ONCE UPON A TIME…

Dec 4, 2009 – Jan 15, 2010

Opening Reception: Friday, December 4, 5 pm – 9pm.

Philadelphia, PA – November 23, 2009: Dalet Gallery is pleased to announce the opening of an exhibit that  will show four artists whose works connect in the subject of time: painter/mixed media artist Vasily Kafanov, photographer Sandra Davis, sculptor Sergey Eylanbekov, and ceramic sculptor Darejan Adamashvili Once Upon A Time presents various forms of art, and a personalized  focus and style of each artist involved, revealing that what anyone chooses to value in "time” is a highly personal matter.                                                           

"…my collages are an expression of my love of everything that has been touched by time.”

-Vasily Kafanov

Showing at Dalet Gallery is the masterful series of collages that Vasily Kafanov worked on for  the last years. Created from  photographs, bits of metallic machinery, wooden elements, and incorporating his characteristic pen lines and thick acrylic paint, Kafanov’ s use of mixed media is  enormously satisfying compositionally, and can be haunting in its  effect. Known for his playful and mysterious paintings that feature the profolic artist's trademark Fish tower - an architectural anomaly that combines reality with fantasy, he often relies on folkloric imagery mixed with enigmatic symbolism, to bring his vision to life on canvas, paper and panels. Here his imagery gives way to a meditation on one's personal history, the passage of time, and glimpses into the histories and times of fantastic places and landscapes.

Born in Russia, Mr.Kafanov settled in New York City in 1990, where he now lives with his family. In 2000, Vasily teamed with Smashing Pumpkins front man Billy Corgan, to work on the imagery for the band's album, Machina/The Machines of God.He produced 20 paintings for the album and played a major role in the set design for the group's global tour.Vasily’s work has been exhibited by numerous galleries and museums in Chicago, San Francisco, Hong Kong, Moscow, Paris and Amsterdam.

"As the figures emerge from darkness, my vision brings them to life.I edit the landscape through my camera to build a protective wall around my discovery, thus holding it pure and independent from the rest of the world.”

-Sandra Davis

Photographer Sandra Davis reveals what remains of previous eras by focusing her camera lens on historic architecture and gardens.The artist utilizes her preferred mediato explore time and the past.Her works shown in Once Upon a Time were selected from her evolving portfolio ofmythical gardens, which focuses on the sculptures found in Ancient and Renaissance) gardens combined with classically arranged foliage. Taking her interest in the historic a step further, Davis prints her images using the non-silver printmaking process, gum bichromate printing.The process was primarily used in to create a more intimate quality that adds another layer of history to Sandra’s work, as well as a layer of mystery.

For ten years, Sandra C. Davis has been teaching the non-silver printmaking processes at The University of the Arts in Philadelphia.She also teaches non-silver printmaking and gum bichromate printing at Rowan University in Glassboro, NJ, Mercer County College, NJ and Peters Valley Craft Center in Layton, NJ.She resides in Philadelphia and her award-winning images have been exhibited nationwide and are in public, corporate and private collections

"…it is all in the process, most of the time an exhausting process of creation. Every good sculpture should possess some concealed energy within, the kind of energy that is felt beyond the physical limits of the work.”

                                   -Sergey Eylanbekov

An established sculptor who prefers to work in bronze and terracotta, Sergey Eylanbekov is highly skilled at the manipulation of light and shadow through the distribution of masses and volumes. His mythical personages may contain elements of Primitivism and Exoticism, yet they incorporate a contemporary and personal twist that stems from the artist’s imagination. They represent a time and space that hasn’t existed in our physical world.

In 1989 Sergey Eylanbekov immigrated to the United States, and has since become something of a prodigy in the American art world.At the age of 30, he was chosen for professional membership in the eminent National Sculpture Society; a mere five years later, his peers appointed him as a Fellow of the National Sculpture Society, an honor not usually bestowed to such a young artist.In 2002 Sergey's acrylic sculpture was chosen to commemorate the 2002 Olympic Winter Games in Salt Lake City.Additionally, he is well known for his dedication of a number of his acrylic sculptures to the 2004 Olympic Games, and the garnering of first place in the 2004 Olympic Art and Sport Contest, for his acrylic sculpture "Five Continents” awarded by The International Olympic Committee (IOC) Mr. Eylanbekov leads a quiet life with his family in a small suburb on Long Island where he sculpts and explores his artistic endeavors every day.

Ceramic sculptures by Darejan Adamashvili are filled with a longing of a passed age.The artist utilizes witty humor to convey her nostalgia for a time when her native Georgia was characterized by its ancient culture, famed wine-making, beautiful women, and proud men, and had not yet sunk into the stagnant atmosphere of the Soviet era.

After leaving Georgia in 2008 and temporarily settling in Jersey City, NJ, Darejan did not lose hope of returning to Georgia. During the last 2 years, while living in the US, her works were exhibited in a number of solo and group shows, within the tri-state area.

The exhibition will be on view at the Dalet Gallery, 141 North 2nd Street, Olde City, Philadelphia, PA 19106

For further information on Dalet Gallery, or to set up media interview with the gallery artists, contact Irena Gobernik at 215-923-2424 or irena@daletart.com or visit www.daletart.com