Andy Zimmermann: Rugged Road and Dennis Svoronos: Calls for Connection

BOSTON SCULPTORS GALLERY

December 14, 2022 – January 29, 2023

Artist Talks/Live Performance
Saturday, Jan 21, 5:30 – 8pm

First Friday
January 6, 5 – 8:30pm

Artist Meet & Greets 11am – 5pm
Saturday, December 17, 2022
Thursday, January 5 & Sunday, January 15, 2023
Regular Gallery Hours: Wednesday – Sunday 11-5

Andy Zimmermann: Rugged Road and Dennis Svoronos: Calls for Connection

Boston Sculptors Gallery presents Andy Zimmermann’s solo exhibition Rugged Road, and Dennis Svoronos concurrent solo exhibition, Calls for Connection. Both exhibits are on view December 14, 2022 – January 29, 2023.

Dennis Svoronos: Calls for Connection, presents his most recent body of sculptural work, the artist confronts, laments, and sheds light upon one of the most persistent remnants of the Covid-19 pandemic: our collective losses.

Loss is a hallmark of this disease—loss of security, income, sanity, relationships, and loss of life. In the wake of this emptiness and disconnectedness, Svoronos strives to unite, build, and celebrate the connections we do have; as well as encourage those yet to be. The artist’s gestures manifest in collaborations with other artists, interactive sculptures involving multiple participants, additive installations requiring ongoing contributions from viewers, and intimate moments of connection between the viewer and the work itself. In these moments of connectivity and closeness, Svoronos incites ideas, feelings, and experiences that hope to fill the void left by what each of us has lost.

Andy Zimmerman presents two ambitious installations, Rugged Road and Power Lines, combined to suggest a landscape, and anchor the show, including smaller-scale welded steel sculptures and digital collages. The titular installation Rugged Road features a collection of rugs suspended in a steel scaffolding constructed to form a composition evocative of a flower or an explosion. Collected from a range of sources including yard sales, flea markets, thrift stores, and eBay, some are new and made to look used while others are truly worn, and come from as far afield as Morocco, Turkey, and Afghanistan. The rugs suggest a wide range of human conditions, from a symbol of great opulence to a wrapper carried by a refugee family, from a piece of trash to a magic flying carpet. The Rugged Road construction is situated within the surrounding installation entitled Power Lines. These welded steel structures clearly refer to high-tension electric lines and their support towers. Placement and forced perspective describe a rugged landscape, with symbolic and political overtones.

The re-purposing of materials is an underlying theme for Zimmermann. Most of the rugs are used, providing archaeological evidence of decades of life in a household. Much of the steel scaffolding has been used by the artist in previous installations. The signs of use and wear evident in these materials become part of the content in their present iteration. This concept is further explored in the digital collages on display. They include images of some of Zimmermann’s earlier artworks, elements of autobiography to be unearthed.