Alex Paradowski's "Beach Sisters" at the Quad City Arts International Airport Gallery -- through April 26.
Wednesday, March 2, through Tuesday, April 26
Quad City Arts International Airport Gallery, 2200 69th Avenue, Moline IL
Disparate yet equally arresting works by a pair of Midwestern artists will be on display at the Quad City Arts International Airport Gallery through April 26, with visitors invited to marvel as the paper mosaics of Granite City, Illinois' Alex Paradowski and the papier-mâché sculptures of St. Charles, Missouri's Deanne Row.
Paradowski began his career as a graphic artist working for clients to communicate their messages to diverse audiences. Since then, he has taken that experience into his personal work giving him the freedom to explore a variety of mixed media. Paradowski combines wood, enamel, fabrics, paper, and other materials to create his images, and the work on display combines paper making and mosaics with digital photography techniques to create mosaics from hand cast paper cubes. Paradowski stated, “These mosaics seem to have two realities – a colorful abstract when viewed close and photographic reality when viewed from a distance.” Several of Paradowski’s tissue paper collages will also be on display in the Quad City Arts exhibit.
Rowe is a certified picture framer and museum display builder that took to creating assemblage pieces and sculpture as an outlet for stress and frustration. The sculptures are created through the building up of layer upon layer of words and images then cutting, scraping, burning, sanding, and carving the form down into the finished character. Her work utilizes the visual and structural vocabulary of the torn paper and found materials to explore how memories and small moments in time make us who we are. “Put most simply," Rowe said, "my work explores the effects of nature and nurture, on both the psyche and the physical body."
The Quad City International Airport Gallery is located opposite the airport's gift shop and restaurant, there is a $1 fee for parking, and more information on the Alex Paradowski and Deanne Row exhibits on display through April 26 is available by calling (309)793-1213 and visiting QuadCityArts.com.
