Common Thread at Fountain Street Fine Art

April 23, 2015

Reintegration by Leslie Zelamsky.

Artists Brenda Cirioni and Leslie Zelamsky create common stories with their different mark-makings in Common Thread, the current exhibition at Fountain Street Fine Art. Through layering, scraping, gluing, dripping, covering and exposing, these two artists stay true to the narrative that runs through their work—destruction, renewal, impermanence and grace. Brenda Cirioni creates collage paintings on wood panels with paint, ink, bits of painted paper and debris. Her method of layering and juxtaposing materials draws attention to the multiplicities and mysteries of nature and life. When she was sixteen, Cirioni's family home burned to the ground. It is this experience—the fire and consequent loss of everything inside her home—that provides a yearning for the artist to attach herself to things that last: earth, water, air, art and community. In Leslie Zelamsky's sculptures, the artist explores the intrinsic qualities of the use of common building materials to create forms that are both organic and structural. In dialogue with her sculptures, Zelamsky's paintings celebrate the contrasting aspects of the mind's use of intuition and deliberate action. Her process of layering and uncovering demonstrates her reverence for each phase of the piece's history. These works, along with Cirioni's, are featured in Common Thread, on view now through Sunday, May 10 at Fountain Street Fine Art's main gallery. An Artist Talk will take place Saturday, May 2 from 3-5pm and will also feature original Americana folk music by The Farewells.

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