PORTALS | Art Exhibit

PORTALS

MUTSU CRISPIN

October 7-30, 2022
OPENING: Friday, October 7, 5-9pm

hours: Thurs-Sat, 11-5pm, Sun 2-5pm (or by chance/appt.)

118 Eliiot St., Brattleboro, VT 05301

118 ELLIOT PRESENTS “PORTALS”, AN EXHIBIT OF SCULPTURE, DRAWINGS AND PHOTOS EXPLORING SPIRITUAL PASSAGE.

‘I like to boil a piece down until it’s essential, until it almost disappears, until the stark poetry of it rings clear.’ ~Mutsu Crispin

From October 7-30, 118 Elliot Street Gallery in downtown Brattleboro, VT will present a large exhibit of sculptures, drawings and photos entitled Portals by artist Mutsu Crispin (aka Johnny DiGeorge). The artist brings a playful energy to work exploring transformation and spiritual passage, including pieces related to the independent film Redbelly and to the upcoming children’s book, The Falling Stars of Emerworld.

After living in beloved Vermont for 2 decades, the artist is soon moving his base of operations to Haiku, Hawaii and the show represents both a retrospective of this period in New England, and a conjuration around the upcoming life shift.

Many of the sculptures are crafted from thin layers of vibrantly tinted plexiglass, laser cut and assembled into various designs, many fantastical or hypnotic. The eponymous Portals series utilizes a small number of simple elements to map the passage through various life transformations: Love, Initiation, Shadow Extraction… The pieces are puzzled together, with the same underlying designs explored through myriad palettes of color, mirrored reflection & transparency. Visual stories are told in multiple ways, drawing out nuances of the narrative and different poetic associations. In the series Uprising, ten variations of the same large sculpture chart personal and communal upheaval and ascension. LEDs and mirrors are utilized in several pieces to expressively utilize the illusion of infinite depth.

Also on display are pieces from his bouncy ball series, where 100’s of balls are coaxed into place between sheets of plexiglass, creating roiling pools of emerging and disintegrating shapes, suggesting essential forms discovered through a telescope, microscope, or x-ray.

“Much of my work is concerned with how to evoke or visualize subtle phenomena — physical, conceptual, emotional, spiritual — while taking a joyful interest in the qualities of diverse materials and precise engineering.”

Mutsu Crispin / John DiGeorge grew up in a rural suburb of Atlanta, GA and studied Visual and Environmental Studies at Harvard University. After a stint working in the film industry in New York City he moved to southern Vermont, splitting his time between artistic ventures and design work for many local businesses and individuals, including the Brattleboro Museum, VT Jazz Center, Brattleboro Hospice, Boys & Girls Club, Oak Meadow, GS Precision, Clear Solutions, Altiplano, Mitchell Giddings Fine Arts, Superfresh, Experiential Tools, Laura Zindel, David Brewster, Jared Flynn, Johnny Swing, and many others!

Special thanks to John & Lissa at 118 Elliot and to Roger, Tom and the staff at Clear Solutions in Hinsdale, New Hampshire where most of the pieces in the show were fabricated.