Constants and Variables

Curated by Jason Hughes

Baltimore City Paper review

Friday, July 18, 2003 - Saturday, September 18, 2003

Reception: Friday, July 18, 2003, 8 - 11 p.m.

Constants and Variables features new sculptural works by John Penny and Marc Ganzglass, premiering at Area 405. These new works uniquely employ Area 405's late 1800's industrial architecture and are in continuation of each artist's utilization of engineering, mathematics, and production. Both John Penny and Marc Ganzglass administer formulas for creating their works yet equally rely upon chance to inform their end results. Guest curator Jason Hughes conceived this exhibition exclusively for Area 405 and is his first solo curatorial effort.

Penny's vocabulary usually consists of contractor's materials such as cement cubes, plumb-bob lines, braided steel cable and wooden measuring sticks. As a starting point, he calculates the gallery's perimeter by using custom software that randomly plots the placement of objects within the space. He then responds to this chance configuration by creating fragmented architectural forms that exist somewhere between sculpture and drawing.

Ganglass embraces traditional metal fabrication processes and materials to create his utilitarian hybrids. These seemingly structural forms challenge the viewer to re-evaluate the object's function by exposing its intrinsic composition. His formal intervention is coupled by the material's "slippage", redirecting the aesthetic decision making process into a series of engineering problems. Through his processes, there is a constant exchange between his intentions and the object's coincidental behavior.

Penny received his PhD from the University of Leeds, UK in 2003, and has taught sculpture and drawing at college level in the USA, Great Britain, and Australia. He currently teaches part time at the Maryland Institute College of Art and the University of Maryland, College Park.

Ganzglass received his MFA from Cranbrook Academy of Art in 1999, and has worked extensively as a designer and fabricator for Lot/ek Architecture, NYC, the Guggenheim Museum, NY, NY, and Atelier Van Lieshout, Rotterdam, Netherlands. He is a founding member of United Art Fabrication in Mt. Rainer, Maryland and has taught sculpture at George Mason University.

Guest curator Jason Hughes is a founding and current member of Gallery Four in Baltimore, Maryland. In 2002, Gallery Four was recognized as, "The Best Proof of Contemporary Art Life in Baltimore" by Baltimore City Paper and collaborated with Fusebox, a Washington D.C. gallery, in curating an ad hoc exhibition for the prestigious Art Basel Miami.