We live in this special and strange time, we are fluent with technology and demand efficiency and lightning speed communication, yet we are appreciating more and more the attention to hand-crafted detail and the time of labor intensive work not seen on such a scale for decades.. This can be seen at every turn in this neighborhood from handcrafted jewelry to chocolate bars. Through this resurgence, we are simultaneously breaking out the shackles of corporations and industries keeping us physically and mentally unhealthy. The market collapse has enabled us to see clearly the failing systems and demand change. How can we take our efficiency in the proliferation of information and communication and apply this to the next level of development through societal improvements? Art and Science are on the forefront of the change to our society we so drastically need. Creativity and scientific development are the driving force of many new technologies that will drastically improve our way of life and reduce the burden we impose on the Earth. It is through this crucial marriage of art and science that we can begin to usher in a new way of life.

Image - Lee Wells, Untitled #10, Study for an Epic Battle, 2009

For the "Stuart Davis Group" James Hyde has selected one of American art's most cherished icons for this collaborative investigation. Taking his camera to the Metropolitan Museum, Hyde took high quality close-ups of Davis paintings which he had blown up and digitally printed onto vinyl supports. He then added his own painterly "riffs" using sign painters enamel, and rollers. The resulting compositions re-contextualize both classic modernism and conceptual abstract painting.

James Kalm believes in the serendipity of fate, and sometimes, despite the best laid plans, ends up turning on the camera and capturing intriguing happenings. Such was the case when he popped into view a debut exhibition by Trudy Benson. The artist uses thick slabs of oil paint in coloristically rich pictures that verge on relief. Trudy discusses her "fetishization" of paint, and her painterly influences in a brief chat.

Heading east we visit NURTUREART to partake in the opening of "Who's Afraid of Ornament?" curated by Natasha Kurchanova. This show investigates decoration and ornament and bares testament to the reemergence of the Pattern & Decorative movement from the late seventies.

James Kalm slips into Williamsburg under cover of night to bring viewers a look and an extended interview with one of Chicago’s preeminent contemporary artists, Tony Fitzpatrick. Obsessively worked and fabricated from the cast off refuge of down home culture, Fitzpatrick weaves a narrative of tragic heroics recording a poetic portrait of one of the last of the great Native American leaders Crazy Horse. With simple scraps and elementary colors these collage paintings transcend their small size to express a sense of monumental mourning. Includes an extended interview with Tony Fitzpatrick.