Real Art Ways presents
Four Solo Shows
May 6 - July 9, 2006

Opening reception Saturday, May 6, 6-8pm,
Artist talks at 6:30pm

Hartford, CT—March 28, 2006—Real Art Ways will open four solo exhibitions on Saturday, May 6 with a reception from 6 to 8 pm. The four artists, Tim Hutchings, Adam Niklewicz, Joseph Smolinski, and Mike Womack, work in very different ways – projects include sculpture, painting, and video; a large “war game” table to which visitors are asked to bring their own gaming pieces; and life size sculptural figures made entirely of dead bees. The public is invited, free of charge, to the four openings. For more information call 860.232.1006 or visit www.realartways.org.

TIM HUTCHINGS: “Very Large Wargame Table”
Creating large-scale, interactive environments inspired by strategic war games, artist Tim Hutchings invites visitors to take off their shoes, crawl around the floor, and contribute their own game pieces to the work. Hutchings is a recipient of the New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowship (2002) and the Yale University School of Art Oil Bar Prize (1998).

ADAM NIKLEWICZ: “The Ballad of The Twin Beekeepers”
Adam Niklewicz uses the unusual material of dead bees to create life-size sculptural figures to retell a Polish family legend about Siamese twins joined at the waist who become successful beekeepers. Niklewicz immigrated to the United States from Poland in the 1980s seeking refuge from Polish martial law. Much of his work is informed by the dislocation he feels as a Polish-born American. He has exhibited all over the world, including shows in Germany, New York City, Poland and England.

JOSEPH SMOLINSKI: “Transmission”
Joseph Smolinksi’s video-animation work “Frozen” portrays a creature that grows and recedes in relation to an illuminated sculpture, thereby creating a parasitic dependency. Smolinski explores the cycles of life and death, the interconnectivity of living things, notions of bio-tech hybrids, good and bad science fiction, microelectronics, cellular systems, bioluminescent sea creatures of the deep, spawning galaxies from afar, the energy of spring, suspended animation of winter, the plants that grow in his garden, the giant cell towers disguised as trees and the intricate complexity of life. Smolinski has exhibited in Boston, Germany and Greece.

MIKE WOMACK: “Heat is Not Made of Tiny Hot Things”
Mike Womack makes “handmade pixels” by employing mirrors and hidden objects culminating in thousands of squares of color. Womack combines painting and sculpture as a way to discuss the relationship between the two-dimensional and three-dimensional, and the conflict that exists where these two elements meet. Womack received the Vince Pooley Fine Arts Scholarship (1996) as well as the Hope Scholarship (1998), both from the University of Georgia.

Participating artists will give brief talks about their work beginning at 6:30pm on May 6.

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