Point Bonita is John Chiara’s second solo show with Eleanor Harwood Gallery. In this show Chiara has experimented with a new process of creating Images on Enduratrans. This creates a negative transparency that is one of a kind. He has created two light boxes for the exhibit that glow with a luminous images of landscapes and sculptures. Using the same image making process he has also created a 16 foot by 16 foot installation that is made up of 20 images all installed in a grid. In keeping with Chiara’s previous work the pieces are all titled by the location. The large installation is Point Bonita, the images were made during Chiara’s residency at the Headland’s Center for the Arts.
In this body of work Chiara focused on Abstract Expressionist sculptures from the 70’s and 80’s, Military Installations from WW2 and Fortress Landscape. Point Bonita is a visual expression of some of the more subliminal aspects of how art can be used to frame the Utopian fantasies of our culture.
Other pieces in the show are really gorgeous black and white images of old and odd sculptures. They have a really uncanny, abandoned feel like documents of something long ago, having the sensibility of an Antonioni film. John’s photos of the public works are editioned.