Mind-Body Connection: Nora Venturelli's "Body of Work" at WSG Gallery

VISUAL ART PREVIEW

Nora Venturelli, two paintings from Body of Work

Nora Venturelli's Vice Versa No.51 (left), 34″h x x 46″w, and Reaching for the Stars, 36″h x 46″w; both acrylic on canvas.

In Elizabeth Smith's Pulp review of Nora Venturelli's Vice Versa exhibition at WSG Gallery in 2017, she noted that it consisted of "large-scale mixed-media paintings of the human figure in motion, with gestural lines and overlapping forms suggesting the trajectory of the body through space."

That description is true for Venturelli's new WSG exhibition, Body of Work -- except for the "large-scale" part. In an interview published on wsg-art.com, Venturelli says she hasn't "had the time to work on bigger pieces these past two years. Therefore, I decided to show what I had been doing since my last solo at the gallery. Most of the work in this show is the result of short poses during weekly 3-hour sessions."

While many of the pieces in Body of Work are acrylic on canvas, Venturelli is comfortable capturing the body using a variety of materials, including charcoal, oil, ink, and watercolor.

"I think that my approach ... is that I draw with no matter what material I am holding, be it a charcoal stick, a sharpie or a brush -- the painting happens as the work develops," she says. "I look at light and shadow shapes, and then I start to model the figure.  It is difficult for me to draw the line between when a painting becomes a drawing and a drawing becomes a painting."

Click here to read the whole interview.

Nora Venturelli's Repertoire No.2

Nora Venturelli's Repertoire No.2, charcoal and pastel on paper, 24″h x 36″w.

Christopher Porter is a library technician and the editor of Pulp.


Nora Venturelli's "Body of Work" is at WSG Gallery, 306 S. Main St., Ann Arbor. It runs through Saturday, October 12. The opening reception is Friday, September 6, 7-9 pm, and Venturelli' will give an artist talk on Sunday, October 6, 2 pm.