ARTS FOCUS

FRANC PALAIA

on

Time Warner Cable Channel 23

hosting

ARTS FOCUS

Thursdays at 5:30pm and 9pm

Time Warner Cable Channel 23 presents a new weekly program focusing on the visual arts in Poughkeepsie and the Hudson Valley. The show is produced and hosted by artist, FRANC PALAIA

The premiere broadcast of Arts Focus was Thursday, September 7th, at 5:30pm
And repeated again at 9pm every Thursday

“Arts Focus” is exactly what its title implies, a focus on the visual arts in the Hudson Valley. Franc will present area and regional painters, photographers, sculptors, printmakers, filmmakers, architects, craft artists, performance and video artists, designers, computer artists, folk artists as well as curators, art critics, museum directors and art dealers. The program will consist of artist interviews, in-studio presentations of original artwork and/or images from CDs and DVDs. Artists will discuss their technique, philosophy and inspirations and share interesting stories about themselves and their art-making experiences.

Franc will bring attention to special exhibitions in the area with an Arts Calendar at the end of every program. He will highlight senior and children’s art events and important activities by local arts organizations. Discussions with commercial and non-profit art groups will cover all aspects of the arts; either cultural, political, aesthetics and how they impact Dutchess county and society in general.

The first show aired in September, featured the newly appointed president of the Barrett Art Center, Roy Budnik. Roy discussed the history of Barrett and the art center’s future plans. The second guest was painter, teacher and gallerist, Betsy Jacaruso. She discussed her successful gallery and school in Red Hook and mentioned the Rhinebeck Paint-Out of Sept. 30th. Some of Betsy’s and other artists participating in the Pint-Out were presented in the TV studio and on the screen.

The second show in October focused on the lively art scene in Newburgh. The Newburgh Sculpture Project was featured as well as Garin Baker, the project manger and artist who is spearheading the very large mural, the “Tressle Project” near the waterfront. It is 200 feet long and 20 feet high and should be completed in spring 2007.

The November show was about Weekend on Main, with event co-organizer,
John Essick (along with Franc). The second guest was Harald Plochberger, artist and member of bau-beacon artist union an artist’s collective on Main Street, Beacon. bau was recently awarded the Dutchess County Executive Arts Award for outstanding arts organization.
Future shows will include interviews with ASK, (Art Society of Kingston), Carole Wolf of Mill Street Loft, Kathleen Murray of the Poughkeepsie Journal, Sara Pasti of BACA in Beacon, curators, Beth Wilson and Wayne Lempka, Mayor Nancy Cozean will discuss public art in Poughkeepsie, muralist Nestor Madalengoitia, Poughkepsie multi-media artist Sukran Aziz, filmmaker Ralph Arlyck, gallerist and artist, Carl Van Brunt, Maria of the Children’s Media Project and many others.

Franc Palaia is perfectly qualified to produce and present this arts program. He has 35 years as a professional exhibiting artist with over 300 group exhibitions and more than 35 regional, national and international solo shows,(10 in New York City). He has exhibited at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Smithsonian Institute, Whitney Museum Annex, and The White House and will participate in a group show at the Museum of Modern Art in NYC in 2011. Franc’s experience in several media allows him to ask the right questions of his guests. Franc is a painter, photographer, sculptor, lamp designer, educator, sign-maker and muralist. He is also an independent curator and has organized more than a dozen exhibitions since 1982 in galleries and museums in the US and Italy. In the mid 1970s, Franc worked as a professional cable TV cameraman, street -reporter, set designer and hosted a visual arts program similar to ArtsFocus at a New Jersey Cable TV station. He has been an assistant and collaborator to several well- known artists in video, film and photography, and they include Salvador Dali, Annie Leibowitz, Roger Simon, Robert Wilson, Crash and Jean-Michel Basquiat.

Franc will present two solo shows in Dec – Jan’07. One at bau-beacon artist union will feature large scale photo light boxes of his hand colored SX-70 Polaroids and a show filling the entire Haymaker Restaurant on Rt 44 will include large scale color photographs of the Hudson Valley.
The bau show opens Dec 9 and the Haymaker show opens Dec 14. For more information call 845-486-1378.

Franc has been very involved and is extremely familiar with the Poughkeepsie and Hudson Valley art scene and cultural community. He has been a founder, member and/or coordinator of the following organizations and events: ArtHop, ArtWalk, Barrett Art Center, The Gallery Shop, Friday and Weekend on Main, Poughkeepsie Mural and Public Art Projects, Art Along The Hudson, CAP (City Artist Partnership), Mill Street Loft, Dutchess County Arts Council, Vassar College Symposia, Alexander Hamilton Show, Barrett Clay Works, Art Society of Kingston, Poughkeepsie Farm Project and the Farmer’s Market. He is the recipient of two Dutchess County Executive Arts Awards in 2003 and 2006. He was named Poughkeepsian of the Year by the Poughkeepsie Beat in 2003 as a member of C.A.P. and is a member of bau (Beacon Artist Union). He is currently the Vice President of the Board of Directors of the Barrett Art Center/Dutchess County Art Association.

ARTS FOCUS will be a forum for art and artists with art historical discussions of art trends and ideas, basically anything and everything of interest in the visual arts in the valley and beyond.

We hope you will tune in!

ILLUMINATED POLAROIDS

FRANC PALAIA at bau/beacon artist union.

December 9, 2006 - January 7, 2007
Opening Reception: Saturday, December 9 / 5-8pm
161 Main Street, Beacon, NY 12508
845 440 7584 - bauinfo@optonline.net
www.beaconartistunion.com
Sat/Sun 12-6pm & by appt.

Large-scale photo light boxes of hand colored SX-70 Polaroids of European, Roman and American architecture / 2000-2006.

The show will consist of new large scale photo light boxes, (4x4’) of Palaia’s hand colored SX-70 Polaroid photographs. Franc is an award winning photographer known for his highly manipulated and hand colored 3"x3" SX-70 Polaroids. In 1985 Franc received a Polaroid Sponsorship for his unique coloring technique. He uses refined oil crayons directly onto the Polaroid surface where the final photos look very much- like very small oil paintings, with luscious blended color and texture. Franc is also a painter and muralist and approaches photography as a painter. In this series, he conducts planned accidents in his technique, where he intentionally uses outdated Polaroid film (some of it is over ten years past its’ expiration date). The SX-70 images appear with ghostly shapes and tarnished hues which is just the starting point. Palaia continues the process by tearing the backing from the photographs front acetate face. This removes some of the developing chemicals as well as leaving holes, pockmarks and other alien markings on the image. He then transforms the images into large richly colored Duratrans ( durable transparencies) and are displayed in light boxes. The final results are very painterly, brilliantly glowing photographic images of exotic and textured architecture of Rome, Sardinia, Croatia, Greece and Argentina among other locations. Also on display are a selection of original 3"x3" hand colored Polaroids as well as 2’x2’ light boxes and 8x10" color prints of the originals.

Franc Palaia has been working with Polaroids and illumination for almost 20 years. He has participated in over 300 group shows and more than 35 solo shows, regionally, nationally and internationally. He is the recipient of 14 grants, which include the Rome Prize, Tiffany Grant, NJ Arts Council, Dutchess County Arts Council and NYFA to name a few. He has exhibited at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Whitney Museum Annex, the New Museum, The White House, Exit Art and in 2011 will exhibit in a group show at the Museum of Modern Art in NYC. Locally, he has exhibited at the Samuel Dorsky Museum of Art, Vassar College and many galleries and outdoor sculptures shows. He has painted dozens of large outdoor murals and has curated 12 group exhibitions of photography in the US and in Italy. He is currently the producer and on-air host of "Arts Focus", a new Time Warner Cable TV program focusing on the visual arts in the tri-state area. Palaia’s works are included in many public and private collections including MoMA Library, Polaroid Corp., Johnson & Johnson, McDonald’s Corp., Kean University, Senator Frank Lautenburg, Diana Ross, Peter R. Stern to name a few. He has worked and collaborated with many celebrated artists, such as, Annie Leibovitz, Crash, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Salvador Dali and Robert Wilson among others.

www.baupalaia.blogspot.com

All images are oil crayon on SX-70 Polaroid made into 4x4' photo light boxes:
Roman Temple with Flame, Croatia, 2005;
Red and Yellow Building, 2006;
San Fran Tower, 2000.

FRANC PALAIA - ARTWORK

FRANC PALAIA

Illuminated Photo-Mirrors

In 1990 I began a series investigating photographic illumination with sculptural forms. Early pieces were translucent color images housed in found domestic and industrial recycled containers, such as crates, suitcases, auto parts, shopping bags, toys, appliances, etc., usually evoking political and/or humorous and ironic themes.

My current works combine back-lit digital transparencies or Duratrans with partially eradicated mirrors to create a play of direct and reflected light. The images are panoramic spans and arcades of ancient Roman aqueducts, architecture, American bridges and viaducts of different eras. The works range from 2 to 8 feet horizontally and vertically. The photo-mirrors are illuminated from behind and project off the wall where fluorescent and incandescent light passes through the mirrors. This allows the viewer to see two distinctly disparate images simultaneously, classic Roman architecture along with their own reflections as well as reflected background imagery. The ancillary light from other parts of the room creates continuous mercurial animation and interplay with the viewer. Light is an integral part of the pieces because it simulates the warm Mediterranean sunlight and the deliberately crude removal of the mirror backing enhances the antiquity of the subject matter. An ongoing concern in my work has been to present photography in a variety of unconventional ways and to juxtapose exotic worldly - images with prosaic consumer objects. The modern mirrors and lights together with the rustic architectural imagery convey the contrasting irony of old versus new, purchased and found, high tech and low tech.

My intentions are to expand the parameters of photography which includes innovation, materials, technique, concept and presentation.

_____________

FRANC PALAIA is a painter, photographer, muralist, sculptor, lamp designer, curator and educator. His encyclopedic resume includes over 300 group exhibitions and over 35 solo shows, regional, national and international. He has exhibited at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the White House, the New Museum and the Smithsonian Institute. In 2011, Franc will be included in a survey exhibition of American Prints at the Museum of Modern Art in NYC.

Locally he has exhibited at the Samuel Dorsky Museum of Art, Vassar College, Dutchess Community College, BAU Gallery in Beacon, Highland Cultural Center, Albert Shahinian Fine Art and the Barrett Art Center to name a few. His solar powered photo-sculpture appeared in the Kingston Sculpture Biennial last summer and is currently installed on the grounds of the Cunneen-Hackett Art Center. He will install a new photo-kinetic sculpture in this year’s Newburgh Sculpture Project on the waterfront. His Photo-Lamp window installations include the Whitney Museum store, Macy’s and Barneys New York. Franc has received over 14 grants including the prestigious Rome Prize Fellowship, the Louis Comfort Tiffany grant, a Polaroid Sponsorship and two Dutchess County Arts Council grants . He was selected Poughkeepsian of the Year by the Weekly Beat and received the Executive Arts Award from the Dutchess County Arts Council, both in 2003.

He has curated over a dozen group exhibitions in the US and in Italy since 1982. Four of his curated shows were presented at the Newark Museum, Alternative Museum, Collaborative Concepts in Beacon and the American Academy in Rome.

As a muralist, Franc has painted many outdoor and indoor murals, including one of the largest murals on the east coast in Jersey City, which was featured in a Hollywood movie starring Chris Rock and Anthony Hopkins. His “olde Main Street Mural” in Poughkeepsie and the “Empire State Games mural on the Civic Center has helped revitalize lower Main Street since 2002. He will be painting two large murals in the summer of 2006, “Archways” in Newburgh and NJ Transit mural in Woodbridge, NJ. NJ Transit has recently commissioned Franc to design three 20 foot etched glass windscreens for the Woodbridge Train Station in NJ. Franc was co-organizer of ArtWalk, ArtHop and Friday on Main. In September 2006, he will unveil his most ambitious indoor mural, the largest (138 feet) in Poughkeepsie at the Poughkepsie High School.

He has worked and collaborated with many celebrated artists such as; Salvador Dali, Annie Liebowitz, Robert Wilson, Crash, and Jean-Michel Basquiat. Palaia’s works are included in dozens of public and private collections including the Museum of Modern Art library, Johnson & Johnson’s, McDonald’s Corp., Polaroid Corp.,Senator Frank Lautenburg and singer Diana Ross. Franc is co-founder of CAP (City Artist Partnership) and the Gallery Shop and he is currently the Vice President of the Barrett Art Center’s Board of Directors.

Starting in September 2006, Franc will host a Time Warner Cable TV program on the visual arts. Entitled, ARTSFOCUS, the weekly half hour program will profile painters, photographers, sculptors, video & filmmakers, architects, art dealers, curators, folk artists and others to discuss current arts projects and trends.