The Modbo and S.P.Q.R. proudly present April’s First Friday openings, from 5:30 until midnight on April 3rd. The Modbo will host “Transition” by Monique Viger, while S.P.Q.R. features “H2O” by Jean Cuchiaro. These shows will be open every Friday evening until April 24th. The Modbo and S.P.Q.R. are located at 17b and 17c East Bijou, 80903. themodbo@gmail.com, 633-4240.
Monique Viger is a member of the Modbo Collective and has studied under Brett Andrus for almost seven years at the ModboCo School of Art. Her work has been in galleries, restaurants, coffee shops and hair salons throughout the Pikes Peak Region and in Trinidad. Monique had always wanted to paint, but ended up putting that wish on the back burner for many years. Instead, she focused her time and energy building a career as a hairstylist and raising her two children on her own after a divorce early in their childhood. After her kids were grown she realized that the time had come to focus on her own dreams. Several years ago she happened upon The Modbo Gallery one evening, and as she watched Brett Andrus paint she remembered that painting was, in fact, one of her long lost dreams and so began taking classes. She has been studying under him ever since.
With Transition, Monique explores images and their relationship with light. These relationships include reflection, diffusion and overexposure. She continues to be awe inspired by light as it envelopes form. Her work is going through a transformation in subject matter. The past few years she painted spotlight studies in trees. She is now moving towards the study of forms viewed through the interaction between light and particles in the atmosphere. She is also fascinated with overexposure created by direct light.
Jean Cuchiaro is a Colorado Springs native and graduated from the University of Colorado. After a successful engineering career in microelectronics, she has effectively forged a new career creating art. She has received atelier-training at the ModboCo School of Art and has taken additional art classes at the Art Students League of Denver. Her paintings have been in numerous shows along the Colorado Front Range, and she has received multiple awards.
In H20, Jean strives to capture the colors, patterns and shapes in her surroundings through intense observation. As a result, her oil paintings represent a unique and specific perspective of natural elements. With her sketchbook and camera in hand, she gathers these images while hiking, biking, golfing or skiing. Most recently, her paintings reflect her interest in capturing the colorful reflection patterns created on a water surface as well as discovering the objects that lie beneath. Many of the images utilized for this exhibition are of creeks, rivers or ponds in Colorado Springs and Colorado’s Summit, Park, Pitkin and Lake Counties.