Ben Matthews
		There is nothing complicated about my work. Basically, I try to create exciting images that lead to the use of 
		one's imagination. I like to think of my paintings as being short movies that the viewer directs in their own head.
		Working in a poster format, I try to give the impression that my paintings have already served their purpose. 
		They are documentation's of people, places, events, products, and moments in time that did, did not, or will 
		exist.

		For my characters, I use antique photographs collected at flea markets. These people who have been sold 
		for a few bucks are recreated in my work. They are given new names and meaning.

		The final step to completing a work is to age it. By doing so, I try to give them a sense of reality. They exist 
		as used objects with mysterious pasts. They may have been in someone's basement collecting dust, found 
		at an abandoned museum, or bought at a pawnshop for $2.00.

		In the end, the piece should have a power that overshadows the fact that it is just a painting by an artist.

		Ben Matthews, November 2000

		Bill Fisher
		I paint in a reductivist manner relying on surface and spatial tensions to convey the content. The imagery in 
		my work is based on childhood memory, appropriated diagrams and reflections of the visual realities of 
		urban decay. My work expresses a continuing dynamic of time, experience, and personal perception.

		Bill Fisher, September 2000

	
		Mary Mazziotti
		In the series "Goddess Goes West" I've translated the myths of ancient goddesses to images of cowgirls. 
		Like their legendary sisters, America's Western icons are also an amalgam of myth, history, fantasy and 
		reality. Whether the women pictured come from the rodeo, the reservation or the back lot of a B-movie set 
		they have in common the strong values and ornery peculiarities for which goddesses are worshipped. 
		Painted in a style of enhanced realism, the cowgirls float against a brilliant blue sky, a pantheon worthy to 
		be adored.

		Mary Mazziotti, September 2000

		Phil Goldstein
		The unusual forms and distinct personalities of old tools and other objects inspired this series of paintings, 
		framed in cut out rusted steel. The realistic rendering of these objects contrasts with the looser technique 
		applied to the background. The worn down second hand state of the objects plays off of the weathered 
		character of the welded frames, which become an integral part of the work.

		I am interested in the "aura" of these old devices, their ingenuity and compelling aesthetic character. The 
		way light plays across them forms interesting shadows and highlights giving them a captivating intangible 
		presence.

		Phil Goldstein, September 2000

	

		Dana Salvo
		Dana Salvo, is fascinated with how people throughout the world share the most intimate practices of 
		domestic devotion. Links between art, culture and religion distinguish his vision which offers an unusual 
		sense of integration and connectedness to the lives of people.

		The Gloucester photographs presented in this exhibition are part of Salvo's global search for images which 
		show how men and women evoke sacredness in their everyday environments, how they create devotional 
		altars and household arrangements which sanctify and personalize the places in which they live.

		Dana Salvo

		Daniel Fiorda
		Leaving behind the strict geometry of my last series of art work, I am now entering into "the corporeal", into 
		the relationship between myself, my constructional elements. This is a natural process of metamorphosis.

		I feel myself inside of my new sculptures, rather than just being a single spectator of my own creative 
		process.

		Coming back to the organic, manipulating the elements and their finished texture, I am talking about my 
		own history, my own struggle, past & present; in an anthropological context.	

		Now
		My sculptures
		Breathe...
		A sense of relief.
		Human.

		This is my new work - a new direction that I will continue to expand over the new millennium.

		Daniel Fiorda, September 2000