Edwina Tries… Gallery Night with Dan Schank

Contributed

This month, Edwina stops in to gallery night at 1020 Collective to check out the latest show by artist (and fellow Erie Reader contributor) Dan Schank, entitled Dissolves.

I have certainly been to many opening receptions and gallery nights in our fair city but I have never had the pleasure of meeting fellow Erie Reader contributor Dan Schank or seeing his work until this most recent gallery night. Schank's newest watercolor series, Dissolves, is now on view at The 1020 Collective (1020 Holland St.) until July 27. I also got to try The Que Abides for the first time and it was delicious but, that's a story for another issue.

Schank explains in his artist statement that his new works "are inspired by a film editing technique called the cross dissolve, where a new image is slowly superimposed over a previous scene to indicate a transition in a movie. With this motif in mind, I explore how a hyper-focus on individual self-growth has superseded more radical modes of social transformation." The paintings are colorful, striking, multilayered and to this admittedly untrained eye, led me to draw parallels to the show Severance (if you know, you know).

In contrast, or maybe in concert, with these deep psychological themes, is the artist himself. Schank is approachable, kind, warm, and funny. I was immediately comfortable in his presence and imagined being one of his students would be an absolute pleasure. Schank, an associate teaching professor of art and English at Penn State Behrend, has had his work shown all over the country. That includes other solo exhibitions in Philadelphia and at our own Erie Art Museum.

"Ultimately, my work examines three distinct eras of psychological inquiry – the psychoanalytical 1950s, the hedonistic 1970s, and our paranoid, volatile present," explained the artist. Dissolves is absolutely worth checking out and 1020 is as inviting a space as ever, maybe even more so as they have recently added a coffee bar.

Learn more about Dan Schank's work at his website danschank.com

Edwina is Erie's (self-proclaimed) biggest fan who loves being a tourist in our own town. If you have an idea of something new she should try you can email her at edwina.capozziello@gmail.com