PORT TOWNSEND — Work by artists Randolph Silver of Seattle and Michael Gesinger of Port Townsend will be showcased beginning today at the Northwind Arts Center.
The display at the center at 2409 Jefferson St. is the nonprofit Future’s Past exhibit.
The opening reception will be from 5:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday. An art talk is set for 1 p.m. Sunday.
The show runs through May 2. Exhibit hours are from noon to 5 p.m. Thursdays through Mondays.
“For this show, I explored an old, rusty refinery that has fallen into disuse,” Silver said.
“Here, I reflected on the future of our Earth once we’re finished burning oil. Nature shuts down systems that are out of control.”
Silver said the true costs of the modern fossil-fuel lifestyle are slowly entering into the national consciousness.
“Although it’s polluting our air, heating our oceans, melting our icecaps, endangering our wildlife, convoluting our foreign policy and literally causing our extinction, we still rely on its cheapness, convenience and familiarity — myself included,” he said.
For this exhibit, Silver’s pieces are “constructed almost entirely of clay, except for antique gauges and clockwork,” he said.
“These ceramic contraptions are totems and mementos of a time and industry that will have soon passed. Will it be the end of the fossil-fuel era or our species’ extinction?”
Gesinger’s exhibit explores pre-Columbian art.
Gesinger said he first encountered pre-Columbian figurines from Mexico at the Museo Rufino Tamayo in Mexico City.
“They mesmerized me,” he said.
“They seemed ancient and futuristic yet powerful and direct. I didn’t want to document them; I wanted to hop on, crawl inside [and] see where they might take me,” he said.
Gesinger said he has always loved the “direct, unpretentious quality of folk art” he’s seen in places like Guatemala and Mexico.
“It’s woven into and out from the lives of the artists, often incorporating everyday objects,” he said.
For his art, Gesinger creates pigment prints, adds paint and ink, then creates rough frames from scavenged, weathered wood — adding common elements such as roofing nails, washers and old coins.
“The painted pieces are affixed to stretched canvases, painters’ panels and foam core with glue or furniture tacks or magnets,” he said.
“They’re never pre-envisioned; they just become.”
For more information, visit www.northwindarts.org or call 360-379-1086.
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Reporter Chris McDaniel can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 56650, or cmcdaniel@peninsuladailynews.com.
