Peter Sowiski, “DopeDupe,” January 22 – March 4, 2016

Peter Sowiski’s exhibition includes dramatic depictions of military hardware, specifically aircraft, structured as paper mosaics. Tanks, jets, and helicopters emerge, often full scale, from the assembled 3 x 4 foot panels. The forms are imbedded in the paper rather than simply rendered atop it as part of the paper-making process. This work continues his 30-year investigation of military technology through traditional papermaking and pulp painting.

Figures are often shown “servicing” the military hardware within an abstracted albeit familiar landscape. The ambiguity of human actions highlights the complex relationship between man and machine within the equally complex theater of war. Sowiski captures the tension within this relationship, referencing the repetitive and often fragmented “work” of both man and machine during wartime, as well as the equally repetitive and fragmented media presentation of warfare itself. The contrast between the delicate physical qualities of the paper and the powerful graphic qualities of the subject further amplifies this tension. The aircraft imagery also recalls the history of the Tri0Main building in the production of America’s first jets. In 1942, Bell Aircraft rented space in the former Ford plant to design and build the plane to go with a new General Electric engine already in production. The first jet engine arrived in Buffalo on August 4, 1942, and the first XP-59A jet was ready for shipment on September 10th, just five weeks letters.

Peter Sowiski holds a BA from Oberlin College and an MFA in Printmaking from Ohio State University. He is an Emeritus Professor of Fine Arts at Buffalo State College, where he taught from 1974 – 2007 and received the President’s Award for Excellence in Service to the College. He has investigated papermaking in Korea, China, and Vietnam, and was a visiting Professor in Costa Rice and Jamaica. He has shown in over one hundred and eighty regional, national, and international group and solo exhibitions and his work is in numerous public and private collections in America. Since retiring, he continues working in his studio and for Abaca Press.

For more history on the XP-59A, go to http://www.aviation-history.com/bell/xp59.html