The Frank C. Ortis Art Gallery presents Bits & Pieces, an exhibition that presents layered ideas, lamination of contrasting styles, and paintings within paintings, February 18 through April 30, 2021. Bits & Pieces analyzes the practice of collage –as both technique and conceptual framework- in the unexpected context of a virtual space.
With a focus on artists who utilize cropped and fragmented imagery in their artistic production, this collaborative project disassembles and recombines existing works of art to create a new conversation about authorship, representation and subjectivity. Featured artists include Jason Aponte, Diego Gutierrez, Jefreid Lotti, Jackie Tileston, Jonathan Ryan Harvey, and Third Space solo artist, Twyla Gettert. Presented by The Frank and the City of Pembroke Pines, Bits & Pieces is on display virtually from February 18th through April 30.
In Bits & Pieces, featured artists consider the rapport between utility and sentimentality; specifically as it relates to the materialization of a traditional but sometimes rigidly conceived technique of creation: collage. At once familiar and experimental, a collage is embedded with an implied transitional history. Whether pieced together by a young child in art class or inspired by the gritty socio-political provocations of Robert Rauschenberg’s ‘Combines’, a collage is a tactile object that one might handle and hold; an ephemeral collection of cut-outs and found elements visually stitched together over a passage of time. From frayed fibers along a torn paper’s edge, to the deliberate overlapping of seemingly disparate imagery and symbols, the medium and methodology of collage is inherently associated with the body and haptic experience regardless of its mode of delivery.
The confines of our current reality yield an additional confrontation, one that compels the featured artists in Bits & Pieces to examine how these relationships function in a virtual exhibition - a multi-dimensional space in which the definitions and boundaries of texture, materiality, meaning and originality are transformed through technological intervention.
In addition to the 360-degree virtual experience of Bits & Pieces, The Frank is offering free, fun and educational virtual workshops, lectures and events for children and adults. For more information, visit thefrankgallery.org/p/other/virtual-classroom. The Frank is temporarily closed to the public. Admission to online exhibitions is free. For more information, call 954.392.2120, email thefrank@ppines.com or visit thefrankgallery.org. Follow The Frank on Facebook and Instagram at The Frank Pembroke Pines.
Connect with the Bits & Pieces artists:
Jason Aponte: www.jasonaponte.com
Diego Gutierrez: www.diegomgutierrez.com
Jefreid Lotti: www.jefreidlotti.com
Jackie Tileston: www.jackietileston.com
Jonathan Ryan Harvey: Instagram: @jonathanryanharvey
Twyla Gettert: www.twylaart.com
About The Frank: The Frank is a two-story art gallery named after Pembroke Pines Mayor Frank C. Ortis for his decades-long commitment to the cultural arts. The Frank art gallery, located in the Charles F. Dodge City Center, showcases multi-disciplinary inclusive exhibitions to foster connections, initiate cultural change and promote innovation. The gallery’s exhibition and learning space serves as a site of convergence for artists, performers, thought leaders and community members to create partnerships for social engagement, leveraging the power of the arts to create a sense of place. Stay connected and follow The Frank on Facebook and Instagram at The Frank Pembroke Pines. For more information, call 954.392.2120 or email: thefrank@ppines.com. Funding for this organization is provided in part by Broward County Cultural Division, Culture Builds Florida, Hello Sunny-Greater Fort Lauderdale Convention Center and Visitors Bureau and National Endowment for the Arts. This project is sponsored in part by the Department of State, Division of Cultural Affairs, the Florida Council of Arts and Culture and the State of Florida