August Ventimiglia: Chance Encounter & SEVEN
Reception: Friday, January 16, 7-9pm

On View: January 8 – February 3, 2015

Montserrat College of Art is excited to announce August Ventimiglia: Chance Encounter, now on view in the Carol Schlosberg Alumni Gallery. The exhibition calls to mind the balance between precision and chance. Inspired by artists such as John Cage and Merce Cunningham, Ventimiglia’s practice incorporates interdisciplinary themes such as music, chance operation and discovery.

Montserrat Galleries is thrilled to announce the third iteration of SEVEN: A Performative Drawing Project from January 12 – March 28, 2015. Over the course of seven weeks, seven artists will be asked to ‘draw’ directed onto the seven gallery walls of Montserrat Gallery, highlighting the performative aspects of drawing and the individual nature of each artist’s process. The gallery will operate as an open studio, effectively putting the creative process on display. SEVEN challenges the traditional definition of ‘drawing’, inviting artists to mark make in a variety of disciplines and considering the final drawings residue of an artistic performance.

Chance Encounter looks primarily at Ventimiglia’s evocative production of line through collage and drawing. A portion of the show features work from “Event Series”, a collection of blue and black snap-chalk lines. Traditionally used to create straight, flat lines for construction/carpentry, Ventimiglia employs the snap-chalk line as poetic cadence, rather than a practical tool. His marks are precise in that each are planned and plotted, however Ventimiglia invests in the split second, the chance encounter where the line meets the paper and the chalk lays to rest where it may.

August Ventimiglia’s “Swell”, a mural of blue chalk-snap lines resembling a wave, will span an eighteen foot wall.

Ventimiglia has exhibited nationally, with solo shows at Matteawan Gallery; June Fitzpatrick Gallery, Portland, ME; and Judi Rotenberg Gallery, Boston, MA. His work has been featured in group exhibitions at 808 Gallery, Boston University, Boston, MA; the 2011 Portland Museum of Art Biennial in Maine; and the 2010 DeCordova Biennial, DeCordova Sculpture Park and Museum, Lincoln, MA. Ventimiglia received a BA in anthropology from The University of Pennsylvania and studied art and theory at the Maine College of Art. He lives in Wellesley, MA.