Gallery Exhibition: ‘Shadows’

Featuring paintings and sculpture by Henry Caserotti and Christine Mitchell
December 22, 2012 – February 1, 2013

Opening reception Monday, December 31, 4-8pm
A part of First Night Danbury

Featuring interactive shadow image painting demonstrations, a performance by Oregonian folk musician Isaac Pierce at 7pm, and refreshments

Artist talk Wednesday, January 9, 6-8pm

Regular gallery hours: Wed & Fri 11am-5pm, Sat. 1-5pm, Sun. 1-4pm

The Mercurial Gallery
11 Library Place
Danbury, Connecticut

http://themercurialgallery.com
[email protected]
203)744-9179

The Mercurial Gallery’s final show of 2012, ‘Shadows’, will open and usher in the New Year beginning on December 22, during the winter solstice, a time of year when shadows have a particular feel about them, and the prospect of lengthening daylight, along with the New Year, breeds a sense of renewal. The exhibit, featuring sculptor and painter Christine Mitchell of Southbury and painter Henry Caserotti of Norwalk, offers an expedition into a world of myth and storytelling and will be on display through February 1, 2013.

An opening reception for ‘Shadows’ will take place on Monday, December 31 from 4 to 8pm as a part of Danbury, Connecticut’s First Night celebration, a citywide family-friendly music, art, and performance event that has been kicking off New Years Eve since 1989. The reception will include an artist meet and greet, interactive shadow image painting demonstrations, a performance by Oregonian folk musician Isaac Pierce at 7pm, and refreshments, all at the Mercurial’s downtown location at 11 Library Place. An artist talk with Mitchell and Caserotti will take place at the gallery on Wednesday, January 9, 2013 from 6 to 8pm.

Mitchell, an art teacher at Fraser-Woods Montessori school in Newtown, is both sculptor and painter. With brush in hand, she derives inspiration from cave painting and explores natural phenomena with an impressionistic eye. These environments serve as backdrops for the beloved animals “who intertwine allegory and story with the everyday themes of a middle aged single mom – love, death, divorce and empty nest.”

Mitchell’s sculptures can be described as a collaboration of the natural and the manmade: “Chunks of rusty steel, discarded brake drums and I-beams …twigs leaves and rocks – these are like clouds in the afternoon sky forming images to inspire.” Mitchell was brought up on Cape Cod, and she seamlessly weaves her connection to the beach with her modern life as a mother, teacher, and farmer within her work.

Caserotti was born in Newport, Rhode Island, grew up in the Midwest, and now lives with his wife and two-year-old son in Connecticut. He works as a graphic designer and professional artist, and his gentle and calm yet psychologically deep nature is apparent in his highly textured, narrative, and surreal paintings.

“In my recent work I’ve come to recognize the importance of narrative,” writes Caserotti in his artist statement. “Although I’m not interested in making illustrations, I am interested in telling stories through images. After all, stories are how mankind has attempted to explain and come to terms with those most mundane yet incomprehensible events in life, such as birth and death and many of the unforeseen events in between.”

The December 31 First Night opening reception for ‘Shadows’ will take place from 4 to 8pm and will include an artist meet and greet, interactive shadow image painting demonstrations, a performance by Oregonian folk musician Isaac Pierce at 7pm, and refreshments. An artist talk will take place on Wednesday, January 9 from 6 to 8pm.

The Mercurial Gallery is located at 11 Library Place in Danbury, Connecticut. Regular gallery hours are Wednesday and Friday from 11am-5pm, Saturday from 1-5pm, and Sunday from 1-4pm.

Parking is available directly across the street from the gallery in the Charles A. Bardo Parking Garage. Main Street parking is free on Sundays and after 5:30pm.

For more information, call The Mercurial at (203)744-9179, email [email protected], or visit themercurialgallery.com.

Visit Henry Caserotti’s website at henrycaserotti.com, Christine Mitchell’s at facebook.com/irngrlstudio, and Isaac Pierce’s at tenspeedmusic.com/album/isaac-pierce-ep.