Five Point Gallery New Show

Five Points Gallery will open a new exhibition on Thursday, July 2, 2015. The show, which will feature the work of Cecilia Mandrile, Dee Shapiro and Ed Jaffe, will run through August 1, 2015. Five Points Gallery, which is free, will be open to the public Thursdays through Sundays. Hours are Thursdays from 1- 9 p.m.; Friday through Sundays from 1 to 5 p.m. An opening reception for this show will take place on Friday, July 17, 2015 at 6 p.m. and an artist talk will be held on Friday, July 31, 2015 at 6 p.m. The public is encouraged to attend both events.

The featured artist in the East Gallery will be Cecilia Mandrile in a show titled: “The Perfume of Absence”. This exhibition will focus on a traveling project (1998-2004) of the same name which was developed as the artist journeyed throughout Argentina, Cuba, United States, Europe and the Middle East. Cecilia Mandrile, in commenting on this project wrote: “Through traveling projects, I search to portray impermanence. During years of moving, I was performing and recording ephemeral installations, observing cities and their crevices through a portable reference: hand-made sight-less dolls. Several versions of a disguised self-portrait were printed on canvas, attached to objects found or given in various locations.” The exhibition at Five Points Gallery will include some of the traveling dolls but will also include a recent series of sketches of the dolls. In addition, Solitaire (2014), a set of laser cut-cards made from their shadows will be on view, accompanied by the corresponding publications documenting the projects.

Every Which Way”, an exhibition featuring the work of Dee Shapiro, will take place in the West Gallery. Shapiro’s recent works are an explosion of past obsessions with pattern; patterns that occur in nature, craft and women’s work. According to the artist, the relationship to geometry has always been a focus from her earliest work to her current work. Her pieces, which are drawn in ink and paint on paper and board, create color and form with endless possible variations. Of her work, Shapiro writes: “ I borrow from many sources for collage material including other artist’s work in a collaborative effort where the results form an integrated piece.”

The TDP Gallery will feature an exhibition titled: “Ed Jaffe: Sculpture”. Jaffe refers to himself as a “self taught second career artist”. Born in Connecticut, he studied Advertising Photography at the Art Center in L.A., and then served in the army until his discharge in 1954. Shortly thereafter, he established his business in New York City where he enjoyed a long, successful career as an advertising photographer. Jaffe later lived in Vermont then moved to Virginia where for the last 20 years, he had his own gallery. In the spring of 2014, he moved back to New England and he is currently in the process of setting up a studio in an old barn. His work is in private collections across the country. In describing his work, Jaffe states: “ Looking back over the past 40 years or so I find that certain elements have been showing up my work whether it’s sculpture or painting. I love the interlocking of major and minor space. Triangle and pyramid shapes abound. One form appears over another. Texture blends into something smooth. It’s all about watching light play on and in the surface. It’s all about physical and visual touch.”

Five Points Gallery is located at 33 Main Street, Torrington, CT. For more information about the gallery please visit www.fivepointsgallery.org.

For area information www.litchfieldhills.com