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Artists Open StudiosContinued from Page yerosion, and making the old into somethingnew.%u201dLIKE A COOK IN THE KITCHEN\plains, %u201cI experiment with the diversematerials I collect %u2014 sand from Bayonne,dirt from Pittsburgh %u2014 as well as plasterand paper mache, and sculpt the forms,adding little details as I work, things I%u2019vefound, presents, buttons, whatever. Much ofmy pleasure comes from bringing togetherthese materials from natural and industrialsites.Another Park Slope artist with interestsin primal expression and found material isAlexis Gorodine, a native of France who%u201cfollowed his wife (so he says)%u201d to theSlope five years ago. In his earlier works,he assembled artifacts mostly from objectsfound in Prospect Park, and then paintedthe pieces. The artifacts, built from bark,feathers, grass, rocks and the like, andwound together with twine, evoke tribalcultures and strong feelings of rootedness.His later works are paintings, mixing thenatural objects within sweeping fields ofearthy gray tones spotted with numbers,graphs or a building.%u201cThe new series is called ground, or soil.It%u2019s like an archaeological site without anyspecific culture, without any past orfuture,%u201d he explains. %u201cThe ground could beanything, resting place, apocalypse, orgenesis, birth of the new. I felt I needed toput the natural artifacts in a new context. Iused to include industrial junk in the artifacts. Now the numbers, graphs, or thedepiction of the Lichfield Villa in thatpainting express the rational, orderedendeavors while the feathers and othernatural objects express the natural and instinctive. When the pressure of industrialcivilization is too strong, people need tocome back to something primal andnatural.%u201dGorodine added, %u201cI loved working here.There%u2019s a marvelous reservoir of stuff inthe park and the streets. I enjoy the people.It%u2019s nice having artist friends around anddoing shows together. The community isimportant. It%u2019s not a big gallery scene orbig business around here, but there is community and close friendships. That%u2019s mostimportant.Painter Joan Zraly Turken, who currentlydoubles as the Council%u2019s publicity person,elaborated on the development and importance of the group. %u201cWe started three yearsago with about 35 interested people. By thetime we were planning our first tour thenext January we had about 100. It was clearwe would not run short of artists. We%u2019ve hada flow of about 250 in and out of the group,with about 100 at any given time. One of themain reasons we got together was to get toknow each other, share information andideas. Ironically, because of the success ofthe shows, there hasn%u2019t been time for muchof that. Artists suffer from an isolation, andwe%u2019re going to work to alleviate that,%u201d shesaid.MUSIC AND ART CONNECTEDTurken revealed a strong connection between the music of Philip Glass and her ownvibrant watercolors. %u201cI went to see a concert of his opera %u201cEinstein on the Beach,%u201dand I just started imagining the mostunbelieveable images. There was somethingin the music talking to me about space andcolor. The structure of the sound he creates,it%u2019s like drawing in space. When I laterfound out what the opera looked like whenstaged, I was floored by what seemed apsychic connection betwen my imagery andEinstein%u2019s,%u201d she said.Painter Jeffrey Albert, in his clutteredstudio overlooking Seventh Ave., spoke ofthe influence of jazz in his work while SarahVaughn crooned in the background. %u201cI likethe way jazz musicians take a tune apartand reassemble it, leaving t%u2019lings out. It interests me the way they use negative space,like the way Count Basie plays; all that%u2019sleft out puts a lot more weight and energyJ - A - %u2014 i %u2014 a %u00bb _ l . f t . n m w n u a i o il u u i.Albert%u2019s paintings are bright, multicolored composites of abstract forms, withstrong feelings of spaciousness and movement. Though abstract, his titles are mostlyanimal related. %u201cI%u2019m very much influencedby what we call primitive art %u2014 eskimoM aureen Mullarkey with %u201cJulie in a H at.%u201d (Phoenix/Kirk Photo) Audrey Frank (Phoenix/Kirk Photo)Sham ina Yasmin Shopna%u2019s oil paints are showing at Clockworks. (Phoenix/Kirk Photo)Susan Stills with her %u201c H ead.%u201d (Phoenix/Kirk Photo)work, northwest Indians and things fromthe Pacific and Africa.%u201dAlbert arrived in the Slope from Manhattan in 1978. %u201cIt was an artistic decision ofsorts, because here I could afford the spaceI needed to work seriously. If I had mydruthers, I%u2019d live in Manhattan, justbecause it%u2019s easier to get plugged in. Once agallery owner wouldn%u2019t come to my studiowhen she learned it was in Brooklyn. But Ilike it here. I have lots of street activity outthere, and those huge trees to look at. Andthere are a lot of active and serious peoplehere; something%u2019s brewing,%u201d Albert hints.Painter Sabrina Tiralosi feels that working in the Slope has helped her clarify herartistic vision, which is propelling her tomove to Manhattan. %u201cI%u2019m moving to adepressed area,%u201d she explains. I hope tohelp a little bit and to capture some of theevolution and struggle that%u2019s going onthere.%u201d Her painting/collages are bold andrichly colorful. Some use plaster castmasks, hands and bodies of other objectsbuilt onto the paintings. One piece, titled%u201cAIDS,%u201d features a plaster cast figure facing a brooding, molten, red-black field, theback of its hollow white body facing out. %u201cIwas advised not to show it because peoplewould be repelled. But I feel it%u2019s somethingwe need to deal with, like it or not. Anolder, conservative-looking couple came in,and to my surprise, told me it was deeplymoving. I do my art because I need tomake these statements,%u201d Tiralosi insists.Photographer John Hall also hasstatement-making in mind. He%u2019s working onan independent documentary film about thecontroversial Shoreham, L.I. nuclear powerplant, called %u201cOut of Control.%u201d %u201cI%u2019ve beenusing materia! from the hearings andtestimony to focus on the dramatic effort ofthe people of Suffolk County to fight theutility and the growing awareness ofhypocrisy in dealing with the plant%u2019s safetyand the evacuation issues,%u201d Hall says. Hisphotography ranges from dark, sensual portraits of performance artist Phoebe Legereto color and black and white shots of surfing champs.Gesturing out the window across EasternParkway to Brooklyn Public Library, Hallsay s that %u201cthis area used to be known asthe Brooklyn Life and Sciences Center. Ithink the resurgence is happening and thatthere%u2019s going to be a strong cultural lifehere and I want to be part of it. The tourhas been great for getting reaction andfeedback. And opening up the studios helpscreate a sense of artistic community. Oneday I hope to see this become a gallery fordifferent local artists to show 'heir work, aMadison Avenue of Brooklyn. With theB r o o k l y n m u s e u m u u u u lii'ig i t s s iz e ,anything can happen,%u201d Hall muses. To getthe ball rolling, he says, %u201cI%u2019ve invited someartists and friends over for a cocktail partyafter the tour.%u201d A toast to the future of thePark Slope Artists Council, no doubt.O c to b e r 2 ,1 9 8 6 , T H E P H O E N IX , P ag e 11