Summer Show: The Corridors Gallery at Hotel Henry

“The Corridors Gallery at Hotel Henry, A Resource:Art Project” is scheduled to open the third in its series of exhibition programming on June 8th. This event has been organized to coincide with Hotel Henry’s Art Walk, which showcases the hotel’s evolving art program. The exhibition, featuring solo installations by six artists, opens with a public reception 5:30 - 7:30 pm on Friday, June 8th on the second floor of the hotel. The exhibition will remain on view through the Summer and can be visited during the hotel’s business hours (please check in at the second floor reception desk). Hotel Henry’s museum-quality walls, vast spaces, and dedication to community collaboration align naturally with Resource:Art, a unique partnership that brings together the talents of three independent WNY gallerists: Anna Kaplan (Anna Kaplan Contemporary), Elisabeth Samuels (Indigo Art) and Emily Tucker (Jinxie Tucker, Benjaman Gallery). For more information, please contact Kristine Pottle at k.pottle@hotelhenry.com.

The installation includes work by:
Alberto Rey
Kevin Kegler
Mark Leo Lavatelli
Ian de Beer
Ani Hoover
Ray Bonilla

ALBERTO REY: East Wing Guest Room Corridor
The exhibition at Hotel Henry is a survey of Rey’s abstract work, ranging from the the 1980s through today. Rey revisited the process and influences related to his well known 1990s binary forms series to create a new body of work specifically for this exhibition. Rey's work is influenced by his Cuban lineage and his attempt to navigate a sense of identity in a complex contemporary environment. His abstract work deals with issues related to layered memories of Cuban iconography blended with his American experiences. Rey’s abstract work allows him to address a series of cultural references while still expressing a minimalist aesthetic.

Alberto Rey is an educator, painter, and filmmaker whose work sometimes crosses over to sculpture and installation. He was born in Havana, Cuba in 1960, received political asylum through Mexico in 1963, and moved to Miami, Florida in 1965. In 1967, his family relocated to Barnesboro, Pennsylvania. He lived in this small coal-mining town until 1982 when he finished his BFA from Indiana University of Pennsylvania after attending the Art Institute of Pittsburgh. Rey received his MFA in painting from the University at Buffalo in 1987, after which he traveled extensively, painting in Spain, Italy, Morocco and Mexico. Rey also traveled to Miami to work with Christo and Jeanne-Claude on their 1983 “Surrounded Islands” Project. His work is included in many significant permanent collections including the Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Brooklyn Museum, Bronx Museum of Art, and The Burchfield Penney Art Center.

KEVIN KEGLER: East Wing Connector
Installed in the East Wing Connector are a group of recent sculptural works—both wall hanging and free standing—by Kevin Kegler. The work included in this exhibition is layered with meaning. The pieces exist as elegant organic forms, and also as portals into a more mysterious inner dialogue.

Kevin Kegler has been a visual artist and graphic designer for over 30 years. His paintings, sculpture, and constructions have been shown in galleries and museums throughout Western New York including the Albright Knox Art Gallery, Hallwalls Contemporary Arts Center, CEPA Gallery, The Burchfield Penney Art Center, Meibohm Fine Arts, Indigo Art, and Art Dialogue, as well as in the U.K., Germany, and China. Kegler received his BA from Buffalo State College in 1981 and his MA from the University at Buffalo in 1987. He is a professor of graphic design at Daemen College and has also taught courses in London, England and Progresso Dos, Dominican Republic. He is active in his community and has served on several boards of non-profits in Western New York.

MARK LAVATELLI: West Wing Guest Room Corridor
Lining the walls of the West Wing Guest Corridor are paintings by Mark Lavatelli. Lavatelli’s primary subject matter is close-up views of trees and their branches, which he takes as representative of nature as a whole. His chosen medium is the ancient beeswax technique called encaustic, which allows for a wonderfully tactile surface and brilliant colors.

Mark Lavatelli is a Western New York painter, educator, and freelance critic. He earned a BA in art history from Cornell in 1970, a MA in art history from the University of Illinois in 1973, and a MFA in painting and drawing from the University of New Mexico in 1979. Lavatelli taught at a number of universities before relocating to Buffalo for a position as professor of humanities at Medaille College in 1988. His work has won him numerous awards, grants, residencies, and commissions. He has also had solo and group exhibitions throughout the United States since the 1980s. In 2006 he was featured in Trees Interpreted: Charles Burchfield and Mark Lavatelli, the first exhibition at the Burchfield Penney Art Center to juxtapose work by its namesake painter with that of a contemporary artist.

IAN DE BEER: West Wing Connector
Created especially for the West Wing Connector space is a series of shaped canvas paintings by Ian de Beer. de Beer has used his personal experience as a way to deeply reflect on the nature of all intentional mark making as it relates to the history of abstraction. As he explains:
I am now able to draw the connections between personal lessons I’ve learned through my own experience and the revelations of modern painters whose work have been fundamental in developing my understanding of the history of modern painting. I now understand my position within the context of graffiti and cannot begin to paint on canvas without carrying over some of that which has informed the marks I’ve made in the past. Within these paintings, I’ve reconciled all that I’ve come to know about how to make a mark.

Ian de Beer is a multi-disciplinary artist working under the strict restrictions of parole supervision, the result of a 2010 conviction for graffiti related crimes. de Beer is self-educated and self-taught, having spent the majority of his time during periods of incarceration studying art history and honing his creative practice. His work relates the history of painting to his personal experiences both as a graffiti writer and an ostensible criminal. For a number of years, de Beer was not legally allowed to possess art-making materials, and served additional time after refusing to obey this condition. He is now legally allowed to make art. de Beer has shown work locally at Anna Kaplan Contemporary (formerly BT&C Gallery), the Cass Project at 500 Seneca and most recently at Big Orbit Gallery in a two person show with Craig Sheperd organized by Resource:Art. de Beer lives and works in Buffalo.

ANI HOOVER: Historic stairway
Anchoring the historic stairway landing and providing an exuberant welcome to Hotel Henry’s second floor are a series of paintings by Ani Hoover. These works are careful blends of watercolor, acrylic, and ink on Yupo paper, and reference Hoover’s multi layered process. Each work relies heavily on “controlled chance,” building up layers of translucence and density, and utilizing the iconic power of the circle to create vibrant abstract compositions. These richly engaging, dynamic compositions elicit a myriad of human emotions.

Originally from St Joseph Missouri, Hoover received her MFA from American University, Washington, DC. and moved to Buffalo shortly after. She is the recipient of many awards and residencies, and her work has been shown in many galleries across the country. She is also represented in many public and private collections, including locally, the Albright Knox Art Gallery, and the Burchfield Penney Art Center.

Hoover’s most recent work has expanded to include a wide range of materials, including, yarn, twist ties, bicycle tires, and assorted found and recycled materials. Often, it is the circle which appears as the constant thread that connects this wide range of media.

RAY BONILLA: Second Floor Lounge
On view in the second floor lounge are a series of figurative oil paintings by Ray Bonilla. The exhibition focuses on Bonilla’s intricate still lifes and dynamic cityscapes depicting New York City and Buffalo. In preparation for these impressionist light drenched paintings, Bonilla creates several value studies in various media on paper for each work. These smaller delicate pieces are also on view to shed insight into the artist's ability to achieve breathtaking environments and capture the human condition.

Raymond Bonilla is a nationally recognized illustrator and fine artist. Bonilla graduated from the State University in New York at Fredonia in 2005 with a degree in New Media and Illustration. He continued his studies at the Academy of Art University in San Francisco where he completed his MA in 2009. He was awarded “Best in Show” in the Great Lakes Emerging Artist Competition, was a finalist in the Artists Magazine Annual Art Competition, has been awarded Gold Medals in advertising from both Society of Illustrators of New York and Los Angeles, and juried into the Communication Arts Illustration Annual. He currently lives in Buffalo, New York where he spends his time painting and teaching part-time at the State University of New York at Fredonia.