The artists whose work is currently on display at Catskill Art Space (CAS), located at 48 Main Street in Livingston Manor, pose questions about our perceptions of space and our concept of self.

Howard Schwartzberg, a retired teacher of 25 years, investigates how canvas and paint interact beyond traditional illusions. He questions structure and presentation using materials such as repurposed wood, paint, canvas, and tacks to create structures that are painted in bold lines and vivid colors. He takes art off the traditional format of squared canvas hung on a wall and embraces painting as an exploration of space and time. Growing up in the Coney Island area of Brooklyn, he was exposed to the colors and movements of signs and rides, “once painted in bright, poppy colors, but what stood out is how they aged with hints of brightness, lingering beneath the decay…Coney Island gave me a sense of nostalgia and a connection with nature, as I was able to observe the sea every day.”

Of his work, he states, “Transformation for me is a new way of seeing.” It is “part of the responsibility of the artist to transform…and generate new meaning to an existing language”. He wants his work “to slow the viewer down to get into the other dimensions of a painting rather than a flat surface”…the experience to be not only of the paintings and their color, but also with the space the audience shares and creates with the work. “I wish that painting can be much more than just viewing one flat image on a rectangle or square placed on a wall. To me, there are sides, tops and bottoms, as well as multiple surfaces to engage with.”

Susan Silas discusses the continuation of “being” after our bodies die. Emulating the contemporary concept of Whole Brain Emulation, which is based on the assumption that mind and body can be distinctly separated, the pieces embody the philosophy that everything in the brain will be transferred to an inorganic substrate, achieving immortality. She created a series of avatars as potential containers for her hypothetical “brain upload”, three sculptures of busts in her likeness that extend the concept and serve as a long-standing inquiry into embodiment and how technology reshapes our understanding of selfhood.

She says, “We are facing one of the strongest challenges to our understanding of selfhood due to the emergence of artificial intelligence.” Followers of Descartes “believe the mind and body are separable…leading to the “misunderstanding that the brain can be uploaded to a computer and retain the same sense of selfhood it had in a body”. She personally believes that brain upload to a computer cannot have consciousness, as the brain depends on the body. She refers to the Stoics and Spinoza, who believed in a more unified form of being, a line of reasoning that is more appealing.

Wade Kramm’s “Wall Fragments” jolt our perception in the manipulation of space. He strategically places mirror-like portals, constructed of drywall, molding, floorboards, and doors in the creation of unique architectural sub-realities. He seeks to expand our perceptual awareness while making us cognizant of the perceptions we use when constructing our visual world.  

His art explores “Minimalism”, as the absence of subjective expression and an emphasis on a physical and perceptual experience.  He also addresses architectural design and perception in reshaping the viewers’ engagement with the gallery space. His “Wall Fragment (Passageway)” is a flattened version of the view through the passageways between the rooms of the gallery. Another, “Gallery Wall” is a perceptual extension of the architecture.

His future plans include an “Invisible Show” of framed art cast in glass at the Pittsburgh Glass Center.

The exhibit will run from May 3-June 21 at The Catskill Art Space, located at 48 Main Street, Livingston Manor, NY. Instagram: @catskillartspace. Inquiries may be directed to Executive Director Sally Wright: sally@catskillartspace.org.