OUTSIDE IN
NOVEMBER 28 - DECEMBER 24
works by Shawn Pelech

• Reception / Meet the artist: Friday, December 1 / 5-8pm
• Free and open to the public
• Reception coincides with Art Round Town.

In honor of Portsmouth’s 400th year anniversary, 3S Artspace held an open call for submissions by artists living or working in Portsmouth today. There was no shortage of talent and creativity. We invite you to join us as we celebrate the extraordinary artists selected to exhibit in the Lobby Gallery in 2023. All exhibited works are available for purchase, with revenue supporting both the artists and 3S.

Artist Statement
The odd objects in the window, a stop light, a carved whale, a Virgin Mary, a tile cutter, a doll house, a pot belly stove. There they stand for all to see as a moment in time. I was drawn in, to look again and again. Each room combined, forming a still life of disparate objects someone had kept.

When teaching, I would spend whole days setting up these disparate objects but didn’t realize til now the importance and impermanence of it all.

A definition from the Tate Modern:
Still life includes all kinds of man-made or natural objects, cut flowers, fruit, vegetables, fish, game, wine and so on. Still life can be a celebration of material pleasures such as food and wine, or often a warning of the ephemerality of these pleasures and of the brevity of human life.

A memento is an artwork designed to remind the viewer of their mortality and the shortness and fragility of human life. Ephemerality is the concept of things being transitory, existing only briefly. It is used to describe objects and nature intended to last a short time in order to increase their perceived aesthetic value. This concept is a relative one. Andy Goldworthy is a great example of this, as is sand sculpture on the beach.

So this in itself is an art work. The owner spent time in Maine and on the West Coast. I was hoping to meet him, but the universe had other plans. In November, unknown to me, he had to leave his memento behind. I have recordrf it with love through painting.

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Generously supported by:

3S Artspace is supported in part by a grant from the New Hampshire State Council on the Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts.