his studio in Pittsfield, MA. He is an emerging artist of exceptional talent whose mixed media work will
be showcased in this exciting solo exhibition.

Michael Zelehoski’s recent work includes abstract and figurative compositions created from old pieces of wood and furniture that have been worn and weathered to reveal the passage of time. The artist seeks to save what he perceives as priceless remnants of our past, as he endeavors to cultivate a deeper awareness of the intrinsic aesthetic value in these wooden surfaces. It is as if he sparks a dialogue between the object and its history, between the textured surface of our lives and the history that shapes us. It is not surprising then that figures enter into his work, and that they tend to be archetypal – an old man, a young woman, an innocent child.

“Summer Girl,” "Old Man in Hat," and “Me and Johnney,” are just three of the figurative works in this exhibition. While some of the work has a photographic quality, the technique used by the artist is sculptural in nature and quite primitive. That is, Mr. Zelehoski literally carves the figures into the assembled wooden plane with gouges, and then burns the surface of the carved wood into blackened shadows, adding layers of encaustic wax to build lighter tones that create a chiaroscuro effect.

The abstract assemblages, such as “Dark Plains,” “Textured Blue,” and “Morning” are created with a minimalist aesthetic, but the artist often constructs compositions with strong horizons and explores the push and pull of space within a two-dimensional plane. Mr. Zelehoski also takes utilitarian objects, such as old tables and chairs, and “flattens” them, as in “Winged Chair.” He achieves this by deconstructing a simple piece of furniture; sawing, cutting and shaping it into abstract fragments that he reconstructs as he explores positive and negative space and the play of perspective. Ever mindful of calling attention to the inherent beauty of what is so often ignored, the artist states, “We may take a chair for granted when we are sitting on it, but when we find it flattened and hanging on a wall in front of us, still a chair though its function has been completely negated, our perception is challenged and enlarged.”

Michael Zelehoski was born in Concord, Massachusetts and grew up in the Berkshires. He attended the Rudolf Steiner School and received his AA from Simon’s Rock College of Bard. While living in Chile, Mr. Zelehoski completed his BA in Fine Arts from the Universidad Finis Terrae in Santiago de Chile and graduated with votes of distinction. Mr. Zelehoski has exhibited his work regionally and internationally. His work is in private and public collections in the U.S. and abroad, including The Red Lion Inn in Stockbrige, MA, and La Nacion and the North American Cultural Institute in Santiago, Chile.