September 26 – November 1, 2008

LA MOTTA Fine Art opens the fall season with a two-person exhibition entitled, Strange Fruit, that features the still life photographs of David Halliday and the ceramic sculpture of Greg Kuharic. Strange Fruit brings together the work of two artists whose work references food through an unusual perspective and approach.

DAVID HALLIDAY perceives elegance in simplicity, and beauty in the mundane. His primary subjects are carefully composed still lifes, portraits and landscapes. He is a purist behind the lens, rarely manipulating his negatives in any way and a master in the darkroom. His attention to detail and composition combined with meticulous printing make his works revered by photographers and fine art photography collectors alike.

In this latest body of work, Halliday departs from his signature sepia-toned silver prints. In this new color work, he maintains the same intimate and simple beauty but also creates a more visceral connection for the viewer. The photographs in this exhibition were shot in New Orleans, where David Halliday lives, Italy, Greece, and other locations, and the rich colors and sensual textures of these archival pigment prints seem embodied by the scents and nature of the items he selects.

David Halliday was born in Glen Cove, New York and received his degree in photography from Syracuse University, pursuing further studies under the tutelage of Arnold Newman. He moved to New Orleans to take a job as a chef at The Bistro at the Maison de Ville. He abandoned working as a chef to pursue his photography full-time, but often his work relates to the epicurean world. He has been photographing for nearly two decades and he has exhibited widely in solo and group exhibitions throughout the United States and Europe. His work is included in the collections of the New Orleans Museum of Art, the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston and the Santa Barbara Museum of Art. A retrospective of his work was presented at the Contemporary Arts Center in New Orleans in 2002.

GREG KUHARIC creates vegetal-form jars and sculptures in high-fired stoneware. He invents new forms using modern ideas of cloning and transposing disparate elements onto shapes and surfaces that might have some familiarity yet are slightly askew. Kuharic says of his work: “While there is a long heritage of vegetal-form ceramic vessels in both Eastern and Western ceramics, hopefully my work is an attempt to produce a hybrid of my own experiences and feelings about working with clay. The fact that these pieces universally remain vessels, whether functional or not, is important to me.”

The works featured in this exhibition were created during Kuharic’s summer residencies at the Watershed Center for Ceramic Arts in Edgecomb, Maine. The sculptures are constructed of wheel-thrown and handbuilt elements, adapting the artist’s interest in volume and a sense of containment to the forms. His fanciful creations are accented with stems, that function as either handles or finials, and that provide a sense of whimsical movement and imbue each piece with a gesture, attitude and personality.

Greg Kuharic is a graduate of the ceramics and sculpture programs at Ball State University, Indiana, continuing his studies at Haystack Mountain School of Crafts, Maine. From 1988-2003 he served as Sotheby's Vice President of 19th & 20th Century Decorative Arts and was also an appraiser on the Antiques Road Show (1997-2000). He now pursues his studio work in addition to being an independent decorative arts consultant/appraiser. His work is represented in the collections of Ball State University Museum of Art and the Cincinnati Museum of Art. His work has been featured in several publications, including Vogue and Departues magazines, and most recently, in the September issue of Town & Country.

LA MOTTA FINE ART
is located at
11 Whitney Street
Hartford, Connecticut

Gallery hours
Wednesday – Friday, 10 am – 5 pm Saturday, 10 am – 4 pm
and other times by appointment.