VISUAL ARTS + MUSEUMS

Buchanan Gallery presents Two Solo-Exhibitions. Window Dressings archival inkjet prints by Joe Baraban and Thom Wheeler's Copper Collage, enamel painted and playfully collaged copper.  On View May 2 through May 30. 

From Galveston to Mexia, and many points in between, veteran photographer Joe Baraban uses the metaphor of the window to explore the colors, textures and personalities of small towns throughout Texas.  The colors are vivid, whether the photographs focus entirely on the window, or allow a sliver of sky or reflection to peek through. Amazingly, no modern technologies (i.e. PhotoShop), have been used to enhance these incredible images.

Each photograph from the "Window Dressings" series has a unique story to tell, and Baraban will be present during the opening to share these secrets.

After receiving his BA in Journalism, Joe ventured out into the freelance world and never looked back. For the past forty years, Joe has shot for clients from Coca Cola to Hennessy, Cessna to IBM. He has photographed the full line car brochures for Acura, Saturn, and Range Rover, not to mention campaigns for Jaguar, Ford, and Toyota. The tourism departments for Alberta Canada, Pennsylvania, Alabama, and Texas have contacted Joe for their state campaigns. Editorial clients such as National Geographic, Life, Texas Monthly, Time, Geo, and the New York Times magazine have used Joe for several assignments.

Now, Joe has submerged himself in the Fine Art world, and for the past two years, has traveled around the country documenting old windows. A definite departure from the world of graphic design and advertising.

A mini exhibition of enamel on copper collages by Taos-based artist Thom Wheeler will also open this weekend. Featuring colorful abstract imagery, such as in "Picasso's Horse" and "Wave," these mixed-media pieces are suitable for indoor or outdoor display.

Thom’s career began many years ago in Houston. When he first started out he worked primarily in stone and wood. He then came up with an idea of making metal bases to support the pieces. People liked his style and encouraged him to combine wood with metal to create monumental size sculptures. Then the commissions started coming in and the rest is history.

Early in his career Thom’s primary focus was on doing commissions all over the United States, working with designers and Architects, on large scale projects. His sculpture was used to embellish restaurants, hotels, offices and yachts. The size of these pieces allowed him more canvas to interpret the feeling his client wanted to convey and incorporate into the space. He still enjoys that area of creativity. Recently he has completed two donor walls for hospitals in Taos and Fort Worth.

Twenty years ago Thom left the big city for Taos. Since arriving here his style has taken a noticeable turn. Gone ore the themes of the oil and gas industry, and welcomed ore works with a more southwestern flair. He creates now in aluminum, bonze and copper wall sculptures that resemble giant pieces of jewelry, embellished with a variety of semi-precious stones, found rocks or caste glass. Thom doesn’t ever get bored with projects he’s working on. Every six months he likes to come up with new designs or themes and present them in the gallery in a cohesive group. New ideas are sparked from chance meetings, good books or a walk in the local cemetery. After a recent trip to South Beach he came up with the Faces in the Crowd” series, an art deco inspired grouping that has once again led him in a new direction.

One of Thom’s newest fascinations has developed after received a commission for a set of patina copper doors. These massive doors depicted a scene from the clients home of the Sister Peaks in Oregon. In order to portray the scale, a combination of 20 different colors of patinas were used.

Now Thom has a series of smaller copper pieces, mostly abstract, using a combination of pointed and patina copper that can hang either inside or outside a home. 

Pictured:  Joe Baraban, Window Dressings #20089, Archival Inkjet Prints,  18" x 24" - 24" x 31," 2009, Woven ink jet prints, A Leafed background & Pastel, 48" x 48."