Alan Ilagan

This Friday marks the first 1st Friday of the New Year, and I’ll be hosting the solo exhibition of artist Adam VanBuren at the Romaine Brooks Gallery at the Capital District Gay & Lesbian Community Center. You are invited to join us from 5 to 9 PM. Here’s the story I wrote on Mr. VanBuren:

          Adam VanBuren may have missed his era. With his eye-liner, head-bands, and punk sensibility, VanBuren seems to have sprung straight out of the 80’s New York City club scene, where fashion could function as currency into the hottest clubs, and artists like Haring and Basquiat were just coming into their own. In Albany, he is an exuberantly impish figure who can be found at Rocks or Waterworks on any given weekend, spinning with giddy abandon on the dance-floor with a dolled-up group of friends. Those friends – along with anyone who happens to enter his life – form the basis of VanBuren’s January exhibition at the Romaine Brooks Gallery – “Self Portraits and the Characters of My Life.”

            His colorful artwork, imbued with darker subtext, is a fitting representation of the persona he peddles on his nights out – and the subjects are his main inspiration. “The people I surround myself with - my friends, drag queens, night-life, people that drift in and out of my circle – have inspired me,” VanBuren says. “A lot of my art is of people because I find them to be the most interesting subject matter.”

            As glamorous and glittery as he often appears, VanBuren uses his work to explore more serious issues. “I have always been attracted to the darker, mysterious sides of life,” he explains. “The things I deal with in my work are the occult, death, sexuality, destruction, the nightlife, drag queens, gay themes, and self-exploration through self portraits. I find my work exploring the depths of those. Self portraits and creating artwork of the people that inspire me at any given moment are constant themes.”

It is fertile artistic ground, and has nurtured the growth of several passions. Fashion is another facet of VanBuren that has become a creative outlet – not only in what he wears, but also in what he creates: VanBuren designs, sews, and sells his own line of T-shirts, making his own silk-screens and hand-printing each shirt. Like their creator, the shirts are filled with bold, graphic, colorful patterns, shouting out to be noticed, demanding to be seen. It parallels a new avenue for VanBuren as well, who has, for the first time, decided to share more of his work with the world.

“My art has been, in the past, just for me,” he begins. “It provided me with a haven of sorts that I could continually go back to whenever I needed to. It was a personal and private thing.” In the beginning he didn’t feel the need to share it with anyone, and like many artists was content simply to create.

“But within the past year and a half I have really wanted to share my art with the world . I figure that it’s a waste to not share with everyone. Art is a form of communication and if I don’t share it I’m not growing in that way.”

            He is also sharing what he knows with others, and in that sharing is a symbiotic reward. VanBuren teaches art to disabled people, and some of the greatest sources of inspiration come from his students. It is one of his proudest accomplishments. He says that, “To see someone create something and be so proud of that, or to see them discover a talent they didn’t know they had is the best feeling. My proudest moments have been seeing the clients I work with proud of themselves.” Finding pride and inspiration in others is one of the main tenets of VanBuren’s work, particularly when, “The theme is not only my self portraits, but of those persons that have colored my life.”

Adam VanBuren will be presenting his exhibition, “Self Portraits and the Characters of My Life”, at the Romaine Brooks Gallery on Friday, January 7, 2011 from 5 to 9 PM as part of Albany’s 1^st Friday Events. The Romaine Brooks Gallery is located on the third floor of the Capital District Gay & Lesbian Community Center at 332 Hudson Avenue, Albany, NY 12210.

Tomorrow marks December’s 1st Friday Albany event at the Romaine Brooks Gallery. Please join us from 5 to 9 PM as the gallery presents a “Parents and Family Group Show”, featuring some of the work of Executive Director Nora Yates’ father. It’s shaping up to be a warm way to welcome the holiday season at the gallery.

The Romaine Brooks Gallery is a program of the Capital District Gay & Lesbian Community Council. It is located on the third floor of the Community Center at 332 Hudson Avenue, Albany, NY 12210.

The Romaine Brooks Gallery will be part of another 1^st Friday Albany tomorrow from 5 to 9 PM. We’ll be presenting the works of John Connors, so stop by if you’re in the Lark Street area. The gallery is located on the third floor of the Capital District Gay & Lesbian Community Center at 332 Hudson Avenue, just off Lark Street. It looks to be a great night for walking and perusing the various art exhibits. (And afterward, check out my own show at 74 State - ‘Drink Me’.)

Tomorrow marks another 1st Friday Albany at the Romaine Brooks Gallery. Please stop by to see the work of Scott Bowman. Here’s the profile I did of him for the latest issue of Community:

When many of us were kids, the best time of the week was Saturday morning. The television programming was made just for us, and the shows brimmed with colorful cartoons, obnoxiously cloying sitcoms, and worlds of fantasy and make-believe. How many of us spent our Saturdays waking up and watching the morning cartoons, escaping into those fantastical realms and flying away from a mundane, if not outright hostile, existence? Scott Bowman certainly did, but along with the enjoyment and artistic inspiration he found there, there was always something missing.

“When I first tried to develop a theme for the show I wasn’t sure what I wanted,” he explains. “I just knew that I wanted it to be mostly done with crayon. I also wanted to reflect something gay-related. I began to think of how much time I spent drawing in front of the TV or movies at a very young age. I got to thinking just how many TV shows and movies are based in a straight world. How many images have we viewed about relationships that didn’t exactly follow our wants or desires as gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender people?”

It’s a question he challenges in his show, “Saturday Morning Daydreams”, opening at the Romaine Brooks Gallery this month. The exhibition focuses largely on his work with crayons, a fitting instrument when dealing with cartoons and Saturday morning memories.

“I am very much a mixed medium artist,” Bowman claims. “However, the majority of the pieces were done with crayon, just what a child would use when coloring a coloring book. I found an artist that was using this medium. I felt I could do that. The learning process has been extensive: requiring the use of layering the crayons, finding cardboard that worked the best, and adjusting my techniques.”

The most seemingly-silly works of art often require a deft and serious hand, particularly in their execution, and cartoons are increasingly being considered a relevant, and lasting, art form. For Bowman, it comes naturally: “Being interested in cartooning has a big influence on my art work. There have been times that I have started a piece of art work with the intent of doing it in a more serious or classical style only to find myself reverting to a more “cartoony” way. I am envious of those artists who seem to have a very loose and free-flowing style. My work is generally very tight.”

Influenced by a variety of media, Bowman found himself drawn to a number of different styles. “I have many interests and I take this approach to my art. I get inspired by many sources some of which include movies, TV, magazines and books and even sports. It is not unusual for me to have several projects going at the same time. I am probably most inspired by comic books. My partner and I have very large collection. If there is an art genre that inspired me it is comic books and science-fiction related art.”

Alienation is not just a major theme for many science-fiction buffs, but also for gay men and women. Bowman has found a supportive collection of fellow sci-fi fans with whom he cultivates his artistic expression. As he says, “A good share of my friends are into writing, reading and gaming. Science fiction is a big interest among us. Sometimes we will spend hours discussing plots, creative ideas from books and movies. The writers of our group write such visuals with their words that I can’t wait to illustrate them. In fact, in the near future a group of my friends and I have a creative day planned, bringing whatever creative thing we happen to be working on at the time and working on it all day. This usually involves sharing ideas and closing ourselves off from the rest of the world. This really inspires the creative process.”

Along with the shared enthusiasm for science-fiction, Bowman’s day job as a teacher’s assistant is further inspiration. “Working in a daycare is another big influence on my creativity. I work in a drop-in daycare with children ages six-weeks to twelve years old. Being able to draw just about any cartoon character has come in handy.”

The unabashed excitement for cartoon characters is something that Bowman has retained despite the passing years, and is an integral part of his artistic passion. Though he has not had any formal training, he has taken a number of classes at the Troy Art Center and the Albany Art Room. Perhaps more importantly, Bowman was raised with regular access to the artistic world of his grandmother and great grandmother.

“I grew up in a small rural town,” he begins. “Most of my family lived nearby. Both my great grandmother and grandmother introduced me to art when I was younger. Most days I would walk to my great grandmother’s house and she would give me lessons. She would teach me about different mediums and instruct me to create different pictures with them. I credit her for my interest in mixing different mediums together to get desired effects. My grandmother was a talented artist who went to school for art. She would paint large murals on the walls of her house.”

                  It was that early brush with art that revealed a world of possibility for Bowman, opening up the way for art to be an accessible and enjoyable path to creative fulfillment and evolution. According to him, “Art for me is about learning, evolving and growing toward your true self. I don’t agree when anyone says, “I don’t have an artistic bone in my body.” It is important to remember that there are different forms of being creative or artistic. For example, athletes can be creative with the sport they participate in, a carpenter works to master his or her craft, and a teacher always has to find new and creative ways to convey what they’re teaching.”

Scott Bowman’s exhibition “Saturday Morning Daydreams” will open at the Romaine Brooks Gallery on Friday, March 5, 2010 from 5-9 PM as part of 1^st Friday Albany. It will run throughout the month. The Romaine Brooks Gallery is a program of the Capital District Gay & Lesbian Community Council and is located on the third floor of the community center at 332 Hudson Avenue, Albany, NY 12210.

The Romaine Brooks Gallery of the Capital District Gay & Lesbian Community Council will be premiering a group show this Friday, February 5, 2010 from 5 to 9 PM. Entitled “Pathways & Portals”, the exhibition features the work of ten local ladies and is the perfect antidote for the winter blahs.

You are invited to stop by while making your 1st Friday rounds (there will be cookies and wine!)

Romaine Brooks Gallery

Capital District Gay & Lesbian Community Center

332 Hudson Avenue – 3rd floor

Albany, NY 12210