New alt_space Exhibition in May April 17 2024
BRUNO MOSKOLA:
The Outskirts
On Exhibit: May 4 - June 15, 2024
Opening Reception: Saturday, May 4, 4-7 PM
Artist Talk: Friday, June 7, 11 AM
Image 1: Outskirts (Postcard), 24 x 36 inches, acrylic, sand, paper on canvas
About the Exhibition:
In his artist statement, Moskola explains: “This series is a contradictory effort in world-building through reduction and deconstruction. In the landscapes that I am exhibiting, all but the most minimal evidence of the human-built environment has been excluded or avoided. The space is defined by ground, sky, trees, and vertical posts that stand alone or in groupings. In the absence of context or purpose, the posts stand like human figures. The proximity of these figures to each other and their surroundings can represent a range of human experiences, from solitude, to community, to conflict.”
Moskola elaborates that the act of simplifying and decluttering his subject matter creates room for symbolic or poetic thinking, allowing his landscapes to become liminal spaces through which minds can wander.
Many of these spaces are based on photographs and observations Moskola made throughout Volusia County, his lifelong home. His compositions weave together moods and memories evoked by the tree lines, stands of pines, and scrub habitats at the edges of playgrounds, yards, parking lots, and roadsides. While not depictions of specific places, these landscapes represent Moskola’s personal sense of place. Rendering these scenes through atmospheric or rough charcoal drawing and painting further blends his abstract and expressionistic art influences with dreamlike pictorial illustrations.
In addition to Moskola’s landscapes, he has installed wooden posts embellished with collage, paint, pine needles, and other materials. These forms add dimensionality and create an immersive experience for the viewer. Bruno notes that creating these posts conjured a “child-like curiosity; of a time when things were hard to categorize and even the most mundane objects could inspire wonder.”
About the Artist:
Bruno Moskola (b. 1982) studied Art and Education at Daytona State College before earning a bachelor’s degree in art education from the University of Central Florida in 2006. He has been teaching all levels of Art at Spruce Creek High School in Port Orange since 2007. His work has been exhibited locally in many group exhibitions since 2002 and has had two previous solo exhibitions: in 2003 at New Smyrna Beach Gallery and in 2017 at The News Journal Center in Daytona Beach.
Image 2: Bruno Moskola, Telephone Pole (detail), sculptural collage
Image 3: Bruno Moskola, Doorway, charcoal on paper, 11 x 17 inches