Nothings on display at Guttenberg Arts Gallery

GUTTENBERG – Yes, that’s correct.
“Nothings,” a solo exhibition of works by Diana Shpungin, will be on view Nov. 6 through Dec. 2 at Guttenberg Arts Gallery, 6903 Jackson St. The opening reception is Friday, Nov. 6 from 7 to 9 p.m., with an artist talk at 8 p.m.
Shpungin’s artwork employs a painstaking (and somewhat masochistic) process of meticulously coating objects with graphite pencil so that sculpture functions as drawing and vice versa. In the selection for this exhibition, Shpungin offers understated works that examine themes of memory, failure, longing, and loss. Her obsessive language of materials and techniques is based on her late surgeon father’s methods both in medicine and in domestic life.
The title “Nothings” refers to the standard meaning as an inconsequential conversation and/or an expression of affection, as well as that which can be readily overlooked and the meaning obscured or not immediately obvious.
Shpungin is a Brooklyn-based multi-disciplinary artist who was born in Latvia’s seaside capital of Riga under Soviet rule. She immigrated as a child to the United States, settling in New York City. Shpungin has exhibited extensively in solo and group exhibitions in both national and international venues including The Bronx Museum of Art, Bronx, NY; Sculpture Center, Long Island City, NY; Bass Museum of Art, Miami, FL; Futura Center for Contemporary Art, Prague, Czech Republic; Tomio Koyama Gallery, Tokyo, Japan; Carrousel du Louvre, Paris, France; Invisible Exports, New York, NY; Stephan Stoyanov Gallery, New York, NY; Marc Straus Gallery, New York, NY; Museum of Contemporary Art, Miami, FL; Brooklyn Museum of Art, Brooklyn, NY. Shpungin’s work has been reviewed in publications such as Artforum, Flash Art, Art in America, The New York Times and Timeout London. She has been awarded residencies with The MacDowell Colony, Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, VLA Art and Law, and The Bronx Museum AIM Program, among others.