Artwork: Dain Quentin Gore

Dain Quentin Gore "Orobouros, Leviathan and The Eternal Champion" Ink on paper, from a sketchbook

From The Archives: Heartfelt July 4, 2008

Artwork by Jimi Girdner and Annie Lopez

Deus Ex Machina was formed after the multimedia arts venue the Paper Heart closed. In July of 2008 Deus hosted Heartfelt, an exhibit of  Paper Heart alumni. This was the original press release from the time: 

HEARTFELT
THE PAPER HEART ALUMNI SHOW
It's been 6 months since that eclectic cultural hot spot, THE PAPER HEART, had to close its doors. Besides all the music, dance and indie film gigs that took place there, the Paper Heart was also about the visual arts. Painting, sculpture, freaky media, THE HEART pushed the envelope with its exhibitions bringing cutting edge, contemporary, urban art to Phoenix.

"The Paper Heart was instrumental to the growth of the arts in Phoenix," says Richard Bledsoe, member of Deus Ex Machina. "The Heart's owner, Scott Sanders, labored for years, both as a board member of Artlink and as a business owner, to build the network that has become First Fridays. He brought people together. There is no telling how many personal and professional relationships had their start at the Paper Heart.

"Scott was open to the new and untried. He gave literally hundreds of artists, rookies and veterans both, the opportunity for their creativity to be seen. Validated by their Paper Heart experiences, artists continued to work, and  in many cases, even went on to open their own venues. The Paper Heart planted a lot of seeds."

It has been said with every door that closes another opens. Grand Avenue continues to grow as a local art destination. DEUS EX MACHINA/Improbable Art opened on Grand the month The Paper Heart closed. Picking up the torch in the cultural marathon that is the ever changing Phoenix art scene DEUS EX MACHINA joined the race. It's not as large as The Paper Heart was, but in a short time the space has already presented seven exhibitions and four alternative theatre performances. To date it has served as a forum for painting, collage, sculpture, photography, mixed media, installation, video works, alternative sound performances and spoken word.

"We want to continue the Paper Heart's tradition of keeping the arts growing in Phoenix," states Bledsoe. "Hosting the artists who made the Paper Heart their venue of choice is a great honor."

For July, DEUS EX MACHINA brings back a few of the artists whose works frequently graced the walls of The Paper Heart. Inventive, innovative and unusual - the work by these
artists continues to challenge and amaze the art audiences of Phoenix

FEATURED ARTISTS :

• Michele Bledsoe
• Richard Bledsoe
• Jeff Falk
• Denise Fleisch
• Jimi Girdner
• Steve Gompf
• JA Jurewicz
• Annie Lopez
• Natascha Payton
• Greg Pentkowski
• Wayne Michael Reich
• Scott Sanders
• Randy Zucker

 Artwork by Jeff Falk, JA Jurewicz (on wall behind sculpture) and Randy Zucker

Steamy July 4 Opening-visible on wall artwork by Michele Bledsoe, Wayne Michael Reich, Richard Bledsoe, and Jeff Falk

 

Artwork: Michele Bledsoe

Michele Bledsoe "Rest" acrylic on canvas 7" x 5"

Artwork: Richard Bledsoe

Richard Bledsoe "Re-entry" acrylic on canvas 24" x 30"

Artwork: Steve Gompf

Steve Gompf "French Televisor"

From the Archives: Jornada Del Muerto 2008

Since our founding, each year Jeff Falk assembles an altar in the tradition of Day of the Dead commemorations. This is the altar from 2008. Patrons were invited to add their own contributions. 

Artwork: Heather Smith-Gearns

Heather Smith-Gearns "Fiction" acrylic on canvas

Artwork: Dain Quentin Gore

Dain Quentin Gore "The Yosis" oil on linen 24" x 30"

Commentary: Slaying the Shibboleth

 Richard Bledsoe "Hapless Scrivener (Make With The Word)" oil on canvas 48" x 36"

Post Modernism had a profoundly negative impact on contemporary art, which is why it needs to be strongly repudiated. It attempted to substitute a simulation of art, a Mobius strip of relativistic theories propped up by sophistry and hypocrisy, in place of the actual human processes of creation, discovery and self knowledge. Post Modernism looked like it had significance because its domination in the media, academia, and the cultural institutions. But it fails to speak to or for the vast majority of people in this world.

What is pandering these days is to go along with the art establishment-to keep producing junk with a sociology lesson attached, instead of really exploring yourself and your medium. The medium is irrelevant-art can be made out of anything. The power of art comes from the artist's ability to capture a visionary moment of truth in tangible form-that place where the specific leads to the eternal. 

Our society has suffered because for awhile artists stopped reaching towards eternal values.  Post modernism said there are no values-it's all the same, just a matter of taste, no one can say what is good and what is not. In fact, PoMO says, the worse something seems the better it is, and the average person is just too dumb or backwards to get it. But the elite get it. It's a way prove membership as one of the anointed-embrace the nonsense. We've had decades of fawning over the emperor's nonexistent clothes. 

Well, no more. The culture elites have run the train off the tracks and the damage they've caused needs to be repaired. If we are going to come through these turbulent times intact, artists must stop supporting the establishment's status quo.

Conflict is unavoidable, because incompatible world views are in competition. Remodernism presents the return of art as a revelation-an inclusive, spiritual activity. The elites encourage art as a wedge, a status symbol; they use the debasement of art to enforce their positions of power and influence. There can be no compromise with those who seek to use the holy practice of art to to undermine the human spirit.

-Richard Bledsoe

Artwork: Jeff Falk

Jeff Falk "Leave"

Video: First Friday 5/4/2012

Video by Greg Roberts-the music of Last Wave, including images of artwork from Deus Ex Machina and our gallery neighbors The Sagrado

Last Wave And First Friday Art

Artwork: Annie Lopez

Annie Lopez "Lillian, A Sculptress" toned cyanotype

From the Archives: First Opening 12/7/2007

Sherry Weiss with Michele Bledsoe's Artwork

Steve Gompf, Jeff Falk, and Richard Bledsoe in the background

 

Small works wall 

 Michele Bledsoe, Sherry Weiss, and patrons 

Deus Ex Machina held its original First Friday opening on December 7, 2007.

Artwork: Richard Bledsoe

Richard Bledsoe "The Bear That Ate The Stars" oil on canvas 30" x 36"

Artwork: Michele Bledsoe

Michele Bledsoe "Playmates" acrylic on canvas 9" x 6"

Artwork: Dain Quentin Gore

Dain Quentin Gore "Syzygy" oil on linen 40" x 40"

Article: Art Review-Richard Bledsoe at Deus Ex Machina

 Richard Bledsoe "Saint Ness" acrylic on canvas 36" x 18"

Article from Barry Graham's Blog "Illusionary Flowers in an Empty Sky"

Artwork: Heather Smith-Gearns

Heather Smith-Gearns "Constancy and Permanence" acrylic on canvas

Artwork: Steve Gompf

 

Steve Gompf "Italian Televisor 1896"

Artwork: Jeff Falk

Jeff Falk has created an ever-evolving installation in the rafters of Deus Ex Machina.